The devil

[Roark]

Checking out some other boards today- don't know why I

do this to myself, but I 'learned' a couple of things:

The Apollon railcar axle is 2.5". [Gord Venables thought it was

3", and everybody else, including Tom Lincir who made the

replica thought it was 2" or a hair under in diameter. I'll stick

with 1.93"]

Do I hear 4"?

Saxon not only carried his flour sack, he pressed it overhead.

Luckily someone posted a correction to this item.

Mama, give me strength!

:hehe

[ChrisJames]

Joe,

I thought Arthur Saxon used to clean and pushpress a 300 + sack ?

I trained on Arthurs' lifts for a while and managed to duplicate or surpass most of his lifts , so they can be done.

Absolutely no chance with the bent press though or the two hands anyhow.For a 200 lb man he was awesome .

[Roark]

Chris,

So long as you are on this board, I'll need to be more

specific in details- thank you.

Various authors give different weights for the two flour sacks

the Saxons used in their performances- actually three flour

sacks, it seems.

Anyway, here are the weights I have seen attributed to the

sacks they had:

In pounds: 280, 300, 320, 330, 336

Some refs say the 300 was packed in an off balance way to

increase the difficulty; some say the 300 had a 56 lb weight

in it to cause this imbalance, and, of course, if the lifter was

unaware where that 56 extra lbs was, then chances decreased for a lift.

The 336 lb sack is the one that was covered in 'slippery chalk' to increase difficulty. Willoughby says the chalk was used on

the 300 lb sack, so perhaps both were covered occasionally?

So far I have seen only single refs to the 280 and 320 lb sacks.

At any rate, you are right in regard to the above sacks, they

were placed overhead, but not 'pressed', more as you indicate

'push pressed', Willoughby says 'jerk pressed'.

Kurt Saxon mentions in S&H Oct 1949 p 28, the sack that I

was recalling as not being put overhead, the 424 lb sack, which "was packed as tight as stone, with nothing to grip, no slack sacking or corner ears, really more like an unwieldy ponderous ball".

It was this latter sack that was the ultimate shoulder and

carry challenge.

If you are going to continue to be so picky, I will have to

write this stuff when fully awake!

This feat can be further appreciated when keeping in mind that it was done in the days before 'self rising' flour... :hehe

[ChrisJames]

A thousand apologies Mr Roark , just trying to keep you on your toes  :p  :p