[AT] Plows

Dean VP deanvp at att.net
Sat Jun 27 18:41:03 PDT 2015


One of my everlasting memories is going along with my Dad to the local Blacksmith.  It was full of stuff that was completely fascinating with belt driven machines all over, open hearths, sparks flying all over, etc, etc. I sure wish we would have had video cameras back then. It was a mechanical marvel. And the Blacksmith was a character.  Spoke very little English but that didn't bother my father as he too spoke Dutch and could understand spoken Dutch.  They would start telling jokes in Dutch and they both would laugh and laugh until they had ears running down their face.  The Blacksmith's name was Taco Stellingworth and he was a very funny and talented man.  He really enjoyed his work and my Dad enjoyed bringing work to him.  He was also a huge baseball fan and would talk about driving the 40 miles to Sioux City, IA to watch minor League BB games in Ford model T cars before US Highway 75 was paved.  Apparently the road was near impassable when it rained.  What I wouldn't give for some recordings of My Dad and him during those visits.   I'm sure my mouth was hanging open most of the time I was inside the building. It was a wonder world for me.

BTW, I was never formally taught Dutch but visits such as these caused me learn to at least understand the spoken word in Dutch. It was a necessity to get the full benefit of the visit. :-)  Our parents also spoke Dutch in front of us kids when they didn't want us to understand what they were talking about.  Another important  reason to learn the language.  The parents never really realized we were understanding some of what they were saying. Obviously it wasn't admitted. 

Dean VP
Snohomish, WA 98290

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”  … Sir Winston Churchill


-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Bealke
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2015 5:43 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Plows

As I remember, AC moldboard plows were the hard pullers in our area.  Used an old rope trip one behind an equally old and reliable WC.  As we have discussed before here, a major concern in plow choice back then was well how it plowed tall weeds and crop under.  The JD Hi-Speed plows of the 50’s (the moldboard had kind of a twist straight back) worked best for fields with nothing taller than wheat stubble to turn under. If you had one of those mythical power-to-spare tractors and weedless fields of the sales brochures, these plows did speed right along smartly without throwing dirt. They also speeded sales of weed hooks, Yetter disc shaped coulters, moldboard pads, chains, etc. to help (supposedly) give the Hi-speed some covering power.  But our Hi-Speed was resistant to much help from such devices.  Did like their then new “throw away” shares. These ended up killing some of the last sustaining work of the few remaining blacksmiths in the area - sharpening plow shares.  Their shops were fun places to go.  Coal burning smells, dirt and heavy iron from the past were all around, and I particularly liked to watch the heating and hand-hammer shaping of glowing iron.  

Chuck Bealke
Dallas
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