Midwest Farmer Collects Coprn Shock Tighteners

Midwest Farmer Collects Coprn Shock Tighteners AG WORLD Ag World 20-3-22 You don't have to go to an Amish colony to find corn shocks and the tools used to make them. A retired Trempealeau, Wis., farmer has more shock "tighteners" than you can shake a stick at. "I started collecting corn shock tighteners about 30 years ago because they're such a pure example of farmer-generated inventions," says Kenneth Wagner. "No two are alike. Some are 4 ft. long and shaped like harpoons, others are 3 in. long and shaped more like a hook. But they all had the same purpose - to make it a little easier to compress 25 or 30 stalks into one shock, then tie them together with twine so they would dry in the field." Wagner's collection consists of more than 50 different types of shock tools, some dating back as far as the 1860's. Wagner paid $279 for one corn shock tightener which is made of braided rawhide and the crotches of two tree branches. He also has a number of commercial models which are mostly made of metal. For example, he has two tools once sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. One has a sickle section attached to it to make it easier to cut the twine once the shock is tied. He also has one of the few shock tighteners ever patented, a small wooden pulley-type device, made by the Jiffey Pulley Co. in 1888. It's never been used. Another was invented by a Trempealeau farmer who had his tool mass produced at a local foundry. Wagner obtains shock tools at antique stores or farm auctions or from a few other collectors he knows. Another collector in Pennsylvania has a collection about as big as Wagner's, he says. Prices are usually $2 to $3. The $279 braided tool is the most he's ever paid for one. "They're getting harder to find all the time," Wagner says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kenneth R. Wagner, 11771 Chase St., Trempealeau, Wis. 54661-9802 (ph 608 534-6428).

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