Corn Sheller

[charlz]

I have watched numerous YouTube videos many times and there always seems to be a fair bit of corn escaping the collection boxes on smaller models. Is this something that has to accepted? I know from when I used to combine large acreages of small grains that there is some waste out of the back of combine harvesters too (sometimes a lot if incorrectly set up) but the quantity "lost" in small scale shelling seems high. On the other hand, a big sheet surrounding the collection box would making picking up that grain not too difficult, so maybe it is not such a big deal if time and effort are saved.

Most of the farms likely had a seed cleaner as part of their equipment inventory. Layout a tarp and process the corn and then dump what is on the tarp through the seed cleaner. Another thing is most farms probably had 'yard birds' (chickens) so the corn didn't go to waste. Easier to pick a few cackleberries from the hen house then worry about some corn on the ground

 

[charlz]

Call me stupid, but I'd have to try my old cement mixer with a few ears and a couple of bricks thrown in there to knock the corn off the ears. I'm just enough of a redneck homeboy to give that a try.

I have looked a little into small-scale threshing and cleaning of grains. One of the things I found somewhere for a thresher was to use a home-owner sized garden shredder. In the example I found they bolted the swinging hammers so they wouldn't move and pulverize the grains too much. You want just enough to knock all the grain loose from the heads. I just happen to have an old shredder I got from my parents that has fixed 'hammers'. I also have a bunch of left over sweet corn this year.... maybe an experiment is in order later this fall. It would give me a mix of chopped up husk cob and corn though so some type of fanning mill or other process would be needed.... same for the concrete mixed I imagine.

 

[dave1949]

Cement mixer and bricks. LOL "Jimmy Cracked Corn and I don't care ...." Remember that one?

It depends on what the grain is to be used for also. Cracked corn, versus shelled whole kernel corn, would be a more efficient feed for most animals. Cracked or ground grains begin losing nutrient values and are more prone to spoilage, so you would want to keep them whole until needed in an ideal situation.

 

[charlz]

The mills for cracking or grinding you don't see too much anymore. These days I believe they mostly steam flake corn for feed because it raises the feeding efficiency. Maybe other grains as well.

 

[OldMcDonald]

charlz, I too have considered the garden shredder and looked at some last year. The problem with that size of shredder is the limitation on the size of stick they will accept for shredding - smaller than your average corn ear. I did not grow any this year due to a late harvest of faba beans on the ground I intended to use, but I hand shelled roughly a tonne (2200 pounds) by hand last winter. I hand harvested and pushed the husks back as I harvested, snapping off only the ears. I find this easier than husking later, and the ears stored well - the last being shelled in March. I would happily accept cracked grain including pieces of the cob as all my grain goes to feeding goats or poultry, and the extttra fibre of the cob is beneficial for the goats. Poultry would pick out the grain (and big grains are too big for some) and leave the pieces of cob so there is no problem there. I have given up on trying to make a sheller at present, but was leaning towards a hammer milling of whole ears whilst shelling last year - although I did use the cobs in place of firewood.

Dave, There are a few YouTube videos for "Jimmy Cracked corn". Burl Ives was my favourite when it was popular.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

bjr, I too found it impossible to source a sheller - and other people grow maize for their animals here too. I tried to make one myself, but had no plans to go on. I asked on this forum (Build it Yourself) and several others.

I ask the question "Why does it appear that nobody in the western world makes other than a drop-in single hole sheller?" There must be a good market for a machine that will shell up to a few hundred pounds of corn a day. I do not want to go to the extent of a hammer mill and the best I have thought of so far is as suggested by Barry 1, but I would prefer to have the corn shelled.

A few hundred pounds a day seems well within the capacity of a drop-in single hole sheller. They are fun to use according to my Mom who used one on the family farm 70 years ago.
5 Acres & A Dream: Corn Sheller Maximizer™ Corn Sheller Hand Operated Crank Stationary Walnut Sheller desgranadora de maíz Antique-Look

 

[dave1949]

Dave, There are a few YouTube videos for "Jimmy Cracked corn". Burl Ives was my favourite when it was popular.

I guess it was word association that brought that to mind. I probably heard Burl Ives singing it on a 45 rpm record as a child.

When I looked up the lyrics this morning, and noted the history of the song, I wondered how it ever came to be considered a child's entertainment. I can still hear the tune in my head, but I was certainly oblivious to its origin or true meaning for the past 50-some years.

I suppose our children will look back and wonder at some of things we filled their heads with too.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Brad, Thanks for the link. I had seen it before, and, using a sheet or tarp, as discussed above, I am sure such a sheller is preferable to hand shelling, but as I also posted I am hanging fire at present. I had been considering increasing animal numbers (and growing more maize) but the olives are needing more work each year whilst I am getting older - and they are not as tying as livestock. I like some free time on Sundays if I can. Around this time of day is coffee break every day and convenient to visit TBN.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

When I was a kid we grew some corn and at first it was harvested with an old borrowed/rented tow-behind corn picker and stored in a corn crib. We fed whole cobs. Later we hired a neighbor with a combine to harvest it and it was wonderful to see the shelled corn pour out of that machine. If you have a crop of any size and if anyone local has a combine for hire, that is the way to go.

The dairy farmer I worked for bought an old corn picker and I got the job of greasing it. That thing must have had a hundred grease fittings. A modern combine probably has fewer moving parts. That corn was ground up cobs-and-all at the feed mill and fed to the heifers.

Have you tried feeding whole cobs to your goats? Mine will eat the bark off a pine log. I'm sure corn on the cob would not present much of a challenge.

Oh yeah, if you generate any woody brush, give it to your goats, they will thrive on it. They will eat the leaves, twigs, and bark. In winter I regularly cut pine trees and privet shrub for the goats. Prunings any time of year.

 

[charlz]

charlz, I too have considered the garden shredder and looked at some last year. The problem with that size of shredder is the limitation on the size of stick they will accept for shredding - smaller than your average corn ear.

Mine is exactly like the one posted here:

Information On Montgomery Wards Shredder - Montgomery Wards - Garden Tractor Talk - Garden Tractor Forums

You don't see this style very often. I have seen some that take screens on the bottom so you can have it shred to a particular size. He doesn't show the inside of the hopper but I measured mine and the opening is 2.5" wide by 11.5" long which I think would take cobs sideways and it drops straight down so should take them on end as well.

Mine has not been run in some years and it didn't want to start today. No spark so either needs a new plug or a tear-down check-out on the electrical. The engine is pretty old, if I used it much I would probably put a new one on there. Once in a while you see a good horizontal shaft motor for sale cheap because someone forgot to winterize their pressure washer I have also thought about adapting it to a 3point frame and possibly PTO powered.

There are two downsides to this particular unit.

1)It is close to the ground making removing material difficult. You can lift it by the handle and wheel it a little further but then you leave a trail of material versus a pile. This is one of the reasons I had thought of possibly bolting it on a 3pt carry frame or something to give you more room and make moving it easy.

2)The door is only held closed by springs. If you get a build up of material it will pop the door open a little and spit stuff out. Does make it quick to open to clear a jam or excess material though.


Since it doesn't use swinging hammers it might have issues breaking up cobs. That could be good if you just want the corn seed but then you would have to stop every so often to clear the cobs or find some other way to get them out of the machine 'automagically'.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Brad, I have had problems before in saying things to folks in the US - my English is different to US English, but be assured I mean absolutely no offence.

I have been farming around the world for several decades on places ranging from very large to small. There are no combines probably within 100 miles of me. In the 10 years I have been here I have never seen one closer. I feed corn to the goats in troughs inside their night shed (it is necessary to house all stock at nights because of predation) and anything they pull out and drop, which they would with whole cobs, is not eaten. One of the reasons I keep goats is that they eat the prunings from my 500 olive trees. These prunings otherwise need to be burnt because of disease organisms that would live in them, and to me that is just a waste. Far better to produce FYM after they have been eaten.

Charlz, The inside of that shredder, and it is a good size, reminds me of the working part of a garden rotavator, and that gives me a couple of ideas for the possibility of making a sheller. Or rather for busting up the cobs. Rotavate them. It probably means a bit of experimentation with tines and revolution speed, and possibly making swinging hammers to replace the tines, but that should not be too difficult, nor making a box for it to work in. Most folks would be shelling at times of the year when they would not want to be rotavating the garden so it extends the use of the machine that would only be sitting idle.

I have also just remembered seeing a sheller that looked like the barrel of a cannon, guessing now but maybe 4 or 5 feet long. It was maybe 5 or 6 years ago on the net, and I do not know where. Do you know of such a machine?

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Good explanation of your situation. You might like to look through the patents on corn shellers for more ideas. https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&hl=en#hl=en&q=corn+sheller&tbm=pts