Who else uses a scythe?

Great first post, man! Thanks for sharing! I think I know just the stone you're talking about--Norton makes them, I believe. You're 100% spot on with regards to the rhythm. It's all about finding the right stroke and then falling into a natural rhythm. Very pleasant work once you figure it out, though it takes some time!
 
Michael Harpold said:
I also carried a coarse wet stone that had a red wooden handle. It was worn down in the middle kinda like an hour glass. I can still hear it sing as we sharpened our tools.
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Perhaps it looked like this one.

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Was thinking this morning about all the soft american blades ive come across. Any chance I could peen these edges to thin them and work harden the edge? I am certainly not concerned about breaking a blade that has no use to me. Is it peened side down on the anvil for hand peening with a hammer? Gonna screw around with it today since its still dumping rain.
 
Can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work. As long as you've established that it's a soft blade then you might as well give it a go! I believe it's typical to peen with the "face" side up--plenty of good videos out there on peening Euro scythes and you can probably apply the same methodology. Let us know how it turns out for ya'!
 
For peening scythes with a hammer, there are two general approaches regarding which side of the blade to hammer.

The first approach uses a relatively wide anvil, and a narrow hammer face (like the thin end of a cross-pein hammer); and the side of the blade with the main bevel is hammered. (The "wide" anvil surface for peening might be only a 1-1/4 inch square.)

The second approach uses a narrow anvil (narrow like the thin end of a cross-pein hammer) and a normal hammer face (like the bigger end of a cross-pein hammer), and the main bevel of the blade is placed onto the narrow anvil and the other side of the blade is hammered.
 
I think your second method would work better because of increased accuracy of the force. It's hard to hit precisely on the edge with a ball peen hammer. But placing the edge on narrow 'anvil' and striking the back would put the force right where you need it.
 
Conventionally I've only seen cross pein hammers used for peining the edge of a scythe.
 
I’ve never used a scythe in my life, so I’m not really a player here. Maybe you’ll enjoy this anyway.

There’s an old theory about the phrase, “Wet your whistle.”

It’s harvest time. John Plowman is scything his fields. He scythes his way down one furrow, and walks back to start the next row. Now is the time to sharpen his scythe. Also known as “Whetting his whittle.”

In this context whittle means a honking big knife. A carving knife, a butcher knife, a short sword. Applying the word to a scythe is no stretch. (Whittle can also mean a clasp-knife, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Farmer John also keeps a jug of beer at this end of the furrow. At one and the same stop he eases his thirst, and then whets his wittol.

This happened so often to so many farmers that the two activities became conflated. Soon you could sit in a pub and whet your whittle without all that dust and sweat.

Eventually the phrase was worn down to "wet your whistle". It’s the same creativity that turned Hyde Park’s Route de Roi into Rotten Row.

Fun story. Is it true? It’s far more likely that your mouth is so dry you can’t whistle—until local application of a liquid lubricant. Chug chug!

And whetting? I bet harvesters did it whenever they thought it necessary. They weren’t carrying whetstones in those cow-horn sheaths for nothing.

As folk etymologies go, this is an entertaining one. I still don’t believe it.
 
I think that the phrase probably originates from the fact that when you have a mouth that's dry from dehydration it's nigh impossible to whistle. :)

In other news, however, I received a response from Bill Henthorn, the president of Midwest Rake and the new president of Seymour now that they've acquired them. I'll not copy/paste it here as I'm unsure of whether or not he would mind, but his response to my concerns regarding Seymour's scythes was a very positive one and that he's going to look into some of the problems that I brought to his attention. That being said, he obviously has a lot on his plate right now with the acquisition being so recent, but it's very encouraging to me that he seems to be a forward thinker unlike the previous upper management. Once I complete my guide on the selection, maintenance, and use of the American scythe he's also very interested in providing the information with their scythes and on their website, which I think will help combat much of the negative image they've unfortunately received over the years. Here's hoping things keep going in this direction! :)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
In other news, however, I received a response from Bill Henthorn, the president of Midwest Rake and the new president of Seymour now that they've acquired them. I'll not copy/paste it here as I'm unsure of whether or not he would mind, but his response to my concerns regarding Seymour's scythes was a very positive one and that he's going to look into some of the problems that I brought to his attention. That being said, he obviously has a lot on his plate right now with the acquisition being so recent, but it's very encouraging to me that he seems to be a forward thinker unlike the previous upper management. Once I complete my guide on the selection, maintenance, and use of the American scythe he's also very interested in providing the information with their scythes and on their website, which I think will help combat much of the negative image they've unfortunately received over the years. Here's hoping things keep going in this direction! :)
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Good stuff!
 
I'll be especially pleased if they start including the nibs to their snaths in a little separate baggy instead of cranking them on. Then we'll actually have a reliable source for an acceptable quality snath. Vintage is still better if you can find 'em in good shape, but the Seymours would be quite decent as long as the nibs are actually able to be adjusted! :)
 
Also, in other news I recently found a seller on the 'bay with a bunch of absolutely mint condition scythe labels, around 20 give or take, and all different. Bought the lot of them at what I consider to be a fair price. Will post photos when they arrive.
 
[video=youtube;yxdiajvKbKo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxdiajvKbKo&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Took this video back in June I think. Its the 36" blade, the best grass blade I've got. the steel is still soft and has been bent a couple times when the point took a little dive. Doesnt sharpen that well or hold well but it still cuts, especially in young tender grass.
 
You sure make that blade work, dude! Great demonstration of good technique.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
You sure make that blade work, dude! Great demonstration of good technique.
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Sure didn't know a thing about the grassier part of mowing going into last year. My brother is working the field into a lot of no till plots and we were using oodles of hay, leaves etc for mulch. We had the bright idea to leave the grass and let it grow in height and volume. Bad idea that was, went from very enjoyable with decent output like the vid to horrific slow sweaty work. even if it were twice as efficient to mow the old thick grass I wouldnt do it that way. Mowing it when its young and tender is way easier. In the same vein, a working knowledge of axes and saws isnt useful unless combined with a working knowledge of wood.

You like my Coca-cola stone holder? It pisses off my hippy friends in addition to holding the stone better than the belt clip holders!
 
Hah--I actually hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out! :D Mind posting some pics of the rig? I'd probably tick 'em off even worse with the way I don't even use a true scythe stone--my "stubby" Jewelstik diamond steel does the job great, and no need for water. :p
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Hah--I actually hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out! :D Mind posting some pics of the rig? I'd probably tick 'em off even worse with the way I don't even use a true scythe stone--my "stubby" Jewelstik diamond steel does the job great, and no need for water. :p
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I cut half of the threaded cap away to fit the stone in, drilled a hole in the remaining half of the threaded cap and poked some cord through, tying that to my belt loop. gravity helps me out, although sometimes it a pain to have it swinging around it spills less than the typical holder that costs much more.

Try stowing your stone in an old little debbie package, or an empty conventional salad dressing bottle. That'll really get em riled all up. (I dont hate hippies! Really!)
 
Interesting! If I used a traditional stone I'd consider giving that a try!
 
Here are some vintage pristine scythe labels I found on the 'bay. Most are retailer labels rather than manufacturer, but they're quite nice!

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Wow! Quite a haul.

I can't help but notice that many of them appear to derive from the same source with only the hardware store's name changed.
 
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