Business Is Booming For Disc Sharpening Service

Business Is Booming For Disc Sharpening Service DISKS Sharp discs are more important than ever to cut through heavy crop residue Ingersoll Tillage Group’s EdgeCarePlus® sharpening system grinds discs mounted on the gang At $2 700 it can be a smart investment both for farmers and for entrepreneurs Ron Barlow of Francesville Ind started a sharpening service to fit with his other ag-related services “The biggest advantage of having sharp discs is that they cut better and help the decaying process ” Barlow says “Even the no-till guys are finding this helpful Plus they get better fuel economy and require less horsepower from the equipment to pull ” Barlow purchased an EdgeCarePlus 3 years ago and started making cold calls to area producers selling his sharpening service at $5 to $7/disc Now they call him so they are ready with sharp discs after harvest “There is a knack to it ” Barlow says about using the sharpener But it’s lightweight for one person to load and has a removable handle to get into tight areas It operates on 110 volts The most important advantage is that it uses cold-sharpening technology and has a timer to avoid taking the temper out of steel “We start out at 2 min to see if we get the edge we want then maybe bump it up to 2 1/2 or 3 min ” Barlow says “Then we stay consistent with the time ” The sharpener only works on traditional discs not wavy or specialty discs The EdgeCarePlus system gets the factory-sharp bevel back with very little reduction of the disc’s diameter Since starting his business Barlow and his crew have sharpened 10 000 discs and are on the fourth grinding stone He plans to purchase another sharpening system to meet demand from farmers in the 100-mile radius around his business He has traveled more than 200 miles to sharpen discs for farmers cutting standing corn after last year’s drought Besides sharpening discs his crew has a supply of discs to replace severely damaged discs Barlow says repeat customers like Fenwick Farms’ farm manager Brett Nesius tells him that they can cover more acres quickly with better performance with sharp blades Quality sharpening makes financial sense because it’s important for effective material management While the EdgeCarePlus system is an ideal tool for a custom sharpener it’s also a worthwhile investment for farmers with large operations says Roger Murdock VP of sales and marketing for Ingersoll The U S -made sharpening system is available through Ingersoll and Case IH dealers Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ron Barlow 4455 S U S Hwy 421 Francesville Ind 47946 ph 219 567-2441; jen@ftcenterprisesinc com; www ftcenterprisesinc com or Roger Murdock 888 768-1740; rmurdock@ingersolltillage com

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