Are of various forms and designs, but they are not the S shaped things formerly so familiar in the big open fire-places of the old homesteads, neither are they the hated S shaped marks with which the boys of yesterday were wont to struggle and disfigure the pages of their writing books.
If any one of the camp pot-hooks had been drawn in the old-time writing book or copybook, it would have brought down the wrath (with something else) of the old-fashioned school-master, upon the devoted head of the offending pupil. For these pot-hooks are not regular in form and the shape and designs largely depend upon the available material from which they are fashioned, and not a little upon the individual fancy of the camper. For instance the one known as
The Gallow-crook
Is not, as the name might imply, a human crook too intimately associated with the gallows, but on the contrary it is a rustic and useful bit of forked stick ([Figs. 60], [61], [62] and [63]) made of a sapling. [Fig. 60] shows how to select the sapling and where to cut it below a good sturdy fork. [Fig. 61] shows the bit of sapling trimmed down to the proper length and with two forks, one at each end. On the upper fork you will note that one prong is a slender elastic switch. [Fig. 62] shows how this switch may be bent down and bound with a string or tape made of green bark, and so fastened to the main stem as to form a loop which will easily slip over the waugan-stick as in [Fig. 63]. [Fig. 62A] shows a handy hitch with which to make fast the bark binding.
When the waugan-stick has been thrust through the loop of the gallow-crook, the former is replaced in the crotches of the two forked sticks, as in [Fig. 63], and the pot or kettle, pail or bucket, is hooked on to the lower fork. You will note that the lower fork is upon the opposite side of the main stick from that from which the switch prong of the upper fork springs. This arrangement is not necessary to make the pot balance properly over the fire; the same rule holds good for all the other pot-hooks.[D]
The Pot-claw
Will be best understood by inspecting the diagrams ([Figs. 64], [65], and [66]), which show its evolution or gradual growth. By these diagrams you will see the stick is so cut that the fork may be hooked over the waugan-stick and the cooking utensils, pots or kettles may be hung over the fire by slipping their handles into the notch cut in the stick on the side opposite to the fork and near the lower end of the pot-claw. This is a real honest-to-goodness Buckskin or Sourdough pot-hook; it is one that requires little time to manufacture and one that is easily made wherever sticks grow, or wherever "whim" sticks or driftwood may be found heaped upon the shore.
The Hake