Homemade Device Makes Corn Shelling Fun

Homemade Device Makes Corn Shelling Fun FARM HOME Food 33-4-25 Ryan Underwood likes to keep his five kids busy and entertained. His handy field corn sheller does both. "They love to shell corn to toss to the chickens," says Underwood. "With this board, it's easy for them to do and fun, too." The shelling board consists of an ear corn-sized hole with six dowels protruding into the opening. Underwood cut out the center hole and then drilled three holes from each side of the board, one at a right angle and two at a 45 degree angle on either side. "I tapped in dowel sticks and tried them at different lengths until I got the right lengths and glued them into place." On the underside of the board, he cut slots 1/2-in. wide and 1/4-in. deep to fit over the rim of a five-gallon bucket. When an ear of corn is twisted against the dowels, the kernels fall into the bucket. After noticing that a few kernels were often left at the tip, Underwood added two 1-in. screws in a V-shape to one edge of the board. "They can rub the cob against the screws to get those last kernels," he says. "Every kernel counts when you pick your corn by hand. The boys go out into nearby fields after their grandfather has chopped them for silage and find ears that were missed." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ryan Underwood, 16277 Buzzle Rd. N.W., Shevlin, Minn. 56676 (ph 218 243-3266; undrwood@paulbunyan.net).

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