Importance of coulters?

[tglass]

Personally, I wouldn't own a plow WITHOUT coulters. Never would, never will be without. They don't do much (if anything) to make plows pull easier.....They make 'em pull with less aggrevation though....When plowing in crop residue (ie stalks) or weeds, they cut a slit where the plow can work through rather than dragging all that residue into a heap under the plow beam. Having coulters set properly makes the difference between working correctly and not seeing any advantage. I also INSIST on coverboards (AKA "trash boards") Until recent years, I wasn't aware anyone plowed WITHOUT coulters. Where I came from, plowing without coulters would make the neighbors start talking aboutcha! (In a not so nice way!!)

Competitors in "Match Ploughing" tournaments set coulters almost as deep as the plow is operating to give furrow walls a clean, crisp, straight look. That's not as critical when you're just plowing the "back 40" for a corn crop.

Well said if ever plowing land in the fall or spring. I can't emagine not using one unless you enjoy backing up alot and cleaning the plow heap and extra power used. Simple adjustment will save alot of trouble and time.

[mroldstyle]

Well said if ever plowing land in the fall or spring. I can't emagine not using one unless you enjoy backing up alot and cleaning the plow heap and extra power used. Simple adjustment will save alot of trouble and time.

So what is the proper adjustment?

[dougg]

GWDIXON,
On that picture of the blue plow that you posted, there are some X shape welds all along on the plow shares. Do you know what they are for?

[gwdixon]

GWDIXON,
On that picture of the blue plow that you posted, there are some X shape welds all along on the plow shares. Do you know what they are for?

Since I put them there I'd better know.

Those are Stoody 31 hardfacing weld lines. They are actually on the landslides rather than the shares.

A lot of heavy equipment uses a welded checked pattern to reduce wear on ground contact surfaces. The little square areas collect material (dirt, sand) and that takes the wear instead of the metal.

Something like 7018 would work nearly as well - just have to re-do it more often. I just happen to like working with hardfacing.

[Mace Canute]

Every old plow I have even seen around here has coulters and some of them are indeed very old! Even the newest ones have them too. I've never seen one without except in some videos of new plows and have never seen the "straight-blade" coulters (I believe they are also called "hanging cutters") either but learn something new everyday!

As far as how deep to set them, I've read in an old manual on plowing that you only need to set them two or three inches deep...apparently just deep enough to cut through the trash on top and a shade into the dirt. It should not run more than three and a half inches deep. Under most circumstances it should be set one half inch to the left of the landside. It's not necessary to set them deeper unless you are going for looks such as Farmwithjunk mentioned.

[rambler]

I've plowed cornstalks all my life, dad let me put a couple hours in a day when I was 8 with the IHC 300 and 2-16 Oliver trip plow here in the 150-175 bu clay ground her ein southern MN, one knows what a coulter is for in short order.

I also detest having to run a disk or stalk chopper in front of the plow, so try to plow down standing stalks. That's a extra challenge...

Soil type and moisture changes how exactly to set the coulters. They need to be big, large diameter. Smooth is typically best, in real mud the slightly rippled ones can be nice, noched is ok too but never saw any reason for it.

Someone described the cone coulters that JD had as an option for a few decades, they looked like they worked sort of like a covering board, neat idea. Neighbor uses them, dad bought a plow that had them but one was busted so he proceeded to take them all apart and add to the junk pile. Sigh. I think JD stopped support for them in the late 1990's. Cool idea tho, i woulda liked to try them myself.

Really couldn't plow the stuff I plow without coulters, not really an option in my region. Only see one out of 20 or so plows without coulters 'here'. Spring loaded is the way to go, tho shear pin type worked fine for me back when. Plows have had spring loaded coulters since the 1960s as an option?

Hope I find the one my wife lost in the field last fall, and I hope I don't find it with a tire....

--->Paul

[hammer54]

I grew up on a 270 acre, 40 cow, dairy farm in what turns into the Champlain Valley in upstate NY and coulters were a necessity. We farmed with a WD Allis and a then new series 3 D-17 Allis pulling 3 bottom 16" mounted plow with trash covers add. Our main corn field was river bottom that flooded yearly, thus the trash part. I lost a coulter one day and finally discoverd their primary use. I woulld consider them trash cutters primarily. I continued plowing with the coulter missing for a short time. I quickly got sick of stopping every few hundred yards to clean the trash, weeds, and corn stalks from the share with the missing coulter. I surmised the coulter wasn't missing that long so I walked the plowed area until I located it. That one missing coulter allowed enough enough trash to build up to lift the other 2 bottoms out of the ground. Also Dad would kick my butt for plowinf over 5 inches deep. Land was loam, gravel, with clay areas. You need then for plowing unmowded fields which was rare. All our hilly areas were good old clay and you needed all the help you could get when plowing blue clay an a steep hill side. Plowing clean, loam, level field coulters would be an option.

[vtsnowedin]

On a horse drawn plow there is a sod knife that does the job that a coulter does. It is dead center of the plow beam as the moldboard flops from one side to the other at the end of the field so being offset a half inch isn't possible. The rolling disk of a coulter is more efficent then a sod knife but they are really there to cut the sod when plowing new ground. Without them the sod bunches up until the plow shank tears it and you get ragged edges with grass still sticking up. not good for weed control. One of the postes up thread said that he wanted the coulter spring loaded so as to not ride up the plow when it hits a rock. I would rather have the plow ride up then have the point catch and bring the tractor to a sudden stop. I'm missing one of the coulters on my two bottom plows. It is alright in old ground but I'm going to replace it before I do any new ground.