"Sword In Stone" Attracts Crowds At Festival

Sword In Stone Attracts Crowds At Festival FARM HOME Miscellaneous Mark Nelson and his sons conjured up a little medieval magic with a “sword in a rock” trick that allowed 10-year-olds to revel in King Arthur glory pulling Excalibur out of the rock while the sword wouldn’t budge for husky high school jocks “We’ve joked about how fun it would be to have a sword stuck into a stone ” Nelson explains about the project that had him and his four sons ages 5 to 15 burning the midnight oil before last fall’s Medieval Festival in Steubenville Ohio His oldest son Gabe sells wooden swords at the annual event with help from his father and brothers A sword in a rock seemed like a good way to attract crowds They came up with the idea of using an old washing machine wringer to grip the sword inside the “rock” Nelson and his sons built a box and lag bolted the wringer into it sideways so it can tightly grip a sword They connected the wringer to an 8-ft shaft with a handle that manually opens and closes the wringer The setup is hidden under a table with a cloth used to display and sell swords The Nelsons sprayed foam over the box to look like rocks leaving a small slit to insert the sword With a 10-year-old son cranking the wringer at the other end of the table no one figured out the source of the sword’s magic “Many folks think someone is in the box ” Nelson laughs “It was a lot of fun and very entertaining for the boys to make it and run all by themselves ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mark Nelson 272 Co Rd 26 Steubenville Ohio 43952 ph 740 283-3118; www nelsongifts com

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