Grass/weed/light brush scythe/grass hook

Just make sure it's ground thin enough. 7-9° per side. Scratch pattern heel to toe. :)
 
Lieblad said:
Excellent deal.
Despite recent popularity, Its good thing scythes escaped everybodys bladeboner whats affected axe prices of recent days.
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Tell me about it. :D

Lieblad said:
For fun, you might see if that TrueTemper blade you are unhappy with responds to peening like a 'euro-blade.
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Indeed. That might help stabilize the edge a bit. If it's dead soft it'll probably be fairly easy to peen and would reduce its tendency to roll.
 
Yea I see scything getting a lot more popular in "homesteading" as a way to feed a few animals with out paying for feed or a making an equipment investment. If this trend continues prices of scythes will most likely rise. I'm in it now and plan to build a scythe and sickle collection as there are benefits not realized with a string trimmer.

On peening ... yup I ordered an anvil for peening and plan to peen the cheap Ames to see if that will help its edge.

Forty-Two If you start carrying those Arti scythes I'm still interested in a straight handled one.
 
I'm still planning on it! Just a matter of getting things all set up logistically. :)
 
I scythed 1/2 mile of woods edge - grass weeds, and light underbrush. The scythe is significantly more efficient than a string trimmer in this application. I'm still tweaking blade set up and handles but I'm really liking it. When you get the blade and slicing angles down you don't need a lot of speed to make it cut well.
 
thunderstick said:
I scythed 1/2 mile of woods edge - grass weeds, and light underbrush. The scythe is significantly more efficient than a string trimmer in this application. I'm still tweaking blade set up and handles but I'm really liking it. When you get the blade and slicing angles down you don't need a lot of speed to make it cut well.
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If you do it pretty regularly and get big weeds and brush out, a weed or grass blade is easier for grass, but you probably don't ever want to set it up for lawnmower. 42's guide to American scythe has good description of setup for brush snath/blade and different stroke. My brush setup is used to get weeds out of paddocks without cutting grass.
 
I don't aim to regularly mow my lawn with a scythe or to replace my string trimmer for trimming ... I just want to use a scythe where it makes more sense to and to get a level of proficiency with it. No doubt I'll try grass cutting for the novelty and experience of it but not with a long-term goal in mind. I also use the lawn to test my edge.
 
When good and thin/sharp even the slightest motion through grass will cut it, even during the driest point of the day. :D
 
Lieblad said:
For fun, you might see if that TrueTemper blade you are unhappy with responds to peening like a 'euro-blade.
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Not a bad idea for the cheap import blade. But I'll caution against peening a vintage True Temper scythe blade.

Cracked%20scythe.jpg
 
Depends on the age! Older ones are definitely too hard for peening, especially Kelly-marked ones, which are glassy hard. Late-period ones with foil labels are buttery soft whole steel, though, and could actually benefit from it to gain a little edge stability. They're one of the models I usually have in mind when I tell people not to peen American blades "except unlaminated ones with overly soft heat treatment". :p
 
Well I got a good working edge on it now--slices mixed vegetation with ease and taller grass. I'm really happy with it. Thinking about whether the blade would work on a straighter Euro snath.
 
On a straight snath you'd need a lot more tang angle unless you have a compensating bend in the neck still. There are a bunch of different European snaths, so I presume you mean the right-stemmed so-called "Austrian" style snath? Generally the curve of the cutting line on American blades is going to cause the hang to be very open if there's no lateral offset to the snath, which most European snaths lack.
 
Well I was thinking more along the lines of a largely straight handle with a bend at the bottom like the one here on Scythe Supply-- thought this might work:
http://scythesupply.com/snathselection.html

I also experimented with a grooved sharpening steel on the scythe blade. It gives a very sharp grabby edge that worked amazingly well on short lawn grass. my thought is that it would maintain a sharper edge and without removing as much metal.

I'm also wondering if American scythers used the wetstone water sheath on their waste.
 
It would work on such a snath with enough tang angle introduced, but I'm wondering what advantage you think would be gained by it...? You've seen my notes on whipping sticks, right? You can use those for the bulk of your honing and significantly reduce the amount of abrasive honing required to maintain the edge. Steels work, and work well, but after several uses they tend to create a drawn out burr on the edge that then has to be cut off with a stone.
 
Some carried their stone in water but most just carried it in their pocket and used it dry. Since it would be used so few times during a session, glazing wasn't much of an issue.
 
I would plan on steeling "during" the scythe event and "afterwards" lightly stoning/steeling before putting the scythe away. The stone would keep the edge profile the way I want it and the steel would provide and maintain the fine cutting edge.

I figured most American scythe stones were used dry and the farmers weren't carrying those water sheaths. My grandpa grew up using the scythe to some extent in the fields and I never saw anything in his tool collection that resembled a water sheath. He did have the large treadle water wheels for sharpening.

My procedure thus far before using a fissured steel was to wet the stone and then wipe off the excess grit and then wet it again before sticking it in my pocket for touchups. Additionally if you mow during the morning dew there is enough moisture on the blade for wet stoning touchups.
 
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