How did the middle ages manufacture farm tools?

Answer 1

The main farming implement in the medieval period was the plough, which was made in various forms. During the 12th century in England, the mouldboard plough, which had an iron share and coulter to cut the soil and a wooden mouldboard that turned it aside, created distinctive ridges and furrows. Ploughs were drawn by oxen, often four but sometimes six depending on how heavy the soil was. One man handled the plough while another goaded the oxen and controlled their speed and direction.

Harrows were a large framework of timber arranged flat on the ground, with iron or wooden spikes that raked the soil and broke up lumps - this was often drawn by a horse since the harrow could go much quicker than a plough.

All other tools were hand tools that depended on the muscles of the man or woman.

Among the tools used in the medieval period were weeding sticks (one with a hook, the other forked), the mattock or hoe, the spade, the shovel, the bill or hedging hook, the rake and the threshing flail. Pruning knives, shears, axes, scythes, sickles and seedlips were also used (a seedlip is a linen container or basket with a strap for suspending it on the chest, filled with seed for sowing by hand).

One unusual agricultural tool was the sling, which was used by small children tasked with keeping birds away from newly-planted crops; the sling allowed them to hurl small stones ("slingshot") over a large area, not to kill birds but to scare them away. Scarecrows were not yet used.

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Answer 2

Farm tools were mostly manufactured by local blacksmiths. Some parts of tools were made by carpenters or leather workers. People who did these jobs were often serfs on a manor who had special skills.

One of the important inventions of the Middle Ages was the grinding wheel, which made sharpening blades faster.

Answer 3

Some tools were made entirely of wood; these include rakes, shovels and threshing flails. Any man was able to make such things himself in a very short time, using materials available near his home and at practically no cost.

Other tools had metal blades, such as bills, knives, axes and shears, while others had metal parts like ploughs and spades which had an iron shoe fitted to protect the edge of the wooden blade. Such things could only be made by a smith, who would expect to be paid for making them - which made metal tools far more expensive.

In 2010 I made the wooden parts of a medieval-style spade from ash wood and I then had to find a helpful blacksmith willing to make the shoe for it, and I paid him to produce that part for me. If I had lived in the 12th century it would have been exactly the same process (although the money would have been different).

Answer 4

New advances in farming of the Middle Ages include the horse collar, the heavy plow, and horse shoes. Also the wine press came into use, as did better water wheels with better mills for grinding grain. The wheel barrow came into use. And the system of three crop rotation came to be used.

Answer 5

That depends on their particular status and role - a shepherd needed far different tools to those used by a rope-maker, chandler or parchmenter.

If you mean the normal manor-based farming peasant, some tools were kept centrally by the village reeve and only issued as required, such as large saws and spare parts for ploughs. The 12th century writer Alexander Neckham lists many of the items needed (but not necessarily kept) by a farming peasant in around 1180:

The list begins with baskets, beehives, a fishing fork, bolting cloth and strainer for sifting flour and clarifying ale; then a large, straight knife for trimming thatch, a spade, a seedlip, an axe or bill for hedging, a pruning knife, a hoe or mattock, weeding sticks, boxes, nets, ropes, a plough, a harrow, threshing flail, rake, sickle, scythe, winnowing basket and many other tools are detailed.

One particular item known to have been widely used has only recently been identified from archaeological finds and I have myself made a reconstruction of one - a shovel. This was not the same as a spade (despite the two terms today being used interchangeably), since a spade was specifically for digging and was fitted with a metal shoe to protect the wooden blade. A 12th century shovel had a shaped oak blade section fitted at an angle to a long ash handle and no metal parts; it was used for clearing ditches, cleaning out animal pens, mixing mortar or quicklime, shifting sand or any other soft or wet material.

Answer 6

The medieval farming tools were called the Axe, Flail, Harrow, Haymaking Forks, Rake, Moulboard Plough, Shears, and Sickle. These are just the main tools used in the medieval farming.