DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Equipment Category › Equipment › Walking Plow adjustment
- This topic has 23 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 15 years ago by
Vand.
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- November 8, 2009 at 10:05 pm #41071
Rod
ParticipantI just picked up an old 10″ walking plow and have a question on the hitch point adjustment. Their is a 3 position vertical steel connection point at the front which I understand. It also has a horizontal section at the same location which appears to have three adjustment holes, forward or back at least that appears possible. Am I right in assuming those horizontal holes are for different positions or not. I will try to get a photo up tomorrow so you can see what I am talking about.
Also the plow share needs some cleaning up. This is a winter restoring project but I wondered if anyone has restored a rusted and pitted plow share and how was it done? Grinding and heavy sanding are my thoughts at present. Thanks.November 9, 2009 at 12:40 am #55266Vicki
ParticipantFarmer Brown suggests a cup wire brush for scouring the share. Sounds like you have a vertical and a horizontal regulator on the plow, which is good. The horizontal regulator will affect the width of the furrow and needs to be adjusted in the proper line of draft from the point of draft on the plow to your ox yoke ring. Others will be more qualified to explain it than I.
Great winter project!
November 9, 2009 at 5:59 pm #55267Participant[ATTACH]703.jpg” />
[ATTACH]704.jpg” />This is the plow modified from the Amish Pioneer design, for local conditions in northern Uganda, by Bob Okello and Tillers International. They marked it to help us understand how to use the regulators.
November 9, 2009 at 9:06 pm #55277Vand
ParticipantRod, my dad has restored several plows and we always start by taking a sander or grinder to the share and knocking the largest pieces of rust off. When you start to see some shine coming through, take the sander or grinder and move in the direction that the soil would move over the share until you have a shiny surface. When you’re done, you can spray it with WD-40 if you plan to use it soon or coat it in grease if you plan on storing it for several months. Come Spring, you just wipe off the grease and go plowing!
I agree with Vicki, the horizontal holes you are describing allow you to adjust the size of the furrow.
November 9, 2009 at 10:23 pm #55259ParticipantHere is the photo of the plow and the front part in question. The holes I am questioning are the vertical ones through the wood frame at the end. Now that I look at the photos I am guessing that the iron hook up part was a replacement that did not fit the two front holes so a third hole was added to make the attachment.
Their is also a picture shown of a walking cultivator I got in the same deal.November 10, 2009 at 12:38 am #55255Carl Russell
ModeratorRod you will want to replace that beam with some new wood. Something rugged like elm, oak, or ash.
Unless you plan to plow a garden that has deep stoneless loam, I would guess that plow won’t hold up for long in that condition. I tried a wooden beam plow several times years ago, and picked myself up off the evener at least twice.
Carl
November 10, 2009 at 12:50 am #55260ParticipantGood observation. I have some good white oak pieces in the barn and also some ash.
November 10, 2009 at 1:25 am #55276TBigLug
ParticipantNice cultivator. Wish I had one of those for the potato garden!
November 10, 2009 at 1:44 am #55261ParticipantThe place where I found these things, an old farm with lots of other old farm equipment had a potato plow for sale. It had two wings which I assume were used for covering the seed potatoes after they were planted.
November 10, 2009 at 4:01 pm #55268ParticipantI have a very similar plow, pretty small. I don’t know why the holes are in the end of the beam. Might need a new point on that, if it is worn real short.
I have a potato plow, which has the rods behind it that clunk up and down to shake the soil from the spuds. Never used because it needs a new handle. It has something on the beam that looks like a spool for string. I wondered if bags were put on the back and when full, the farmer would stop and tie the bags somehow from the string. Can someone tell me what is is?
I also have a middle buster plow that is used to make furrows and for hilling. It has the adjustable wings; wooden beam on that. Sounds like that’s what you saw where you bought your plow. The oxen did pull it one year to unearth a couple long rows of potatoes which I then hand collected.
November 10, 2009 at 8:46 pm #55269grey
ParticipantThe hole in the end of the beam is missing a bolt. It isn’t for adjustment, it is just for keeping the bridle attached to the end of the beam and parallel to the beam. You are correct: probably the reason that there are three holes in the wood and only two holes in the bridle is because that bridle isn’t original to that beam. The hole spacing was different on the bridle that came with that beam. When they replaced the bridle, they had to drill a different hole to make it fit.
I don’t see any way of adjusting the width of the furrow, only the depth. Can’t quite tell what’s going on back there at the end of the beam where it attaches to the plow and the handles… depending on how it’s made, there might be a way of adjusting the furrow width back there. If not, then a 2nd horizontal piece could be added to the bridle in order to allow for adjustments to the width of furrow.
Can you take a full side photo of the bridle of the plow? Also, one of the back of the beam where it mounts to the plow and handles?
Sorry to say, that share looks like it is done for. Not much left of it.
November 10, 2009 at 9:21 pm #55262Participant@grey 12578 wrote:
Sorry to say, that share looks like it is done for. Not much left of it.
I don’t think you can see that from the photo, It appears to me that their is plenty of life left in it for my intended use. The same goes for the remark previously made about the wood beam. Those comments can be helpful and initiate a detailed look at the parts in question but I don’t think their was enough information in my post and photos to write the plow or parts of it off. Especially since the intended service for the unit is such a major factor.
November 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm #55256ModeratorRod, it’s just that some of us have been there before with equipment like that. Go ahead and use it, and have fun. Just bare in mind that when equipment is rugged, and tuned up, and working well, things go well. When it’s not, they can go pretty seriously south.
Carl
November 10, 2009 at 10:40 pm #55270ParticipantI’m sorry that I offended you with my snap judgement, Rod. Admittedly, it is a very grainy photograph and probably not a good one from which to make such judgements. Let me show you what it is I think I’m seeing. The black outline is where I tried to color in where I think your plow share is. The red is where I feel the share has been worn from its original shape.
November 10, 2009 at 10:45 pm #55271ParticipantAnd I think maybe what Carl is looking at with regards to the strength of that wood beam is the light colored scrapes and dents. They have a sort of powdery look to them that – to me at any rate – have the look of dry rot. The scrapes and dents have a depth and roundness to them that makes me wonder if the wood is soft from age/rot. Could just be on the surface, but some of the stuff I have dragged home from the auction over the years looked pretty much just like that and ended up being dry and fragile all the way through. I do have a wood beam plow that I love. I used the original (old, dry, fragile) beam a couple of times and then removed it and used it as a template to make another one out of oak. I didn’t want to break the original beam and then have to mend it in order to have a good template.
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