Everyone hopes their project will end as a jewel, this one started out as a Jewel. Jewel walking plows were built by Oliver from the latter 1800s through the 1920’s. Not sure if Jewel was a brand name, or a subsidiary of Oliver (like Chattanooga for International). Maybe some plow or Oliver folks could weigh in. This one is a J3, which is stamped or cast into every piece.
The plow was my grandfather’s. It had spent the last 70+ years in a scrap pile, and then a flower garden. I hauled it home last summer. The depth wheel had gotten separated, and I had picked it up about 20 years ago. A couple times I nearly cut it apart to use for other projects. When I started researching the Jewel plow, I found a historic picture and realized I already had the missing wheel.
Now for the Holiday part. An odd set of circumstances involving, airports, diseases, and bad weather meant I spent Christmas in my shop. Christmas morning I did maintenance on an old pickup after chores. In the afternoon, the doldrums hit, and I couldn’t find the energy to extract that leaking heater core. I needed a little fun, and this old plow provided a pick-me-up. By the time I quit on Christmas night, I had the Jewel dismantled, sanded, and mostly primed. I had a few more days in the shop at New Years. By the time I went back to work in January, the plow was mostly assembled, and the wood beam was carved and fitted. The next weekend involved forging a missing brace, and sanding and varnishing the wooden pieces. The photos show the progress, and hopefully will provide assistance for anyone else restoring one of these.
One note: I took a lot of pictures while dismantling it, and used them more than I expected while re-assembling.
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The plow was my grandfather’s. It had spent the last 70+ years in a scrap pile, and then a flower garden. I hauled it home last summer. The depth wheel had gotten separated, and I had picked it up about 20 years ago. A couple times I nearly cut it apart to use for other projects. When I started researching the Jewel plow, I found a historic picture and realized I already had the missing wheel.
Now for the Holiday part. An odd set of circumstances involving, airports, diseases, and bad weather meant I spent Christmas in my shop. Christmas morning I did maintenance on an old pickup after chores. In the afternoon, the doldrums hit, and I couldn’t find the energy to extract that leaking heater core. I needed a little fun, and this old plow provided a pick-me-up. By the time I quit on Christmas night, I had the Jewel dismantled, sanded, and mostly primed. I had a few more days in the shop at New Years. By the time I went back to work in January, the plow was mostly assembled, and the wood beam was carved and fitted. The next weekend involved forging a missing brace, and sanding and varnishing the wooden pieces. The photos show the progress, and hopefully will provide assistance for anyone else restoring one of these.
One note: I took a lot of pictures while dismantling it, and used them more than I expected while re-assembling.
