Plowshare

Components of a simple drawn plow: 1) frame; 2) three point attach; 3) height regulator; 4) knife (or coulter) 5) chisel 6) plowshare 7) moldboard

Handheld plowshare used at a mill near Horažďovice, Czech Republic

In agriculture, a plowshare (US; /ˈplaʊ.ʃɛər/) or ploughshare (UK; /ˈplaʊ.ʃɛər/) is a component of a plow (or plough). It is the cutting or leading edge of a moldboard which closely follows the coulter (one or more ground-breaking spikes) when plowing.

The plowshare itself is often a hardened blade dressed into an integral moldboard (by the blacksmith) so making a unified combination of plowshare and moldboard, the whole being responsible for entering the cleft in the earth (made by the coulter's first cutting-through) and turning the earth over.

In well-tilled terrain the plowshare may do duty without a preceding coulter.

In modern plows both coulter and plowshare are detachable for easy replacement when worn or broken.

Plowshares in heraldry

Plowshares are often used in heraldry.

• 

  Arms of Erding

• 

  Arms of Tunau

• 

  Arms of Leuna

• 

  Arms of Erlbach

• 

  Arms of Neuler

External links

• The Rotherham Plough - the first commercially successful iron plough