Plowshare

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A farmer in Germany working the land in the traditional way, with horse and plow.
A farmer in Germany working the land in the traditional way, with horse and plow.

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

The plowshare itself is often a hardened blade dressed into an integral mouldboard (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 ploughs both coulter and plowshare are detachable for easy replacement when worn or broken.

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[edit] Anatomy

In the anatomy of birds, the plowshare bone is the pygostyle or vomer.

[edit] Swords vs. plowshares

The plowshare is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit mankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword, a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use. The common expession "beat swords into plowshares" has been used by disparate social and political groups.

This analogy is used several times in the Bible such as in the following verses:

Isaiah 2:4 "And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war."

Joel 3:10 "Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."

Micah 4:3 "And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war."

As well as popular culture:

In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the ploughshare,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward. — Finale of the musical Les Misérables
  • "...they're beating plowshares into swords for those tired old men that we elected king" — End of the Innocence by Don Henley (1989)

An expression of this concept can be seen a bronze statue in the United Nations garden called Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares, a gift from the Soviet Union sculpted by Evgeniy Vuchetich, representing the figure of a man hammering a sword into the shape of a plowshare.

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