Sorry to come to this so late.
A couple of years ago I was with a lady, and she was renting a space with an acre of land
She had no money for equipement to cut back the growth of grass and small brush.
I went to the local better tool store and picked off the shelf a scythe and snath.
The kibbutzes and the larger family owned Arab farms are all very highly mechanized
But there are plenty of Arab small holding and olive orchards that need tending
So the scythe and its supplied snath are availiable as a used tool.
They are Austria (European style) Fux 75 26"x3" and the snath is Fux tubular metal with adjustable handles
I started with a long grass scythe and later purchased a shorter, wider heavier brush scythe Trupper23"x 5"
I went online for articles of how to position the snath,
Later my lady had sent the Scythe Book by Tresemer with the Peter Vido addendum
I sharpened with a diamond DMT E fine stone and had a peening jig sent from the USA Scythe Supply Perry Maine
It rains here in the winter and the whole summer is dry
I used the long scythe for grass, and the shorter bush scythe for later in the season for small woody growth that had gone to seed
I found using the scythe effortless
Got a good sweat, but effortless
What I mean is standing uprigh with no bend,
then swinging the scythe in a round action slicing the grass with the length of the blade
The swing is from the hips just aided slightly with moving the arms
The swing did the cutting
All I had to do was swing, step forward and swing
The scythe rests on the ground, because of the front - back curve of the blade from spine to beard
The cutting edge stays that low near to the ground and is cuts the grass at right angle
So the blade cuts slices in the direction of the blade travel
You almost use the point of the blade to as a guide to what you want to cut
And a neat windrow was left to my left
The heavier bush scythe I sometime would use in a pulling motion to almost chop
But still in that wide sweep
There is honing and peening
I maintained the sharpness with honing with a DMT E Fine stone
And after a couple of days work use the Peening jig, much less than suggested
Peening is work-hardening the soft malable steel
With a new European scythe, peening needs to be done quite a few times over a period time
Banged into shape and let to reset
It is semi elastic as it goes back some what and then needs peening then rest
It is like the elastic edge of a knife that only after quite a few sharpening stay sharp
Like steeling a knife
Peening is very effective in the sharpening proccess
I see in the video, your hips do not move, and all the reaching is from the arms
Where your step and hip are opposite to your arm's reach
And the scythe is high off the ground
I do not know if that is because it is an american type scythe
Also I do not see a clear and defined windrow
Look at this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzdjOkLQw1s
The scythe and snath is at least a 1/5 of the price of any gasoline weed-wacker I can buy here
And that is with out adding safety gear like a face shield and ear muffs and gasoline
I did not add the cost the peening jig because I could do it with a mechanics hammer for $5
Bottom line?
A couple of hours while you sweat under protection gear with a noisy vibrating smelly machine
or
A couple of hours of sweating freely from heavy exersize of mesmerizing pattern of movement in silence
