BRIAN - I better warn you, IH built almost 67,000 #8 Little Genius plows from 1928 to 1960 according to C.H.Wendell's book, 150 yrs of IHC, Dad had two of them, both 3-14's on rubber, one factory hyd lift, the other converted to hyd lift with the IH kit. They were an O-K plow in low trash conditions, like a CC PD, but even in the 100-125 bushel/acre corn stalks of the 1960's trying to plow with one was futile unless you chopped & disked the stalks, and even then you'd still plug occasionally. For comparison, today's corn makes 200-250 BPA, and the stalks are hard and tough, about like green tree branches. Just not enough trash clearance. Dad had notched coulters on one, and convex disk coulters on the other, the notched coulters worked much better. And cover boards were almost manditory to do a clean job of plowing.
Eventually when Dad bought a green tractor he tried a green plow... with yellow wheels, pulled harder than the IH, it didn't stay around long, tractor was gone by late April, early May, plow was gone that fall. Next he tried a Case plow, 4-14's, was newer design than the IH #8, much more trash clearance, and having to pull out of the furrow and loop around to clear trash became a rare occurance as opposed to a frequent one like with the #8's. Even without chopping & disking stalks.
I remember Dad & I trying to set out a land in fall of '64 to fall plow un-disked & un-chopped corn stalks on the 80 he rented. Had the Super M-TA on the good #8. A round should have taken 12 minutes with no stops to unplug the plow. We finally gave up about 500 feet from completing the first round after almost FOUR hours.
If you just want a plow to be yard art, a #8 is the right plow. If you grease the bottoms up after they get shined up like mirrors it should work good to plow a garden. But if you want to plow at BIG tractor plow days, an IH #60 would be a MUCH better choice, they're all on rubber, hyd. lift, and much more trash clearance, both horizontal & vertical. A #70 has even more clearance, but the smallest IH made in a #70 was a 4-bottom convertible to a 3, nothing in a 2 btm. A #60 will be more money than a #8, there's not near as many of them, but wear parts are easier to find for them.
IH's #700 series plows are still bringing good money on farm auctions because of their HUGE trash clearance. You lower one of those down till the the bottoms of the plow shares are sitting on top of the ground, you could drive a Cub Cadet between the bottoms if it wasn't for the coulters. Those plows are still made today, almost totally unchanged from IH's design by Artsway as they're #7501 plow.
ALSO.... nothing wrong with an Oliver plow, several neighbors pulled them with all different colors of tractors. Pulled even easier than the IH, did a clean job of plowing, and with proper set-up plowed really well. Probably the best plow of the 40's & 50's era.
