These knives are not needed around here anymore....

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Yelp have used them aplenty. From the point I was big enough to use them until like my late twenties. We also called the spears spikes. I preferred spiking more than cutting. Tobacco would keep you in shape for sure. Got pretty dang good climbing as well been top to bottom in many of barns. We still got all of our gear around and about. I'll grab one every now and then to cut something. Still got our homemade pegs somewhere. Tobacco kept me from playing any sports throughout school, which I hated. Mom was always scared I'd get hurt if I played football but not in tobacco lol. Live here in Caldwell Co. Kentucky and Princeton is the home of the Black Patch Festival. Don't think many anymore knows what the title refers too.

 

[Beefeater]

What is the serrated edge for? Some of those square handles make my hands hurt thinking about swinging that for any length of time. Spoke shaves work wonders!

 

[jltrent]

What is the serrated edge for? Some of those square handles make my hands hurt thinking about swinging that for any length of time. Spoke shaves work wonders!

Those with a serrated edge are a piece of work. They were cut out of a hand saw and the teeth were left on. They are a piece of art no doubt, but that edge on the bottom did help some if you missed the stalk squarely you could jerk it into with those teeth.


If one had an old rusty one of these laying around with a bad handle you were in future tobacco knife heaven. Back in the day when I used one of those square handles I had Calais-es a quarter inch deep. Those handles didn't stand a chance.

 

[jltrent]

Got a few of those knives and spears out in the garage haven't been used for around twenty five years probably. We sold our sticks to somebody in TN years ago, think he was making something with them.

I have around 10,000 tobacco sticks if someone has an interest.

You can hang hemp on them. lol

 

[SDM]

We were amateurs. Had the guy with the spear following the cutter. The worst was waiting on the spearer. Was too late but finally learned to cut then come back to spear. I heard about the KY folks doing both at the same time. Had a strap on the knife around their wrist. Let go of the knife to spear it. I never advanced to that level. Amateur. Then I moved east to where they just pull the leaves off in the field. Now they don't even have to do that. The harvester does it. Just sort a few suckers out and it goes in the barn. Old folks here talk about splitting standing dark tobacco stalks and then cutting when you get low enough. Fewer leaves/shorter stalks I guess, but I'd have been fired before lunch trying to do that. I miss it. Wish I had 5 or so acres now. More money than a calf.

 

[herofan]

Yes, I've used those a lot cutting tobacco in my younger days, but haven't touched one in 25 years. There was always one in the bunch that seemed to cut better than the others. I liked to spike too.

 

[Ky cowboy]

1st time my granny let me cut, I wore catcher shin guards she was worried I'd hit my leg so I found some old catcher gear. I spent all day on 1 row.

To really be able to cut you had to have some ability and experience. I always like to back through, keep three stalks in and only have to take one step in each directions. If the patch was on a little slope it sure cut down on the bending also. That spear always worried me as I have seen some people have some pretty horrible scares from it. When you get tired you can get careless.

I didnt spike till I got older. We always cut and piled and would spike the next day.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I'm 39 years old. I grew up in a tobacco patch before it left these parts somewhere around 20 years ago. Wasn't as bad when I came along. But it was just as hot I assure you. We broke the leaves off in the field, toted an armload to a trailer in the sled row that had a "racking turntable" mounted on it. Placed the leaves in the rack, then unlocked it and toted the rack to a rack trailer that was pulled behind. Hung the racks on that trailer until it was full then pulled the trailer full of racks to the barn. Unloaded the racks and placed them in the barn to cook for a week. It was hard work but not the worst I've ever done and I actually have fond memories of it.

A few things that come to mind that were harder are picking up roots on new ground, loading watermelons, loading square bales, rolling round bales on a trailer manually, toting irrigation pipe, roofing, and manually digging post holes all day. But I learned something from all of it and am glad I have the experiences. Makes me appreciate augers, FELs, pivots, inline hay trailers, and other things I have more than I would have if I'd never done some things the hard way. I still work hard, but nothing like I used to.

Also to add, none of these jobs would have been near as bad with out 95+ temps and 70%+ humidity.

 

[Ky hills]

We were amateurs. Had the guy with the spear following the cutter. The worst was waiting on the spearer. Was too late but finally learned to cut then come back to spear. I heard about the KY folks doing both at the same time. Had a strap on the knife around their wrist. Let go of the knife to spear it. I never advanced to that level. Amateur. Then I moved east to where they just pull the leaves off in the field. Now they don't even have to do that. The harvester does it. Just sort a few suckers out and it goes in the barn. Old folks here talk about splitting standing dark tobacco stalks and then cutting when you get low enough. Fewer leaves/shorter stalks I guess, but I'd have been fired before lunch trying to do that. I miss it. Wish I had 5 or so acres now. More money than a calf.

I had never heard of having some body else spearing the stalks until reading these posts today. Everybody I've ever known cut and speared both.
We definitely miss the money too.

 

[Bigfoot]

Could have swore I posted on here already. I raised tobacco til the buy out. Wasn't gonna work for the companies. My Dad had a 16 acre dark base growing up. Ran 100 cows, and fed square bale hay. We'd put up 10,000 bales every year. Just me and my older brother for help. Daddy wouldn't hire anybody. Worked me like a rented mule. Left my share of sweat in the field. 12, 14,16 hour days. 7 days a week was the norm. Mine know what work is, but I can't nobody like that.

 

[Buck Randall]

There actually used to be a fair amount of tobacco production in Wisconsin, but I'm not old enough to have been involved in it. The Amish are the only ones that still grow it here.

Ginseng probably rivaled tobacco for labor intensity back when most of it was dug by hand.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm in the heart of Ginseng country, not nearly the hard work of Tobacco... they had a modified potato digger that would lift the roots to the surface, and then you'd pick them up, put them in totes.. wasn't too bad.. digging potatoes by hand is far heavier work.. Ginseng did take a lot of manpower, but it wasn't killer work.

I've dug an acre of carrots by hand.. washed them too.. we did get somewhat mechanized before we quit, got a digger, but there was still lots of manual handling.. between Sept 1st and Oct 15th we'd pull out 70,000 lbs, and I figure I'd handled it all between 5 and 10 times.. then there were the squash, 50,000 lbs of them, all in 70 lb totes, same with another 40K lbs of onions.. I ate 3 full meals a day and 2 hefty "snacks", working in cold water like that really takes a lot of energy

This pic was taken at the end of July 1998 when we set a canada wide all time temperature record, 42C or about 110F.. and we were out there mixing and pouring concrete.. that was some pretty hard work, lots of cider and water flowing!


Squash curing in the greenhouses


that poor car!







Our work was still easy compared to the folks who founded this farm.. $.50 for 100 lbs of dried beans, shelled and cleaned
Squaring timbers by hand, cutting hay with a scythe...

Now you know where the saying comes from "Ain't worth a hill of beans"




About as mechanized as they got, raking hay


Mining gold for some extra money


Squaring timber


Threshing beans

 

[kenny thomas]

We always speared our own stalk. Took a wooden maul and drove the stick in the ground so it wouldn't fall. Threw the maul ahead between the two rows to where the next stick would be driven. 3 stalks from each row was the standard for us.

 

[Ky cowboy]

We always speared our own stalk. Took a wooden maul and drove the stick in the ground so it wouldn't fall. Threw the maul ahead between the two rows to where the next stick would be driven. 3 stalks from each row was the standard for us.

The reason for us waiting to spear was to let it wilt down so the leaves wouldn't break off. I was 19 when we quit, but that's how I always did it except when I'd hire out. We never drove sticks either there was always somebodies kids around to drop sticks on the pile after they were cut

 

[kenny thomas]

I never could understand piling and then having to bend over and pick each stalk up when I already had it in my hand and ready to spear.

 

[Bigfoot]

You can't spike/spear dark as you go. It has to wilt, before putting it on a stick. Just a hard tap with a sharp knife and gently lean it over. Gravity and time will lower it to the ground. When properly wilted, you spike/spear from the opposite direction you cut from. Once on the stick, scaffolded and parked in the shade. To fully wilt. Sunburn takes ahold quick on dark. Can't leave it out. If you cut 600 sticks a day, you lean over to the ground about 8000 times.

 

[kenny thomas]

You can't spike/spear dark as you go. It has to wilt, before putting it on a stick. Just a hard tap with a sharp knife and gently lean it over. Gravity and time will lower it to the ground. When properly wilted, you spike/spear from the opposite direction you cut from. Once on the stick, scaffolded and parked in the shade. To fully wilt. Sunburn takes ahold quick on dark. Can't leave it out. If you cut 600 sticks a day, you lean over to the ground about 8000 times.

Never done dark. Was it placed in a barn and fire built to heat it? I seen that in central VA years ago.

 

[Silver]

Those are some great pics Nesi. Makes me appreciate my soft and easy life.

 

[Nesikep]

Those are some great pics Nesi. Makes me appreciate my soft and easy life.

yup, mine's easy in comparison to the McPhees pictured

 

[Bigfoot]

You can't spike/spear dark as you go. It has to wilt, before putting it on a stick. Just a hard tap with a sharp knife and gently lean it over. Gravity and time will lower it to the ground. When properly wilted, you spike/spear from the opposite direction you cut from. Once on the stick, scaffolded and parked in the shade. To fully wilt. Sunburn takes ahold quick on dark. Can't leave it out. If you cut 600 sticks a day, you lean over to the ground about 8000 times.

Never done dark. Was it placed in a barn and fire built to heat it? I seen that in central VA years ago.

Yes, the fire is about the smoke. Saw mill slabs covered pretty deep with sawdust. Smolders more than it really burns.