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What Kind of Blade do you use for Stalk Harvesting?

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istanbulin

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Another tool from Turkey for stalk harvesting tobacco (only Tombac) called "tahra". When I look the dictionary, it says "tahra" means "pruning hook" in English. Yes, people are also widely used this tool for small pruning works here. But it works good for stalk harvesting. I don't know if you have a tool like this in your country.

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deluxestogie

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I like the look of the tahra on the right--short blade, heavy. I can't find anything like that for sale through a google search.

Bob
 

BigBonner

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Here is a picture of what they do . One knife will last about two years after repeated sharpening . We sharpen after cutting each row .
yKxYthx.jpg
 

BigBonner

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How long does it take to clean up that mess ?


It not a big of a mess as it looks .Each stick has 6 stalks speared on it .That field has around 2500 sticks of tobacco . We drive along each row and load each stick on a wagon . Each wagon will hold 250 to 325 sticks .It will take about 5 HRS to load and about 6 hours to unload and hang in the barn .This is providing we have enough laborers .
It may look like a mess but it is in order to pick up and place on wagons .
 

Brown Thumb

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Cool, I dident see the spears thru them.
That is one nice organized mess.
 

BarG

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Here is a picture of what they do . One knife will last about two years after repeated sharpening . We sharpen after cutting each row .
yKxYthx.jpg
Now thats gettin it.:cool: I'm dreadin 300 bursa in the next couple days. Thats maybe one of your rows.
But then again I have to make shift after.
 

deluxestogie

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Today, my Harrow Velvet burley was ready to stalk harvest. I never did get around to buying a new blade for this. I decided to try an imitation Ginzu-style knife to cut the stalks. It saws and slices! (If you're not familiar with these TV infomercial wonders, the stainless blade looks pretty much like a deeply notched, serrated saw, with razor points, but no kerf. It's fabulous for slicing a loaf of bread.)

Despite being a thin blade, it tended to stick in the cut after two draws. Twice, it jumped out of the cut and scratched the back of my left index finger. Now, I'm obsessively careful with sharp tools. But I was determined. Third time was a charm. It jumped the cut and sliced the side of my first knuckle like a ripe tomato. I'll spare everybody the photo.

After quick repairs to my integument, I cut the remainder of the Harrow Velvet stalks using a drop-point folder, by rocking the edge to cut a semi-circle, then snapping off the stalk.

SUMMARY: Ginzu--bad idea for stalk harvesting.

Bob
 

FmGrowit

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I saw an old modified tree climbing spike on ebay the other day. The design theory was borrowed from the old corn stalk cutters you strap to your boot. I thought it was a good idea.

tree spike.JPG

This probably isn't a corn stalk cutter since I can't find one anywhere on the internet. It's probably for cutting sorghum, or sugar cane or some other obscure crop. The one we had at the farm (that nobody ever used) had a sickle bar knife attached. It was probably home made.

Basically, there's a stirrup with a shank and a couple of belts to strap it to you leg and of course a knife attached.

corn cutter.jpg
 
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