bigfootnampa Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I love to use scythes for most trimming purposes... consider them much more fun and faster than weedeaters. I've recently discovered a few things useful to know regarding their use. I have the traditional American bent wood snathe scythes (also some smaller one handers of my own design). I have found that it is much faster to reshape a bevel by using the 4 1/2" grinder with a flap wheel than by the old way with a hammer and anvil. The traditional system apparently works better on the European style scythes (which are supposedly softer steel). I have also discovered that the traditional scythe stone will impart a superior edge on the blade (once properly beveled). The apparent reason is that the relatively coarse grit of the scythe stones creates a finely toothed edge that cuts much better than a smoother edge can. Especially in tall grass/weeds the scythe will outwork the weedeaters and works quietly and without covering you with dust and mulch! Scythes will also take down saplings and tough fibrous weeds that weedeaters couldn't touch unless fitted with a steel blade. A further advantage is that the scythe does NOT mulch the foliage so that appropriate plants can be forked up and fed to the horses! Leastways that's what we do with the tall grasses here. I'd love to hear from other scythe users and scythe makers and maybe to convert a few new ones too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I would love to learn more about their construction and use. I get sick of noise very quickly lately. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewOC Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 "I would love to learn more about their construction". About 1997 I saw a short film (on TV) from France about a very old scythe and tool making company. They were still using water powered helve hammers, very fast, prob about 200-300 bpm. Can't find the video now maybe someone else has a source for it? regs, AndrewOC PS a mate loves his brush hook for weed slashing on his 31 acres, not enough grass for a scythe; its really a hobby/rock farm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 In my youth my father had a D shaped weed cutter with serrated blade. The handle was slightly off the center of the frame arc so that it cut away from you. It was swung sort of like a baseball bat. We used it a lot, and I do have a small one handed tool that I still use for trimming. I don't remember their proper name for the D headed tool. Where I came from I don't remember ever seeing a bent wood scythe in any store or later resale shops. This was in the 50"s. Seems like the D handled tool could be replicated pretty easily. but a scythe is another matter. A brush hook I Have. Cool tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don A Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I have both of my grandfather's scythes. My dad's dad had an incredible technique and could cut huge patches in little time. He swung that thing until he was up into his late 80's. He lived to be 96. That briar scythe was part of his perscription for long life... eat good and work hard. Apparently that generation, in this region anyway, was tough on their blades. I have one that was repaired by brazing and a couple that were used up to the last 3/4" of blade remaining. Seems that both of them used a coarse stone to maintain their edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 I have used the D type weeders. Most have a serrated blade and are nearly impossible to sharpen decently... they require terrific force to make each cut! The golf club styles perform similarly. The American style scythes that I have are pretty heavy and will cut most anything up to about 3/4" diameter. Decent for all-round use but I feel that I am disadvantaged for cutting grasses and light weeds. Some of the Austrian and Italian blades that I have seen are feather-light and absolutely beautiful! The Euro style snathes are also much lighter than any that I have. The European brush blades are shorter and wider... rather than heavier as mine are. Properly sharpened (as well as I can do anyway) it takes only a soft swishy stroke to cut... though in heavy growth a full bodied swing is the thing to do. Rhythmic metronomic swings seem most efficient most of the time. Rocks are BAD but you can cut decently level ground closer than you would imagine. In scythe competitions they slice right at ground level with the back of the blade sliding on the soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I used a scythe to cut the weeds on our lot---no grass out here in the desert and ended up messing up my shoulders and having to get a cortisone shot in each one. I of course wear my hearing protectors when using any powered equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Some of my earliest memories are of my Grampa Harry swinging his scythe to cut wheat for bread in the early 50's........His mantra was ''BAKE SHOP BAH'' .........that is he thought going to a bakery to get bread was frivolous and besides it tasted like sawdust ! What a character...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcostello Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Some of my earliest memories are of my Grampa Harry swinging his scythe to cut wheat for bread in the early 50's........His mantra was ''BAKE SHOP BAH'' .........that is he thought going to a bakery to get bread was frivolous and besides it tasted like sawdust ! What a character...... Here in Lancaster, Ohio old timers always said that people used to pay to have lawnmowed with scythes before gasoline powered mowers came along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 If you can get a hold of the book Early american ironware by kauffman ISBN0-517-229013 page 102 there is a description of the Pennsylvania scythe and all the components. and here is a link you might find interesting http://ruralblacksmi...-and-stone.html another choice is find yourself and old Amish farmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 I cut quite a bit of edge growth here in the last few days (all with my scythe). My son used the weedeater and the scythe is definitely faster... even with an old man running it. Downtime for sharpening or winding string is about the same. The workout is a bit more intense with the scythe. The efficiency for each tool varies depending on the specific type growth being cut. The scythe prefers taller and stiffer fodder while the weedeater enjoys the shorter whippy stuff. I have refined my blade control to where I can make nice swings within about 1/2" of posts or fences. Just for fun take a look at the pretty blades on this site! Scythe Connection Blades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 There is lots of video on Youtube showing how scythes work. I've never seen one, but I think there is going to be one in my future, even if it is just I like a long blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I hand mow quite a bit. Our property is 200 year old cow pasture on fertile valley riverbottom, so the grass gets upwards of 7 feet tall by early July. I use a traditional American recurved snath and 2 different blades, a long thin "grass" blade for the easy stuff, and a shorter, wider more curved brush blade for the more stemmy stuff like thistles and goldenrod and that accursed godawful #$%@&* wild parsnip. The snaths were made locally out of steam bent Vermont white ash by what I believe was one of the last American manufacturers, Derb & Ball of Waterbury, VT. My parents recall them going out of business sometime in the 1970's. I find it to be a good workout and definitely faster than using a weed eater once you get proficient. Plus no spray of green mush and no fumes to breathe. Like any physical skill it takes some practice to get good at it, I had to mess around with handle position on the snath and my body mechanics and the blade angle relative to the ground for a while till I found what worked for me. I imagine the variables are different for everyone. There are a good number of youtube vids of people hand mowing. I buy an occasional stone and other supplies from these folks- http://www.scythesupply.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintjohnbarleycorn Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 was that a typo or are you planting pampas grass?? 7' wow I never saw grass grow that tall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 No, not a typo. Not sure of the variety, but especially in the wetter areas and if I don't mow or brush hog for a year or two, the grass gets shockingly tall for a month or two. We get a LOT of rain- if we didn't have winters with periods of -20 deg. F, I shudder to think of how overrun with vegetation we would be. One old pasture I remember walking in as a child is now covered in 4" diameter new growth sugar maple, and I'm in my mid 30's. Maple isn't known for being fast growing (just the opposite) but Vermont is the poster child for micro climates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 I got a good saying from one of my old students. He used to visit his uncle's northern Missouri farm in the summer, and his uncle harvested with a scythe. He said that every 10 or 15 minutes, the scythe would be stood on its snath with the blade pointing away, and the blade would receive a whetting with the scythe stone. At one point, my student says, "Uncle, you sure do sharpen that thing a lot." His uncle replied, "Ain't no time lost in the whettin." My co-author, Marc Simmons, and I researched agricultural tools for our book, "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork." We found no references to scythes, nor did we find any examples from the colonial period. We found a number of hand sickles, so we assumed that the sickle was used for all harvesting and weed cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 We have 7 foot grass here too... I think it is Johnson grass. I cut about 50 square feet of it not long ago and pitched about 100 pound forkful to the horses. They eat that stuff like candy! Frank by hand sickle do you mean the one handed grass hook type? I have been making those with a 3/8" diameter wand attached to give a longer reach and faster swing and they are a quite different tool when made that way. A while back my wife used one to clear about a 1/4 acre of tall weeds and said that it would be a cold day before she'd use a weedeater again. Alas she has regressed to the dark side again since. One of these and a small one handed brush hook are my favorite tools for clearing fence lines here. I use the little brush hook to trim tree branches and saplings that are just a bit much for the sickle. My fences are electrified so I need to keep the brush clear to avoid grounding my current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Furrer Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 This talk on the Austrian Scythe may be of use to you as well: http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=20079 Ric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 This has been interesting! thanks for posting guys Bigfoot would you get someone to video you "IN ACTION" and post? Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 That's a nice link Ric, thank you! I dunno about video but I will try to post some pics anyway... soon. I really do believe that it is wasteful to spend money on the modern weedeaters when blades are so much nicer to use and mostly more effective too! We must have 5 or 6 and somewhere around $700 to $1,000 invested in the awful things. Half the time you could take a decent blade and get the job done before you can get the weedeater to start up. I have seen some of the nice Austrian blades and they are truly beautiful... so light and strong! My American style blades are real tough though and I can cut saplings up to around 3/4" without hardly slowing down... so they do have some advantages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 Okay I was actually out there working on the fences and measured some of my tall grass... the tallest stalk was a fraction over 9 feet tall from the ground to the seed head top! So most all of that clump of grass is between 7' and 9' tall. I also took some photos of my favorite fence clearing tools. The scythe stone at top was in new condition though acquired from an antique store. My "Weed Warrior" scythe/sickle is in the center. At the bottom is my little one hand brush hook... this is an antique I just sharpened it and made a handle for it. The steel is old file and none to good but I like it anyway. Maybe one day I will make a similar but better one. Sorry not to have some video but I can tell you that the little sickle will clear some ground in a hurry! I often use a snatch cut where I just hook the base of the weeds and then jerk the sickle toward myself... no swing that way so you can cut right next to stones or posts etc. without blade damage. I just chopped some low hanging walnut tree branches and the ones up to about 7/8" diameter the sickle would just slice right off in a single swing. Branches up to about 2" diameter I would vee chop with the little brush hook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Furrer Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 I agree, but the rocks in my yard would make short work of the scythe.....A hate any lawn care and would grow only rocks if I could.....but tearing into a field to take down the wheat would be interesting to do once. If you have a wide open field of tall grass I think it may be a good way to spend time thinking about what to think about. You would either get more fit or throw out something that does not heal...seems to be the way with me anyhow. Ric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 In my youth my father had a D shaped weed cutter with serrated blade. The handle was slightly off the center of the frame arc so that it cut away from you. It was swung sort of like a baseball bat. We used it a lot, and I do have a small one handed tool that I still use for trimming. I don't remember their proper name for the D headed tool. Where I came from I don't remember ever seeing a bent wood scythe in any store or later resale shops. This was in the 50"s. Seems like the D handled tool could be replicated pretty easily. but a scythe is another matter. A brush hook I Have. Cool tool. I don't recall the correct name for this tool but my dad always called it an "Idiot Stick" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 You are getting me into trouble. I just bid on a scythe blade on ebay, since a snath can be easily made from local materials. I am looking at the areas of my yard that will benefit from being trimmed out some. Maybe my wife won't kill me. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 You are getting me into trouble. I just bid on a scythe blade on ebay, since a snath can be easily made from local materials. I am looking at the areas of my yard that will benefit from being trimmed out some. Maybe my wife won't kill me. Phil Trouble??? What? A neatly trimmed yard? A husband in better shape? Saving money on yard maintenance? What woman wouldn't want that kind of trouble? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.