chisel vs moldboard plow

[N80]

Right. But I guess that hinges on what you mean by "TRUE" chisel plow. If you mean a chisel plow that works, well, there you go. I'm basing my impression off of one local experience: A fellow has been trying to prep a dove field out of an old pasture across from my place. He had no luck with a 65hp 4wd JD pulling a pretty heavy looking (new) chisel plow. It simply would not bite adequately in our drought hardened dirt (this was last summer). And yes, to me it looked like a heavy duty cultivator more than anything else. He immediately returned it. It was almost totally useless. The old moldboard plow, on the other hand, works fairly well in this 'soil'. Or at least it bit and turned the sod over. Compaction is surely a problem, but probably not so much for sunflowers and millet for a weekend dove field.

And I agree, I think a subsoiler or multitooth ripper is what he really needed. But he (we) have to use what we have sometimes.

I have also come to find out that the big old chisel plow I found in my B-I-L's junk barn actually belongs to this guy. It looks significantly more substantial than the new one he bought. So apparently he hasn't given up on the chisel plow idea. This one will need work and even though it is solid rust, it looks tough. And now that we've had a few months of rain, it may do the trick. It looks to be 7 or 8 feet wide and so will be faster than a moldboard plow too.

We will see.

 

[hotchkiss]

Thanks FWJ and others. FWJ you are a great asset. It seems as though you reply to more members than any other member. What is a "true chisel plow" as compared to the other that you mentioned? How can I tell them apart?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Thanks FWJ and others. FWJ you are a great asset. It seems as though you reply to more members than any other member. What is a "true chisel plow" as compared to the other that you mentioned? How can I tell them apart?

I've got a lot of free time on my hands right now. Doc and family has me flying close to the ground. So, I spend too much time in front of the computer now.

I've seen tillage tools that some called a "chisel plow" that run the gammit from spring toothed harrow, to field cultivator, falling a little short of being a chisel plow. A REAL chisel plow is built sturdy enough, and with the right sort of points to work much deeper than those other tools. Around these parts, chiseling is 10" to 14" on average. Some areas chisel much deeper than that. Go any deeper here and you're into solid limestone in many places. Moldboard plowing is typically no deeper than 8" here. Field cultivators are more of a secondary tillage tool. Part of making a chisel plow work is moving at a sufficient ground speed. It takes real brute HP to pull a chisel plow deep enough and fast enough. They didn't really come into vogue until farm tractors in excess of 100 hp were common, And in our area, that 100 hp wouldn't pull more than 8' to 10' chisels at best. A neighbor who started chiseling in the mid 1970's and still does to this day now uses 140 hp worth of MFWD John Deere in front of a 12' DMI plow @ speeds of around 5mph. For a few years, back when I had a 110 hp MFWD tractor, I used a 10' IH chisel and struggled with it any deeper than 12". Point is, in MOST soils, you won't pull a REAL chisel plow at a satisfactory working depth with a small tractor. Use one at a shallow depth and you aren't really accomplishing what a chisel plow is intended for. If that's the case, you'd just as well use a lighte weight field cultivator.

 

[Egon]

Chisel plows are taking about HP that's just a tad more than most of here are familiar with.

 

[hotchkiss]

FWJ: Thanks for you input. You are a valuable member. How can I tell the difference between a true chisel plow and a heavy cultivator?????

 

[N80]

Both of the implements that my buddy was calling a chisel plow have springs (like a cultivator). Does a serious chisel plow have springs? If so, they must be serious springs. If not, it sounds like a serious chisel plow is more like a ripper with interchangeable points.

And I'd say that FWJ is right on the mark in terms of what it would take to really renovate a pasture here: something that would dig deep and use a lot of hp.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

FWJ: Thanks for you input. You are a valuable member. How can I tell the difference between a true chisel plow and a heavy cultivator?????

That answer would be something like trying to define the difference between a pond and a small lake. It's very subjective. For the most part, besides very heavy construction, chisel plows USUALLY have "points" where cultivators generally have "sweeps". Sweeps usually have sort of a winged shape and throw soil more than a point. Some chisel plows have sprung shanks, some don't. Chisel plows usually have a rigid shank, be it straight or parabolic. Cultivator shanks are USUALLY curved and "springy" but note as a hard and fast rule.

I guess the determining factor would be if it was able to withstand the rigors of being dragged through the ground at a depth of 12" to 15" and not folding like a lawn chair. Most field cultivators wouldn't take the punishment of being used that deep for very long.

 

[hotchkiss]

Well thanks for all you help again. It looks to me like I need to find a heavy duty/real chisel plow. But since I only have a 90 hp tractor MFWD, I should probably stick with a seven shank plow in order to plow fast and deep enough to do what needs to be done. I am not going to bid on it since it is too far away, but there is what appears to be a seven shank chisel plow on ebay right now. I suspect it is what you would call a true chisel plow. Again thanks for all your help. I grew up on a farm until I was about 21, go away from it for about 20 years, and now I am back and can't get enough of it.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Well thanks for all you help again. It looks to me like I need to find a heavy duty/real chisel plow. But since I only have a 90 hp tractor MFWD, I should probably stick with a seven shank plow in order to plow fast and deep enough to do what needs to be done. I am not going to bid on it since it is too far away, but there is what appears to be a seven shank chisel plow on ebay right now. I suspect it is what you would call a true chisel plow. Again thanks for all your help. I grew up on a farm until I was about 21, go away from it for about 20 years, and now I am back and can't get enough of it.

You can always remove the outer pair of shanks to reduce the width. Or try it with 7 first, then reduce it if it needs to be.

 

[N80]

Sweet Tractor has this thing that they call a renovater:

And this thing which they also call a pasture renovater. Looks tough:

They are calling this a chisel plow, it looks more like a very light duty cultivator:

But THIS looks like the real deal. They call it a chisel plow. No springs. Interchangeable points. Looks like it might have shear bolt protection, hard to tell.

They have it listed for $795.

As you can see, and as FWJ said, there is a lot of variation in terminology between 'chisel plow', 'cultivator' and 'renovator'.