Rural Heritage June/July 2025

Three weeks later… Cultivator rendezvous By now the snow had all melted and the days were a little longer and the sun was a little stronger. Mud was still in full force, however, and it was another great weekend for working in the shop with friends. This time the “growers” ruled as Michael Glos, Becky Frye and Maggie Smith all put one or two cultivators in the shop for rebuilds or repairs. Julianne Gauron, of Snow on the Road Photography, came all the way from Boston to share the time with us and take some great photos. Thanks to Bill West, Becky and I had accumulated and large number of old McCormick Deering cultivators in every state of repair. At least a couple were good enough to rebuild, and many more were very handy parts machines. While the cultivator is not as mechanically challenging as the mower, the success of it does depend on the condition of the machine. It is surprising how many parts can be tightened or adjusted to take slop out of a machine that was always assumed was as good as it was ever going to be. We started by taking a lot of wheels off and learning about the castle nuts with adjustable slots to tighten a loose wheel. That combined with grease (elbow and otherwise) was probably the biggest highlight of the weekend! On the second day, we worked on leveling a cultivator for smaller horses and cleaning up shovels and attachments. We had three examples of brackets (homemade and purchased) that connected both sides and accepted shovels in the center. These center-mounted shovels allow for marking beds for planting and even some light harvesting. The most important thing to know about these events is that it is really fun to get together with a bunch of teamsters for a weekend even when the weather outside isn’t saying “let’s drive!” Plan a meal, make plenty of coffee, have on hand plenty of tools, and anyone can host a horse drawn implement rendezvous. Sources for parts: Prior to the weekend, we got a hold of Jonathan at Crossroads Cultivators because we knew we wanted some new springs and lever handles, but he really is the one-stop shop for cultivator parts. They say he has enough new parts to completely build a brand-new cultivator just the same as the original. 717-927-1697 .

any mower that runs from the evener to the cutter bar head. This allows the horses to apply some direct pressure to the cutter bar and must be the right length so the bar can still float up and down while moving over uneven ground. With the cutter bar down in a mowing position and the tongue held up at the correct height, it is easy to mark and cut the new stub tongue the right length. Sources for information and parts: While I do stock a few parts, unfortunately I don't mail order or ship them out to customers. Norm Macknair is always a good source for mower parts (as well as other implements). You can also often get him on the internet, or phone which is a plus. A cutter bar all reassembled with new parts ready to be put back on the mower Maggie Smith Photo

B.W. Macknair & Son 3055 US HWY 522N Lewistown, PA 17044 717-543-5136 norman@macknair.com

June/July 2025

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