Those who attended the Lame Ox Festival in Clintonville, Saturday, June 28, experienced a few farm chores from yesteryear.
Clintonville’s Nick LeNoble had a corn sheller, a born cutter machine, and a 1924 Fairbanks Morse engine on display. He demonstrated how to use each item, and attendees were allowed to operate the corn sheller.
He said the corn sheller was used to take the corn off the cobs. The born cutter ground up bones to feed the cattle calcium. The engine was used to run different items on a farm.
The born cutter he saved from a scrap yard. He bought the corn sheller from someone who was going to scrap it. The Fairbanks Morse engine he bought at the Iola Car Show for $75.
“It was missing some parts and I fixed it up,” LeNoble said.
When LeNoble obtains older items like these, a lot of the times the items do not work. He said his main tools of trade are oil, a hammer, and patience.
“I just enjoy working on old stuff. The challenge I guess you could say,” LeNoble said.
He said attendees of the festival were enjoying the hands-on experience.
“They want to come over and play with it, turn it, run corn through it,” he said.
Some needed a little coaxing.
“They get over there and they start cranking it and they start shoving corn in it. They have a good time,” LeNoble said.