My two cents worth. The tool used for shucking corn was called a "shucking peg" and it had a strap which went over your fingers leaving your thumb free. A metal "peg" shaped something like a small spoon projected from the strap in the area of your index finger, and you used that and your thumb to pull the husk loose from the ear. Used one many a time, and when there was ice on the shocked corn stalks that peg was a big help. Stood in the snow many a time and shucked icy corn in order to get enough to take to the mill. My brother and I did most of the farm work and there was never enough time after school and on weekends to get all the corn into the crib before the snows came. Also, the corn was cut one stalk at a time using a corn knife, which had a wooden handle about 2 feet long with a sharp, slightly curved metal knife at the end. You had to be very careful where your leg was or you could get a nasty cut from a corn knife. Once the individual stalks were cut, you gathered up an armful and stood them upright in a shock. I used to hide inside the shocks, sort of like an indian teepee. Linda Hindman_L@mediasoft.net