The following text was contributed by Jon Budde of Illinois.  Thanks, Bood!

This information was summarized from:

A David Bradley garden tractor plow manual issued by Sears, Roebuck and Co. 1950

The Operation, Care, and Repair of Farm Machinery. 28th edition. Issued by Deere & Company, Moline, ILL. 1957

The David Bradley garden tractor plow was designed for the small acreage farmer and gardener.  The mold board and share are made of soft center steel.  This steel is 3 ply with the outer layers being harder than the inner layer.  Soft-centered steel has the necessary hardness and thickness for good scouring and long wear on the outer surfaces, and strength enough in the inner layer to withstand shocks of and heavy loads in difficult soils.  The outer layers of steel have a very high carbon content; this makes the steel extremely hard.  Between these two hard layers is a layer of softer but still strong steel.  All three layers are the same thickness and fused together to give outstanding strength.  This steel can be very highly polished; it is great for sticky or fine-grained soils.

The plow bottom is led into the ground and held to its work by the under point suction of the share.  Such suction is produced by turning the point of the share down slightly below the level of the underside of the share.  The 6-inch David Bradley Garden Tractor Plow should should have 3/16 of an inch suck to 1/16 of an inch suck.  This should be measured at the joint line of the share and the landslide.  The suck of the plow is very important, too little suck the plow will "ride out" of the ground and cut a furrow of uneven depth.  Too much will cause "bobbing" and heavy draft.

When a plow wears down to the point that it does not have the correct suck there are really only three options a person has.  You can replace the share, which is difficult to do since you cannot buy a new one to fit the David Bradley 6 inch plow, and plows with a good share can be difficult to find.  If the plow is not worn too badly, you may be able to adjust the landslide heel to give the correct suck. The rear hole in the landslide heel is slotted to allow the heel to be moved up and down.  To increase the suck, move the back of the heel down.  This should make the plow penetrate the ground more readily.  If this heel adjustment does not help to increase the suck of the plow the share needs to be sharpened.

A dull or worn share is the greatest cause of failure to do good plowing.  If all adjustments have been tried and the plow still likes to raise out of the ground, seems unstable, or will not penetrate to the correct depth, the share needs to be sharpened.  To sharpen a share you must heat it to a low cherry red (not to hot), and hammer the topside until the point is sharp.  Hammer at a cherry red only.  High heat will destroy the quality of the steel, not hot enough and the steel may be damaged when hammering.  Draw the entire cutting edge from the underside until sharp.  Heat only as much as can be hammered at one time.  The body of the share should not be heated while sharpening.  Care should be exercised in doing this work to be sure that the suck of the share is the same as when the share was new (about 3/16 of an inch).  Soft center shares should be hardened after sharpening.  With the entire share heated to a cherry red, dip the share cutting edge down, into clean cold water, keeping the blade perpendicular during the process.  After the share has been sharpened and hardened, it will need to be repolished.

Caring for your plow will give many years of satisfaction when plowing year after year.  Even if the plow is worn, with the correct adjustments, sharpening, and polishing the plow can still give many years of work.  The first rule of a good plowman is to keep a bright shiny surface on your plow at all times and to keep this surface covered with oil or grease when the plow is not is use.  Keeping the plow polished up will save you much time in the future.  Be sure to keep the rolling coulter sharp and well greased at all times.  Do take care not to force too much pressure when greasing so as not to force the hubcap off the hub.  The rolling coulter can be sharpened with a file or emery wheel.  Sharpen from both sides as you would a knife.  The rolling coulter plays an important roll in insuring a clean cut.

The plow plays a major role in working up the ideal seedbed.  You can turn a grassy patch in to a garden bed relatively fast of course with the help of a disc, harrow, and cultipacker.  The plow does the turning of the soil burying trash and creating an excellent working bed.  For a garden that has already been established it is a good idea to disc over the soil lightly before plowing.  This gives better contact with the sub soil and reduces air pockets within the soil after the soil is turned by the plow.  Complete trash coverage is important, as it helps to control pests for the next growing season.

There are several ways to plow a plot of ground.  One way is to start on the outer edge of the plot and plow in a circle until the plot is all plowed.  This type of is relatively quick in that the plow never really leaves the ground.  This type of plowing can create a uneven garden over time if the direction of which the soil is thrown is not changed every year.  Another way to plow, which is more common, is to plow in straight rows.  To plow in this manner it is a good idea to stake out the headlands and measure so that the rows will come out straight.  In a smaller garden you can plow down the center then turn around at the end (turning right) and plow on the other side of the previous furrow throwing the soil to the center of a back furrow (creating a ridge).  The plowman can then plow down in a straight line, pull the plow from the ground always turn right and go back down the plot.  Plowing like this will leave two furrows on the outside edge of the plot and a ridge in the middle.  Every year the way the soil is thrown can be changed so that the plot will stay level.  For instance if you plow one year and leave a ridge in the middle and furrows on the out side edges (always turning right).  The next year you should leave a "dead furrow" in the center and turned soil to the outer edges (always turning left).  On larger plots a plowman can measure out several sets of "lands".  Basically doing the above straight line plowing in several small plots in a large field.  This is done so that you will not have to carry the plow down the whole width of the plot to start back down the other direction.  The plot can be broken up into two or more small "lands" to make the work go faster, cutting down on the amount of time the plow is out of the ground.  It is hard to lay out one actual way to plow a small field or garden because of the difference in size and shape of the plots to be worked up.  A plowman must find a way to plow that best works for him and leaves a nice straight plowed land.