The old French word cisel came to our language as a chisel. The term refers to a tool that is used for machining metals and stones through blows made with a hammer.
The chisel has a double-bevel mouth, the edge of which must be reground regularly to remain effective. The ends of the chisels can vary according to the use to which are intended: there toothed chisels, flat chisels and other classes.
Already in prehistory, man appealed to chisels that he built in stone. Starting in the so-called Metal Age, chisels began to be made of bronze, copper, iron and other materials. These tools were used to carve stone, wood, leather, and more.
In a chisel you can distinguish the head (the end that is struck with the hammer), the body or handle (which allows the propagation of the blows), the wedge (the lateral sectors of the cutting part) and the cutting edge (that takes the blow to the stone being carved).
Stonemasons and masons, for example, use chisels to modify the surface of stones and other materials. For this, they hold the chisel with one hand and place its point on the surface: with the other hand, they hold a hammer that they strike with the chisel. The successive impacts of the tip of the chisel on the rock mold its surface.
It is important to note that choosing the right chisel is key for the job to deliver the desired result. If a chisel with unsuitable characteristics is used, the machining will not be satisfactory.
Chisel plow
It is known as a chisel plow to a vertical tillage instrument that gives the possibility of tilling the soil without the need to invert it through the intermixing of plant remains on its surface. In recent times, it has managed to gradually replace the moldboard and discs to break the ground.
By using a chisel plow, it is possible to prepare the soil so that its surface is protected with plant debris to face water erosion without the mixing of the strata being extreme. Thanks to this tool, the compacted soil can be broken to favor water infiltration.
When we talk about vertical tillage we refer to the characteristics of the tools and the elements with which the breaking, bursting or cracking of the soil is carried out, which in this case have vertically oriented supports.
Let’s see some of the advantages of this type of plow:
* Since it requires a much lower traction force than other types of plows, there is an energy saving of approximately 50%;
* the soil conserves moisture better and is adequately aerated, thanks to the fact that the chisel plow allows the water to filter efficiently;
* avoids and corrects the problem known as “plow foot” or ” compacted layer “, which arises as a consequence of working the soil always at the same depth or with an inappropriate degree of humidity, something that occurs with other types of plows;
* the chisel plow reduces soil erosion thanks to the fact that vertical work displaces the residues of the previous harvest much less than horizontal work, and therefore the wind and water cannot affect it with the same magnitude;
* reduces weeds precisely because of not inverting the soil;
* improves the structure of the land and its properties, so that it stays for longer and yields much more.
