snowplow – selfmade

[CharlyBonifaz]

Is anybody working a snowplow with their animal(s)?
Construction? Tricks? Tips?
elke

[sanhestar]

Hello Elke,

check the http://www.pferdekutscher.de Forum. I remember that – maybe two years ago – someone built a snow plow for his horse – with pictures.

[Donn Hewes]

I use a home made snow plow and it works great. It is a Vee type plow made of scrap lumber from various projects. I use it with three head of horses and mules. I tried it once with out a forecart but as soon as you have removed all the snow they really want to slide up on you, the forecart makes it easier and safer. It is about 12′ wide and about 14′ long. It is built on two main beams of 3 x 10″ that were cut on the front with a compound angle for the lower 2 x 12″. the main beams help it track straight when you are pushing snow with only one side of the plow. I set a heavy cross piece between the beams and that is what my chain is attached to. It is attached in two places and comes through two holes in the plow this allows me to attach the fore cart dead center or slightly off to one side. That also helps with pushing snow with half the plow. I can easily make our 1000′ drive way 20′ wide with a couple of passes. You can see a couple of pictures of the plow in action here.

[Donn Hewes]

yes, that is a rake in rough condition. Bars welded back together, teeth missing, etc. Last year I replaced the gear that slides back and forth to put it in “rake” or “ted”. They are squirrelly down hill and on side hills you want to have your horses well apart as the tongue will push up hill. Not my favorite piece for a youngster as it really rattles and scraps and bangs. I just use it as a back up and for an extra tedder. They are a better tedder than the reel for rained on windrows and the like. Donn

[CharlyBonifaz]

@Donn Hewes
thanks for sharing; I would need more draught power for a snowplow like yours 😉
the plow Sanhestar mentioned is here:
http://www.buntes-gemuese.de/182.0.html
how do the animals fare in the deep snow? irons, spikes, barefoot?
anybody using oxen for this work?
elke

[near horse]

I just plowed some snow today (and last week) with a simple A-frame style plow made from a couple of 2x12s w/ crossbracing near the front. One leg is hinged and the brace back there is a removable 2×4 that can be used to widen or narrow the width plowed by using a longer or shorter 2×4. I just use bungee cords to pull the wings tight against the 2×4 brace. This design came from Small FArmers Journal Fall 92 p 65.

That said – A-frames can be hazardous/dangerous in that they tend to swing back and forth based on increased drag on one wing or the other. You can easily get tripped up by those legs -especially if you’re plowing over packed snow and ice. They also (at least in my case) struggle with deep snow. Today I was trying to open up my neighbors driveway that had 3 feet of snow settled onto it. The horses (2 good-sized Belgians) pulled like champs but the plow wasn’t biting in real well so I was trying to keep up hustling through the 2′ that was left after plowing and dodging the plow. Needless to say I did a lot of “get up” one, two three, “whoa”. I tried using my weight to get the plow to take a bigger bite but no luck.

This plow did great last week when I was moving 10″ of nice dry powder. Deep, heavy settled snow is tough stuff. Might do better with: 1) a stable seat or something on the plow 2) a way of adding ballast to the rear of the plow 3) increasing the height of the sidewalls (maybe another pair of 2x12s using a stake pocket kind of system:confused:

Anyway, thought I’d chime in since I had a good experience last time out and a “not-so-good” one today but in totally different conditions.

[Michael Colby]

The fellow who wrote the v-plow article for Small Farmers Journal was my friend and horse-logging partner, Boots Wardinski. He’s now amassed a collection of the plows — different sizes for different tasks. I’m going to try and post a photo of Boots at work with one of his plows during a snowstorm last month.

The seat is key, but make sure you’ve got a quiet horse/team before you venture to sit on it. It can be quite the ride if the horses act up. Also be careful on the downhills when it’s icy. It can — and will — sneak up on the back of the horse(s) if you’re not using a pole or shafts.

I’m in the process of making my own for road clearing. But for sleigh and recreation trails I’ve been packing the snow by dragging an old hood from a truck with weights (sometimes kids, sometimes logs) behind my forecart. It’s working great.

[IMG]http://s723.photobucket.com/albums/ww235/michaelcolby/[/IMG]

[near horse]

Hi Donn,

Do you have more info on your snowplow? I looked at the pics but would like a bit more. Also, how weel does it work when you’re making your first pass in new snow? – particularly I’m referring to the the forecart. We’ve just been getting our tails kicked here in the NW with snow every day or so for the last 14-21 days. Nowhere left to put it. Spokane WA (lower elevation thatn us) got 61 inches in Dec (actually about 3 weeks). 🙂

Thanks.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Geoff, My snow plow has a couple of things going for it. It is a little heavy but this helps when the snow wants to push the plow rather than the other way around. We get a lot of wind here and our biggest challenge is deep snow drifts that are quite solid. The other advantage that I have is that it was built for three head. In light snow 8″ deep it is easy to pull, but if I get into a snow drift or something it can use all three. Because of it’s height and bulk the plow has no trouble with the first pass. Sometimes that is when the horses are working the hardest. I think the hard thing to make most plows do is widen the road. Unless they are substantial enough the snow just pushs the plow into it’s original path. The two central beams are long enough and solid enough to give the plow some traction when I am using one side of the plow to widen the road. Our driveway is built up over most of its length. If I can push the snow far enough off the sides the wind will not immediately fill it back in. I will try to take some more detailed pictures tomorrow. We lived out in Wa. for years. I love calling my friends and hearing about all the snow! Good Luck, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Here are some better photos of how the snow plow went together. Donn

[mstacy]

@CharlyBonifaz 4484 wrote:

@Donn Hewes

anybody using oxen for this work?
elke

Charly,

My first attempt at a snow plow is not nearly as fancy as Don’s. It’s just a 2 x 10 stood on edge (blade). I butted a long 2×4 (tongue) perpendicular to this with the top face of both boards aligned flush. Sheet rock screws fasten both to a small plywood gusset. I certainly won’t win any sculpture or architectural awards with it but it actually works better than expected.

My 7 month old Devons can pull it around the driveway pretty well (unshod). This is a very light plow so it does not clean right down to bare ground. I haven’t incorporated any angle adjustment yet either.

Don’s photographs inspire me to build another.

-Matt

[near horse]

Thanks for the additional pics, Donn. They helped a lot. I do have a question about where you hitched the chain to your plow. Why wasn’t it equidistant on each side of the point (apex) of the plow? How much do you think that thing weighs?

All the best.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Geoff, The plow is heavy, When I go to put it on blocks for the summer it takes two people to lift it one corner at a time. Maybe 300# or 400# wild guess. I move the hook around a little. I almost all ways start out straight away dead center. Sometimes being able to shift the hook slightly to the left helps the plow push to one side with out spinning out. Sometimes I change the way it is hooked behind the forecart to move the plow from behind the team. If you move it very far from center on the forecart you start to get a lot of side draft on the tongue. Now it looks like freezing rain. Donn

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