Homemade Chisel Plow

Homemade Chisel Plow TILLAGE EUIPMENT Chisel Plows (9) 8-2-8 David McCoy built his own chisel plow last fall to help make his lightweight offset disc more effective, especially in sod. He says the idea works well, especially considering it cost him just $160 to build. "I like using conservation tillage equipment on our rolling silt clay loam soil here in central Ohio but I didn't want to no-till" says the Fredericktown farmer. "I either had to use a straight chisel, a heavy offset disc or powered tillage. The powered machines, cost too much to operate, the simple chisel leaves sod ground too rough, and new offsets take too much horse-power and don't come in widths small enough for my 80 hp. tractor. "I used an 8-ft. section of 4 by 4-in. tubular steel that cost $50 new, chisel standards that I bought for $80, a 3-pt. hitch from a used subsoiler bought for $35, and bolts and paint that we had on hand. It made my light-weight offset much more effective, not only in sod but also in the fall on corn stalks to save a tillage pass in the spring. "I run straight points on the chisel at 6 to 7 in. and the offset at 4 to 5 in. I'm able to work at speeds of 4.5 to 4.75 mph with my 80 hp. Deere tractor, which is still fast enough to make the offset effective. I extended the drawbar 18 in. with a piece of scrap channel iron and flat steel." David McCoy, Rt. 1, 16413 Old Mansfield Rd. Fredericktown, Ohio 43019 (ph 614 397-4664).

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