Getting the Header Ready to Harvest

photos and text by Lynn Miller

The Dufur Threshing Bee also features a fully operational Header. It’s a big machine that has to be reassembled each year before harvest. The picture above shows the main unit without the elevator or drapers.

Mike threads the platform draper, much like with the Binder, under the roller. It’s fed all the way across to the opposite side after which the opposing roller is reset in place – then the draper is folded over and drawn back to meet for buckling.

Mike then turns the unit with a crescent wrench on the drive shaft to make sure all is working right.

Bottom left shows the elevator being hoisted into place and attached from the bed of a wagon. Once in place the elevator drapers have to be set up. These units were designed to be used with either four or six abreast of horses or mules. Mike drives the Dufur unit with a four abreast.

The header cuts the grain which lays back on the platform and is conveyed to the elevator which sends the loose crop up and into a waiting header-box wagon.