MODERN BLACKSMITHING loi 



the point first. A plowman from another State was 

 engaged, and he claimed that it would be better to weld 

 the share first up at the joint. He was given a chance 

 to prove his assertion, and the result was that 3 per 

 cent of his shares broke over the inner side of the 

 landside at the joint in the hardening, and 10 per cent 

 ripped up in the weld at the same place. These are 

 results that will always follow this method. 



The first, because the share was not upset over the 

 weld; the second, because a good weld cannot be 

 taken unless the share is dressed down snug against 

 the point when hot. As far as the number of shares 

 welded per day was concerned, this man was not in it. 

 Still, this man was a good plowman, and was doing 

 better than I ever saw a man with this idea do before. 

 For it is a fact, that out of one thousand plowshares 

 welded by country blacksmiths, nine hundred and 

 ninety will rip up. I have been in different States, 

 and seen more than many have of this kind of work, 

 but, to tell the truth, there is no profession or trade 

 where there is so much poor work done as in black- 

 smithing, and especially in plow work. Blacksmiths 

 often come to me, even from other States, to learn my 

 ideas of making plowshares. On inquiring, I gener- 

 ally find that they weld a piece on the top of the old 

 landside and proceed to weld without touching the 

 share or trying to fit it at all. We need not be sur- 

 prised at this ignorance, when we know that it is only 

 fifty years since John Deere reformed the plow industry 

 entirely and made the modern plow now in use. It is 

 impossible for blacksmiths in the country to have 



