Chisel Plow leaves hard ground between each shank.

I just hooked on to an old Graham 11 shank chisel plow and tried ripping some ground a couple days ago. I am going about 8 to 12 inches deep and its leaving a big hard lump of untouched soil between each shank. Is this normal for chisel plows? Any ideas on how to fix this without chiseling the ground twice? Would a pass with the field cultivator take out the hard lump left behind between each shank? I believe the ground to be pretty badly compacted and would like to avoid three passes through each field if at all possible.

P.S. I also tried working the ground diagonal against the grain of the field and nothing changed.

Perhaps driving faster would help? Shatter the ground more.

Paul

A chisel plow needs pulled fast to work right, something above 6 mph, 7 is better.

BMAG, There in No Way In H3ll, 1 pass will do it all. When one Chisels ground, depending on Moisture content and soil type Large clods the size of your pickup tire are always possible. and Speed as other have said IS NOT Necessarily the answer. and Old drag type Graham Hoeme Chisel was not meant to be use with a lot of speed. Most of those are solid mount beams,No springs.
I too use a Drag Type, Graham Hoeme 13 solid mount,shank Chisel here in Central Texas, Variant of Houston Black Clay, with lots of rocks and rock ledges. Pull it with a 966 IH waaay too much power I can tear it apart if not careful. I run 12 in sweeps not points it does a better job IMO that point alone.
Most of the time if my ground has not been packed by cattle over the winter then 1 pass with my Hoeme plow with sweeps is OK. There are times when multiple trips across the field are necessary too.
I am thinking You waited till it was too dry to start Chiseling. To help I also pull a 6 in drag pipe behind my chisel with 3 sections of spike tooth harrow behind to help bust up clods and help level out the ground, Hope this helps!
Later,
John A.

I have a Graham, 10 ft wide with 12 shanks if I remember right. Use it behind an IH 806. I agree with John A that slower might be better for this plow due to the lack of springs on the shanks (at least mine doesn't have them) I use mine around 4 miles an hour and it seems to work best there. I also agree that it sounds like you are working some dry ground. Not much you can do there but work it extra. I had a field like that last year and just was a mess and had to work it extra (this causes other problems because you work out what moisture it has). Possibly discing it first and then plowing might help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtwWrRnnBqA

i think there is a better video on this somewhere on youtube, but I can seem to find it..But this gives a little insight.

My Graham has springs and they really do a fine job of soaking up rough ground. The soil was pretty moist that I worked. So I don't think dry soil was a factor. I was going to try to get by with two passes, one with the chisel plow and one with the field cultivator. Now it looks like I may be doing two passes with the chisel and one with the cultivator? I was going to try and avoid this if possible. What kind of drag pipe do you have John? Any pictures so I could maybe get an idea. My Graham is 3 point hitch mounted. The field has been chopped for corn silage for the past 10 years so it has had some heavy semi and dump truck traffic to haul it out all over the field. I thought the ground just must be compacted so bad that it would not break up into chunks. I am using straight knives on mine. How deep can you get those sweeps? Since they are wider maybe they would reach out farther and break up whats in between the shanks better.

I just watched that youtube vidoe johnwayne360 and that is exactly what I am getting is those big humps between each shank and I can dig down deep where each shank went in the ground. The only problem is my hump is not shattering like the one in the video. It is a big dry hard hump that you can barely break through with your hands. The dirt that worked up from the knives though was good and brown and moist. Maybe it is just to dry?

Id try going an inch or two shallower. Of course, if you are in heavy clay, its going to be much harder to get that result. How far are your shanks spaced apart? May also have something to do with it.

My shanks are spread 12 inches apart. And the ground is hard clay in some places and sand in others. I just wonder if I work it with the field cultivator after I chisel it I wonder if it would break those humps up. Instead of chiseling it twice and cultivating it, I would rather just rip it then work it with the cultivator for two passes instead of three.

Maybe the shanks are too far apart for the shovels to break the ground that wide? Sounds like your plow is in much better shape than mine but here's another problem I have with mine that could be on yours.
The shanks that still have springs do well, the ones that don't tend to move about 1 1/2 to 2 inches one way or the other as the ground gets harder, this can cause a bit of a problem like you're describing (I have sweeps on mine wide enough that they overlap each other about 1 inch)
Could some of the springs be loose enough that the shanks are slipping sideways?

The shanks might be moving from side to side like you say, ill put it back in the ground tomorrow and really try to diagnose the problem further. The springs are old and broken-in pretty good. I might even buy some sweeps and throw them on to see if it makes a difference.

Generally dry is better for shattering the ground deep. As long as the shanks are penetrating the ground.

Generally driving faster will vibrate the shanks more and shatter more.

Drier ground shatters better.

Bigger shovels, going form 2 inch to 4 inch twisted for example, will shatter much more. Be aware, much more hp needed as well....

Sometimes the compaction in clay is bad enough, takes 2 passes at different angles or takes 2 years to really get it worked up, just how it is.

There is a proper spacing for chisel plow shanks, depending on their design, but most older ones are at 1 foot which is where you are so should be ok here.

Making the shattered zones you did will help the corn roots get down next year, as well as water, so you did a lot of good. You might not need the middles busted up as well, if your field cultivator can work up the surface and get a good seedbed, depending on your next crop it can follow the soft zones down with its roots. A judgement call, depending what you want vs what you have time and money for.....

Paul

BNAG, Now that I know what you are doing, Chiseling after Silage harvest, You have a 3 pt rig, IMO the large clods are of no real big problem,,,At this point in time.....Singe nest crop of corn will go in next spring let Mother Nature take care of the easy way with Freeze/Thaw over the winter. come spring one disking maybe 2 trips and you will be ready to plant corn!
A 3pt chisel will work better with a set of Spring Tines mounted solid to the rear of the Chisel plow.
thought you can pull something like my Spike-tooth harrow set up. a 12 ft length of 6 in pipe with 6, 1ft length of 3/8 chain welded on at intervals the equal the eyelets holes on the spike tooth harrow, most harrow sections are 4 ft wide, each section has 2 mounts holes, 3 sections needed thus 6 lengths of chain to mount the sections to the pipe.
on the front of the pipe the pulling side, you will need 3 mounts made from something heavy 1 in cold roll rod or rebar, each end and mid point. use either chain or cable to make a hitch with a loop the hook to the tractor or other implement.
Note Do NOT Omit the midpoint hook up, if you do you can bend the 6 in pipe into a very nice U then you have to straighten it of fabricate another pipe.
Hope this helps, Holler if you like, My # is 512-577-3837 if you need or want to visit.
Later,
John A.

I was hoping that freezing/thawing would help. I"m actually getting the ground ready for beans. I plant with an international 620 press wheel drill. The ground is pretty hilly as well so I was debating on working it in the spring anyway to prevent top soil loss.