Parts of a Plow – Labeled Moldboard Plow Diagram

All 13 parts on the diagram

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Whole plow 7

Moldboard The big curved plate. It takes the slice of soil from the share, lifts it and turns it over.
Share The cutting blade at the bottom. It cuts the slice of soil loose from the ground below.
Beam The long bar the rest of the plow hangs from. It may be wood or steel.
Handles The plowman walks behind and steers the plow by its two handles.
Clevis The hitch at the front of the beam. The team is hooked on here. Its holes adjust the plow.
Coulter A rolling coulter, a sharp disc. It cuts straight down through the ground ahead of the moldboard.
Jointer A small plow of its own. It turns a thin strip of turf into the furrow ahead of the main slice.

Plow bottom 6

Frog The foundation of the plow bottom. The share, the moldboard and the landside are all bolted to it.
Landside The flat bar that slides along the wall of the furrow. It takes the sideways push as the soil is turned.
Heel The back end of the landside. With the point and the wing, it is one of three places where the bottom rests.
Point The front tip of the share. It enters the ground first.
Wing The outside back corner of the share, farthest from the point.
Shin The moldboard's lower front corner, its leading edge just above the share.

How this list was compiled: Part names checked on 2026-09-30; a name is kept only when two independent sources use it. (1) Davidson and Chase, Farm Machinery and Farm Motors, 1908, public domain, https://archive.org/details/farmmachineryan00chasgoog (its numbered list of the parts of a walking plow: share with its point and its heel or wing, moldboard with its shin, landside, frog, beam, clevis or hitch, handles, coulter; and the jointer). (2) Ramsower, Equipment for the Farm and the Farmstead, 1917, public domain, https://archive.org/details/cu31924080030616 (moldboard, share, landside, frog, shin, the point, the heel of the landside and the wing of the share, beam, clevis, jointer, rolling coulter). (3) Scoates, Farm Machinery Laboratory Manual, 1921, public domain, https://archive.org/details/farmmachinerylab01scoa (its walking plow exercise: moldboard, shin, share, point, wing, landside, heel, frog, beam, clevis, handles, coulters and jointers). (4) Wikipedia, Plough, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough (beam, hitch, coulter, share, mouldboard, frog, landside, shin, handles, and what the share, the mouldboard and the coulter do). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; own work, no maker's model copied. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a plow of the moldboard kind, drawn as a walking plow that a team pulls and a plowman steers. The first view is the whole plow from the side. The second is the plow bottom taken apart.

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The whole plow

The team is hooked to the clevis at the front of the beam, and the plowman steers by the handles. The coulter cuts down through the ground and the jointer turns a thin strip of turf. Behind them the share cuts the slice loose and the moldboard turns it over.

The plow bottom

The share, the moldboard and the landside bolt to the frog; together they are the plow bottom. The point and the wing are the two ends of the share, the shin is the lower front corner of the moldboard, and the heel is the back end of the landside.

Share cuts, moldboard turns, landside steadies.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a moldboard plow?

The plow bottom is a share, a moldboard and a landside bolted to a frog. A beam carries the bottom, with a clevis at its front end. A coulter and a jointer may hang from the beam, and a walking plow has two handles.

What is the frog on a plow?

The frog is the foundation of the plow bottom, an irregular piece of iron or steel. The share, the moldboard and the landside are bolted to it, and the beam may be attached to it as well.

What does the landside do?

The landside is the flat plate that presses against the wall of the furrow. It takes the sideways push of the slice on the moldboard and steadies the plow. Its back end is called the heel.

What is the difference between a coulter and a jointer?

A coulter is a disc or knife that cuts straight down through the ground. A jointer is a small plow of its own that turns a thin strip of turf into the furrow, so the main slice covers it.