[AT] Plows, now Blacksmiths

[Herb Metz]

Yes, Dean, I sure agree with you.   Fritz Polzer was our local blacksmith; a 
hard headed German, but he could and would do most anything for his 
customers.  Our area was mostly German; I never heard anyone speak anything 
other than English.  Fritz seldom had time for more than just one joke, 
waiting on a customer, then back to work.  But, Dad always waited for Fritz 
to guide the conversation.  And Dad always told him no hurry, even when that 
was not the situation.  Dad occasionally joked, only to me, "I think that 
heat affects them".
Every farmer is plowing or listing wheat ground ASAP after harvest, so 
blacksmiths are especially busy for several weeks. One time some farmer 
answered Fritz honestly, when asked how soon he needed his plow shears 
resharpened, by saying "as soon as you can get to them."
That is when Fritz picked up the shears, walked over to the big, open door, 
and threw the shears on the ground outside the door, and said "you got em". 
Later that farmer had a neighbor farmer include his shears when he took them 
to Fritz for sharpening.   Fritz looked at them and said he could sharpen 
the one pair, but not the other.  He recognized them.
Today when going to larger tractor shows I seek out any blacksmith; much of 
the capability is there, but the old dusty, smoky, hot, dimly lighted 
building is only a fading memory.
Herb(GA)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dean VP
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2015 9:41 PM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: Re: [AT] Plows
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