trimming plow shares?

So the other day I was putting new shares on my plow and a cousin stopped by, he said his dealer told his dad to cut the outside point off the share to help it pull straighter.

Anyone else ever heard or done this?
 
If by outside point you mean the heel, then yes I do it to all mine no matter what color. And my Dad did it before me. Never heard it makes them pull straighter but it definitely makes them pull easier. Think about it. On a 4 bottom plow if you cut 3 inches off each share, you are cutting a foot off that you don't have to pull through the ground. Makes a big difference. Pa always said "that 3 inches will turn over anyway".
 
I have heard of people trimming off the rear point of the share to adapt a 16" share to a 14" plow when new 14" shares are not available. Also, some old plows had full cut shares as an option. These shares cut the entire width of the furrow slice. Most plows only cut ~80% of the nominal width, and then use the remaining connected dirt to help flip the slice over.
I am thinking that trimming a plow share like you say could just as easily hurt as help, depending on the plowing speed, plow design, and soil conditions.
 
Plows came with an operator's manual that detailed how to set up the hitch to make it pull straight.

I SERIOUSLY doubt any trimming of the shares was involved.

(Oh, my GOSH, where do rumors like this get started, anyhow???)
 
Not in my soil, here one might but an 18 inch on a 16 inch plow to get it to work better....

Paul
 
seeing more plows coming out of fencerows around here, people aren't happy with the way notilling is working here anymore.
 
Back when moldboard plowing was common practice John Deere actually made two styles of shares. The long ones were called sod or alfalfa shares and the short ones stubble land shares. Most of the mold boards are short of full width where they meet the share, but the longer shares cut the full width, some even a little more than that. The shorter shares do pull a little easier and are easier on the landsides because they are sort of "clipped" at the rear or heel cutting down on the side draft every plow bottom has.
 

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