Antique Implements?

[Harv]

On this last trip to the property I stumbled (almost literally) on some beat up old junk that was so covered up with grass, leaves and dirt I'd almost forgotten they were there. Never had a good look at the stuff before, so I hunkered down and hauled it all out of the weeds and up to the shop.

The attached picture shows what all there was -- a small set of discs and the remains of five spikey-things that might qualify as harrows of some kind.

More details in next couple of posts.

 

[Harv]

The discs are relatively small and I was able to pick them up onto my bucket forks without seriously hurting my back, so they couldn't weigh much more than a hundred pounds.

Looking them over, I had another flash of ignorance -- what the heck are discs for? I'm guessing they are used to somehow prepare already broken up dirt for such things as planting, but the fact is I've never even seen them used. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

This particular set (see attached) is so light, it would only be effective in something pretty darn soft. Can anybody enlighten me as to its intended use?

 

[Harv]

The spikey things were in pretty bad shape. Looked like they had been on the losing end of a military conflict. I was able to accumulate enough pieces from the five units to assemble one functional implement.

The square spikes (blacksmith forged?) are mounted to the frame in such a way that their angle of attack can be controlled by a crude ratchet/lever thingy sticking up on the back end. Like the discs, though, the whole contraption is so light (I can just lift it off the ground) that it just skitters over the surface of the natural hard-packed dirt on the property. Doesn't even leave enough scratches to tell where it's been.

I tried it out on an area I had previously ripped up with my box blade scarifiers about a month ago. On this stuff, the spikes actually seem to engage the soil, but did little to change what it passed through. Again, my ignorance comes into play -- are such things to be used on something like an arena, where the soil is already silky soft?

Fun stuff, but unless the brain trust here on TBN has any better suggestions, I think I'll be using these "implements" as yard decorations. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[RobertN]

Harv,

Looks like you have a few drag harrow, with depth adjustment, and a small disk. you could use them for smoothing and evening. I believe the handle shown controlled the depth of the harrow tines.

they actually look more like something you'd find behind a Farmall like mine...

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[RobertN]

Harv,
You done got it figured out. It don't do much more than that. I imagine if disked, or plowed, the dirt chunks would be big, and this would help bust it up. But, after you scraper/ripper, it won't help a lot.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[glennmac]

Harv, as one agricultural expert to another, I can tell you that the orange thing is a disc ... but the black spikey things are definitely the remains of a $3000, 2000 lb. Gannon hydraulic boxblade that your father demolished while trying to polish a perfect path on your cruel dirt.

 

[s1120]

Harv.
The discs look like they are for a garden tractor. It looks like they have a sleve hitch hookup on the front.

 

[ddl]

Yoy have a field harrow, sometimes called a drag. Purpose is to be pulled either behind the disk(a little larger then the one you pictures). The levers adjusted the angle of the teeth to the surface. The angle can be from the teeth pointing back almost on their side to pointing forward almost laying on their side. Aggressive to non agressive. The plow turned the ground, the disk cut the ground into small pieces(not to small) and the drag was to finish the job of perparing the feild for planting.

If you have a road or piece of ground that you want to smooth out and actually do leveling, use the drag and pull behind your tractor, set the teeth to aggressive and make a few passes, then adjust to non agressive and make a few more passes at tha higher speed and you will get a smooth level surface.

You would probaly pay around 10 to 20 dallors or high per section for the drag sections. Landscaper uses then a lot for finishing the surface. I have the newer version called a Fuerst Harrow, no tilt adjustment, but it works great.

Dan L

 

[Bird]

Harv, many, many years ago I spent some time with an uncle plowing wheat fields in preparation for planting. He had two old Case tractors and each one pulled a two bottom turning plow (moldboard) with one of those drag harrows (we called them section harrows) dragging along behind on a chain. I can also remember seeing some folks use one of those harrows behind a team of mules with the guy standing on the harrow for added weight to make the spikes dig in more (definitely too dangerous to suit me). The disc looks much like the "disc harrow" that Northern Tool sells for garden tractors (item# 250637-C160 for $139.99; shipping weight 60 pounds). They'll scratch the surface and smooth it a bit. Most of the farmers in this area use huge discs instead of turning plows now to prepare for planting.

Bird

 

[RobS]

I've got a couple of those spikey things myself Harv. A friend gave them to me. In our area we call them a spike tooth harrow. Mine date to the horsedrawn era I think. I rigged them up with some chain to pull side-by-side and found them to be about worthless but that's mainly due to the angle adjustment no longer working. I only tried them once and I'll probably leave them for some future generation to uncover and wonder about /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[jyoutz]

Harv, I have a spike tooth harrow exactly like that. I use it to seed native grass seed in the fall. I first run over the ground with the teeth set down and aggressive, then I will seed the area. I finish up by dragging the harrow with the teeth retracted. This does a good job of lightly covering the seed.

 

[RayBee]

Harv

I have used the spike tooth harrow like you have pictured to seed a pasture as have some others who have answered this post, I would add that in my instance I dragged a heavy timber behind the harrow via a couple of chains to help level the new surface. It's low tech, but it stills work.
RayBee

 

[Harv]

RayBee -

I like the log idea. That's a technology I can sink my teeth into. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I take it from you and the others that before you can get any real results from the spike harrow, you have to work the soil with something else to get it really loose first. I suppose that would be true for almost any kind of harrow, huh?

 

[looch]

<font color=blue>I suppose that would be true for almost any kind of harrow, huh?</font color=blue>

I hope not. I was thinking about getting a small disk harrow for my B7500 to even out my field a little. (small ditches and bumps are a pain when hogging). I was thinking that with multiple passes and some weight that I could achieve this. Also, I have a single bottom plow that I have tried and it produced good results. After I did it, I thought great, but now what? The tiller can't handle the turned earth because it's all sod (just picks up the pieces and thrashes them about).

 

[ddl]

How large you field? If it was three acres or less I would use my tiller to till the spots that need to be leveled, the thrid pass with the tiller, would be going as fast as I can. It is amazing how levelthe area will be, a pass with my drag set aggressive and then reseed, one pass with my drag set non aggressive to cover the seed and pray for rain. I bet it will be level and smooth when done. Just mow the grass as short as possible before you till.

Dan L

 

[scruffy]

Harv, hang one of them "spikey things" on the shop wall so that you can hang your 'not a coffee cup' mugs on the spikes!
/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[ljh2]

We used to use 'em 'ere tools in the order of:
1. moldboard plow
2. disc harrow
3. spike tooth drag

The plow and disc break the soil up thoroughly and
the drag breaks up the remaining lumps and creates
a fairly smooth planting surface.

-larry

 

[Harv]

Hey, Scruffy!

That's not a half bad idea. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Not sure they're strong enough for my Chalkley cups, but I could certainly hang a few hats on 'em. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[scruffy]

Harv,
I bet you could find all sorts of this and thats to hang on one!
Really though, I was thinking EMPTY Chalkley cups! Darn things could cause a roll-over if you only carried one and it wasn't centered. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[jinman]

Harv, I haven't heard anyone mention the spring-tooth variation to the spike harrow. I have two or three of these sections and used them extensively as a kid to prep soil before planting. They worked good to drag out bermuda grass and johnson grass roots out of sandy soil after using the turning plow. I'll try to post a photo of them later this weekend.

JimI