OCS's and chisel plows

That's kind of a catchall term, chisel plow. Picture of a JD V-Ripper here:

If you're thinking of something like that (but smaller) it will still take a lot of machine to pull it. Check out this youtube video:

Note the tractor spinning/hopping around early on...

There was also one called a "soil saver". Looks like this:

Not a great picture, but you'll get the idea.

I would try copying one of these that look like what you think you want. But, what are you hoping to accomplish with it?

Brinly has several implements made for small garden type tractors and pretty good diagrams to get ideas from:

It sounds like you want something similar to their cultivator:

W/ chisels, they count "shanks" not "blades". Depending on the soil, even three is likely optimistic unless you can really weight the tractor down. Of course, you can simply scratch the top inch...

... ...snip for brevity... ...

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The origin of the species...

Fred's farmstead is about 30 mi west of us; he was in the assisted living facility in town while my mother was there her last few years (almost 15 yr ago now). I found a rare very early model in an equipment boneyard up by Pratt (KS) a number of years ago and took him the production tag as a momento. He almost teared up over it as it was from one of the handbuilt in the farm shop of the first couple of years...

They were simply known as "Hoeme's" (pronounced "Hay-me") out here for years.

He and his brother worked on the design for years before it was finally a real success. It wasn't until they got in touch with a metallurgist from the steel mill in Pueblo, CO, from whom they'd purchased shanks that they got a suitable alloy/heat treatment that would "give" enough to not break but yet not simply unfold if were too soft.

Yup , that cultivator is very similar to what I have in mind . This is for prepping my garden in spring , might see duty as a between-the-rows cultivator too . I'll probably also use it so score the ground where I want wild flowers and stuff planted for our bees . Not going to see really heavy duty , at least that's not the plan now .

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I followed that a bit & came to wiki. One thing that it said was that chisel plows require 10 - 15 hp PER shank/chisel! (Because they go so deep - 8-10".)

A neighbour back on the farm when I was a teenager used a chisel plough and a one-way disk. We used a mouldboard plough. The chisel really made his big tractor bark!!! I pulled 3 bottoms with a 44 Massey, and 2 with a 540 Cockshutt. , the '49 44 outpulled the lightweight 540 almost 2:1. The neighbour had a "big" ford (I think it was a 1965 5000 D? About half again the horsepower of the 44, which was about half again the power of the 540.

So basically a spring tooth cultivator more than a "chisel plough"

That's possible in hard ground; pretty high for sandy ground out here. I'd guess w/ chisel points (not sweeps or wide turning shears) 7-10 more like it for those early versions like the picture.

We pulled a 10-ft with two extensions with an old Farmall 400 that was about 55 belt HP. It new it was on something but could do it...

Go to heavy clay or the like and all bets are off, however... :)

I hadn't watched the video there before; I know exactly where the place showing the man/boy is; it's less than 75 mi from us. Seen quite a few of the others but don't know precisely where they are/were. Doesn't (fortunately) bear any resemblance to that now even though we're in another severe drought that rivals the 30s. We had our lowest recorded here at the house since granddad homesteaded here last year including the 30s and 50s of under 7". This year is still way under normal but we've had a little over 10". Around us within as close as 30 miles they've had as much a 25"; in September had a single rain within 15 miles that gave them 3 to 6" while we got 0.80".

On 11/17/2014 5:14 PM, snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote: ...

The one-way was a prime factor in the Dirty-30s being so dirty -- it was about the only tool used back then out here and while very efficient had the distinct disadvantage in dry years and a windy climate with sandy soil of turning all the residue over and breaking the ground up into very fine particles. With no ground cover to speak of and no significant clodding, wind erosion was inevitable and once started, impossible to stop w/o serious rain and a let up of the wind long enough to establish cover again. That didn't happen for about five years back then.

The chisel, otoh, doesn't bury the residue and creates clods in damp soil, even in the sand here if not done to excess. Both of those are far more resistant to blowing.

Earliest we had when I was large enough to do anything were Farmall M and 400. The M was roughly 45 belt hp, the 400 about 40 or so drawbar. We also at that time had Cat 22s that did row crop work with; pulled a

3-row JD lister and cultivator with them.

After the dry 50s broke in '58, upgraded to a Case 930 wheatland (90 drawbar roughly) and Farmall 560. The latter was a real disappointment and didn't last long before got the first 4000-series JD. Grandad had a little WD-45 Allis he used when he got where couldn't handle the M or

400 any longer but didn't want to quit entirely. Had a full line of 3-pt 8-ft equipment for it including a spring chisel. Having so much equipment, Dad bought a D17 and I did a _lot_ of row crop with it all thru high school. I keep looking for a decent one of them; for nostalgia. They're just cute plus make a real nice little front loader tractor although now they're too short for even the small truck so don't have hardly any functional use for one...even the JD 4440 w/ loader can barely reach top row of tractor-trailer to load the front bales over the drivers. It'll handle the drop bed section easily but that other 8" is an effort--gotta' be sure to pick the base up at the very bottom edge and hope it's not wrapped too loose...

My kid brother has an old Allis D series - I think it's a 17 - about a 1958 model?

OT: Whatcha planting for your bees? A client sent me a little jar of her Lehua honey from Hawaii. Yum! Do you li'l guys produce honey for you and do you and collect/use the beeswax? Top bar or Langstroth style hives?

Back on topic: Some scrap heavy duty angle iron and old leaf springs might be cheaper, since you have extra time/less $$ now. I have a spare leaf spring which I made into a woodsplitting tool, a froe. I was going to make a nice, big slick (2-handed wood chisel) but Gunner gave one to me when I was there last month. (Thanks, mon!) It's handy steel.

$199 snow plow blade, not too bad. But does your local steel scrap yard have pieces of 48" (or 60?) pipe you could cut one from?

I've got several types of flowering plants , including clover , penstemon , alyssum , and a few more I can't remember .

I have a pair of springs from a mid/late 70's Camaro , should have enough to make a froe and several knives after I get what I need for the cultivator . I also have a selection of structural shapes , I don't think I'll need to buy anything but maybe a pair of wheels . One pair of decent wheels can be swapped from device to device - trailer , log dragger , cultivator . Hey , I can only use one at a time .

Not sure why you suggested a plow blade ... this machine came with a swell front plow , with "overload springs" so it tilts when it catches on something . It can also be locked ... I used it to plow snow off my driveway this morning . Not that it really needed to be plowed , but I wanted to try it out before the need was dire . I found that the hydraulics can either lock the blade in position or let it "float" depending on how the control lever is positioned . Power down , I can lift the front end off the ground ... and steer with the brakes .

This has been a very imformative thread , and I appreciate the input from all who responded . I learned a lot ...

Forgot to say , I use Langstroth type hives , 2 deeps for brood and mediums for honey production . We only have 1 hive so far , plan to split it in the spring . I'll be selling cut-comb honey if/when we get enough to harvest . More work for the bees than extracted honey as they must rebuild come from scratch every time , but a lot of folks will pay a premium price . And who knows , in a couple of years I may find it economically feasible to start extracting some too .

What color do you temper the froe to where you bent it for the handle?

-jsw

Whatever works!

I could have sworn you said you'd like to get one. My brain must have farted on me. So solly.

Yeah, fun thread. I've always wanted a tractor but haven't owned one, yet. (Front end loader and backhoe)

I haven't made one yet , but probably to a medium/dark straw color .

This whole adventure started about a month ago when my wife wanted to know if I was still looking for a lawn mower ... well , it DOES have a mower deck too ! I knew when I dragged it home that it was going to need several hundred dollars in parts and repairs . I'm into it just over 400 bucks , and AFAIK I don't need to buy any more parts . It's all labor and material on hand now .

On 11/17/2014 7:27 PM, snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote: ...

That'd be early one; first series was '57 thru '59 or perhaps '60; stayed in production thru the Series IV up to about '69 or '70...ours was a Series II in '60 or '61.

The stove on his manifold was burned through - didn't run worth squat 'till I found him a new manifold. Too much EGR!!! He's got one of those crappy old British International tractors too - a B414 diesel with a front end loader. Darn things never did steer well with a loader on them - you need biceps like Popeye. Miserable things to start anything below about 55 F too. - even with new glo plugs.(and almost perfect compression).