He Puts A Shine On Old Equipment

He Puts A Shine On Old Equipment AG WORLD 28-5-22 There's no shortage of old horse drawn equipment going to rust around farmsteads all over North America. Drive down any country road, and you'll likely see some sitting back in a grove or along a fence line. Left where they are, they will eventually rot into the ground. But if you bring them in and clean them up, you can have a nifty lawn ornament or even a collector's item. "A little work with a torch and some WD-40, and you usually can free up almost any gears or working parts," says Don Furtney, McNutt, Sask. In the past year, he has restored five mowers. He has two McCormick Deering, one Cockshutt, a New Idea and one Deere. All the gears and wheels work, and all are for sale, he says. "I washed them off with a pressure washer and after a little work with a wire brush, put on a couple of coats of paint," says Furtney. "I put new poles in all of them, but I haven't replaced the pitman or knives. All the gears work fine." He had previously restored a 130-year-old Deere corn cultivator, several walking plows and other horse drawn equipment. One of the walking plows is an unusual International Harvester left hand plow. Along with a Deere right hand plow, it decorates the yard of his daughter's urban home. "The cultivator is a two-horse model with steel single trees that pull direct on the gangs," explains Furtney. "It has pedals on it that move the shovel apparatus left or right if you kick them hard enough." Some of the wheels on the axle were rusted tight, but Furtney's torch and oil treatment freed them up. The cultivator had been sitting outside for much of its estimated 100 plus years. Such equipment might have already found its way into museums in European countries, suggests John Harvey. Harvey is the originator of Classic Tractor Calendar, now entering its 15th year. On a recent tour of France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria with antique tractor enthusiasts, he noted the abundance of museums celebrating agriculture. "It seemed like everyplace we stopped to see a collection of tractors, there would be a museum nearby, each better than the last," recalls Harvey. "Usually, they would start with early horse drawn equipment and then make the turn and come into the early 20th century and early tractors. Finally, they would end on the large equipment of today." He noted the great interest of the enthusiasts in the horse drawn equipment as well as the early implements. "It tells the whole story," says Harvey. "With the calendar, we try to picture tractors with equipment from the same era." The new 2005 Farm Tractor Classic has a 1959 630 Deere with a 227 mounted Deere corn picker. Another page has a 1940 Farmall H with a #8 Little Genius plow. "We get great feedback from people on the tractors and implements," says Harvey. "It is a sign of the growing interest in equipment, not just tractors." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Furtney, Box 41, McNutt, Saskatchewan, Canada S0A 2K0 (ph 306 742-4500) Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Harvey, Classic Tractor Fever, Box 437, Rockland, Del. 19732 (ph 302 478-5787 or 800 888-8979; website: www.classic tractors.com).

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