Txdigest.com

Steel guards? Anyone know what that might describe?

I'm working on a diary from 1870s.
The man wrote that a neighbor came to borrow his steel guards.
I think it is something to do with farming as the week before barrels for killing hogs etc. had been loaned and returned.
Any ideas what Steel guards might be? (that might be one word, but he wrote it as 2 words)

Only thing I can come up with is to do with the hone steel to sharpen their knives. Might be glove of sort to keep from cutting your fingers.

In the 1870s Steel was still not in common use for non-specialized purposes. Cast Iron was more commonly used.

The month of the entry?

He wrote this in November/December.

My brother suggested it relates to cutting hay with a horse drawn "mower," and this had something to do with the mowing blades.

As a side note--this job of transcribing the diary has been very interesting to me. I was surprised to learn that even then a court was available for suing someone over money disputes. The good doctor was called to another town to give a deposition. He wrote about a neighbor getting a summons to come to court and testify.---another time there was a traveling minister holding a tent revival. Then the preacher tried to skip out of town without paying for supplies nor paying the doctor for medical treatment. He ripped him pretty good in his diary. ...and so it goes.

Sounds very interesting. Where did this man live?

He lived in Farmers Branch.

His home is still standing and is featured on tours of our Historical Park.
FWIW, the community of Farmers Branch was established before the city of Dallas was founded.
If you know much about the history around here, it was part of the Peter's Colony settlement.
He (the doctor) wrote in his diary every day. Some of what he recorded seems a little odd for a diary, but we have decided he used it as his financial records also.

Several of us are transcribing that old handwriting into a form that will eventually be placed on the internet for historical purposes. Those who are studying the early times of Texas will have some real data written for the research.

Some other trivia: "bee gum"
This is a phrase he used. I learned it is what we would call a hive in a tree.

That's really cool Librarylady. I've been racking my brain about the "steel". I thought perhaps a seeder but I'm not even sure they had them back then. I'm trying to picture ours in my mind, but it's been so long......

I don't think it was a seeder.
He wrote about sowing his wheat on two different days.
Then, his hired man was plowing the wheat that he sowed. -- I decided that was to cover the seeds,

I was thinking that since the seeds tend to stick and the steel would help prevent that.