Toast Tongs

Ever burn your fingers getting toast out of the toaster? This handy tool will make it a thing of the past. Since it is wood, the chances of getting yourself electrocuted by fishing around electrical wires with a knife are very slim.

While most any kind of wood will suffice, my favorite is osage orange. This tree is a native of Kansas but farmers all over the US have grown these trees for their nasty growth habits.

They are short, tough and very thorny trees and planted close together are capable of creating a fence that stock would just as soon avoid. In the days before barb wire "hedge apple" as it was sometimes called, made efficient fencing.

Some of these trees have re-seeded and you can recognize them by the large green knobby fruits, the size of a small grapefruit, that drop in the autumn. While the growth habit may be a bit obnoxious, the wood is very special. It is bright yellow when freshly cut but then turns a tannish brown as it is exposed to light.

It is an extremely springy wood. This is why I favor it for the tongs. In native American times it was highly prized for making bows, as in bows and arrows. In those times a good bow made of osage orange sold for a horse and a blanket.

I am told by expert archers that there are only two tree species that make fine bows without having to laminate the bows. One is the English yew and the other is osage orange.

In some parts of the American south the wood is known as bois d'arc. Bois is French for "wood," de means "of" and arc is short for Arcadians, the French settlers of Canada who were run out by the British. When de and arc come together the "e" drops out and you have bois d'arc. Now in Texas they call that same wood bow dart. It is interesting how language evolves, especially in the American south.

Of course the tongs can be used to pick up any hot food item. Somehow the soft feel of a wooden implement in the hand as opposed to a hard metal or dull plastic one is much more satisfying to my senses but then I tend to be a bit old fashioned, as I guess you have figured out by now.