Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Way OT: name of a tool
Ace Foster
Long and long ago, corn was harvested by hand and stacked in shocks in the field to dry. There was a tool, or maybe implement would be a better word, used to facilitate the making of the shocks. It looked about like a long sawhorse with one set of legs missing. What was it called?
Re: Way OT: name of a tool
ben d.
I think you are referring to a Binder. A machine that cuts the stalks close to the ground gathers so many stalks and then binds them into a bundle which are then hand picked up to build the shocks with a certain number of bundles.
ben d.
Corn shock horse
Dick Coers
Or corn shocking horse
Re: Corn shock horse
Rum
Well now that's plumb interesting.
Farmers bulletins circa 1907
Harvesting and Storing Corn
http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=ORC00000108&content=PDF
Corn Harvesting Machinery.
https://ia902505.us.archive.org/9/items/CAT87201706/farmbul0303.pdf
Some of this would be downright useful for harvesting an acre or so by hand which would be a lot of corn for home use.
Timely subject...
Chuck Jones - West TN
Our local woodturning club is meeting at our farm Saturday. My wife felt compelled to decorate the shed in an autumn theme. While we were cutting corn stalks I was telling her how I remembered shocking corn when I was a kid. We did it mostly by hand, but I do remember seeing several different devices that were intended to automate the process. None worked very well from what I remember.
Re: Way OT: name of a tool
Rich Egan
I don't know, but I'm waiting for the shocking response.
Re: Corn shock horse
Ace Foster
Shocking horse was the one I was looking for. Thanks to all.
