609 Co. Rd. 1775, Route 5, Ashland, Ohio 44805
My tractor collecting began in 1968 with the purchase of an IH
F-12 tractor, a 1933 model with a Waukesha engine. Since that time
I’ve acquired a 1928 Farmall Regular, an F-14, F-12 with an IH
engine, F-20 and F-30. Most recently I’ve purchased an IH W-12
(1934) serial 505, making it the third W-12 made by International
Harvester. All of these tractors have been put into running order
with original equipment. Some were pretty rough, having been gotten
out of woods, behind barns and in scrap yards. Some are on rubber,
some on steel, and all are painted according to the original IH
color of red or gray, depending on their age, and restored as they
were when new.
I have some other equipment to go with my tractors 1927
McCormick Deering 22×38 threshing machine, repainted and used the
past two summers in a homecoming show. I have an IH 10 ft. power
take-off binder, approximately 1931 model, and used this summer to
cut grain for the threshing. My IH No. 8212′ plow is painted
and used to plow our garden. The IH 8′ burr mill made about
1925 is repainted and was used recently to grind whole wheat flour
which makes delicious baked goods. I also have an IH 2-roll corn
husker, made about 1940, and recently bought an IH ensilage Cutter
which was used to chop the garden refuse this fall. My latest
purchase is an IH 42′ pull-type combine made about 1941. To
finish the list, I have a U.S. Goodhue wood frame corn husker made
in about 1929, an IH type M engine (1 HP), IH LA (1 to 2 HP), and
an IH cream separator.
Back to the F-12 Waukesha tractor. My father bought this tractor
in August of 1936. It was three years old and he traded in a
Fordson tractor. As the dealer was going out our lane with the old
Fordson, my father showed me how to start the F-12. He wouldn’t
allow me (a 15-year old boy at that time) to crank the Fordson
because it might kick back!
We used this F-12 for all our farm work through 1939. In 1939 he
bought a model 40 AC combine, 40′ cut, and we combined almost
200 acres of wheat, oats, timothy, clover and soybeans that summer
and fall. That winter Dad traded the F-12 for an F-14 on rubber,
and the old Waukesha F-12 didn’t surface again until about 1964
when I stopped to call on a new area farmer.
I was selling IH farm equipment at that time, and there sat an
old Waukesha F-12. I began to look it over and I remembered that on
the left hand axle housing the fender mounting flanges were broken,
and these were, too. Next I looked at the power take-off lever to
see if it had a hole in it where I had bored one in Dad’sand
sure enough, it did, too. I was sure then that this was Dad’s
old F-12. I tried to buy it then, but the owner wouldn’t sell.
I kept tabs on this tractor, and about 4 years later it was traded
to another dealer, and I was able to buy it at that time.
When I got the tractor home I was showing it to Dad and telling
about the broken axle flanges and the hole in the power take-off
lever. He remembered them both. Then I noticed the steering knob,
which was all wrapped in tape and very worn. I asked Dad if he
remembered my making a steering wheel knob for the tractor. He
rememberd this knob to be the round end off an old rocking chair
back and that it had two grooves around it. I took off all the old
tape and there were the grooves! Dad said, ‘This is our old
tractor; there can be no doubt now’, and so at last the old
Waukesha F-12 was back home.
Someone had cut the rear wheels down and put it on rubber. It
had a single rubber tire front wheel when we had it, and this was
still on the tractor. I located a pair of the old type F-12 rear
steel wheels in Indiana, put new rings in the engine, ground the
valves, overhauled the carburetor and governor, and have just
repainted it. It runs as good as it ever did.
