Cultivator Sweeps: How Sharp is Sharp Enough?

[John_in_TN]

I discussed this with my uncle, who grew up on a farm had a small farm for several years. He says he never sharpened his sweeps.
However, he does clearly remember having to crank the blower for his dad's forge while he sharped sweeps and plow shares by peening them. He thinks they had to do this in order to get the sweeps to cut vines. Of course they were plowing with mules and working in a lot of "new-ground" in those days. Vines were a particular problem for several years after clearing virgin land.
My dad grew up plowing mules and keep a pair several years after we got a tractor, so it is quite possible this was a common practice with mule-drawn sweeps, ane he just continued to do it with the tractor.

 

[MBDiagMan]

John,

I think you are exactly right. My granddad was born in 1882,drove cattle from Texas to wyoming as a teenager and saved enough to buy his place on the blanco river in Texas in 1910. He did not have a tractor until the late thirties.

When I saw him sharpenig sweeps in the fifties he was using a couple of popping johnnies. The practice probably was a holdover for him. He was a very regimented man.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.