Who else uses a scythe?

Once again, my experience so far has been that there was a large range of hardnesses. Some stupidly soft to the point of not even seeming to have been heat treated, and others that are glassy hard. The ideal seems to be around the same hardness as a well-made machete in terms of how it responds to the stone/grinding and its degree of springiness. That would seem to indicate that it's around the 50-55 mark.
 
The little brush blade I picked off of ebay is very hard, also very very thick. I like the little blade. The rest all could fit the description I gave. Most will cut good in the right grass. I hope to meet your lovely sounding Rixford blade someday 42, perhaps when we can start our anti-tractor mowing club! (or, at the very least, a pro scythe club)
 
Sounds like a plan! You can definitely get even soft blades to cut well with a little care. The biggest problem I find resulting from a soft blade is the tendency of the edge to develop a burr or roll, and it doesn't take much dulling for a blade to stop cutting light grass cleanly.
 
My neighbor dropped off his blade for me to use for a wildwood snath today. This is the first snath I've ever built, despite being a bit tenuous I sort of went ahead with a what the hell attitude. I'm glad I did. It took about 2 hours (including plenty of stepping back and wondering whether I have FUBAR'd it or not) before I even had a cup of coffee. I used Birch for the snath and Cherry for the handles. Apart from a couple things I remember from reading scythe connection material on snath theory, I had really no idea what I was doing. In addition to trying to get the blade hung more closed (which was the worst part of the Scythe supply snath) I wanted the offset that Peter talked about, I wanted the mid balance without the blade, and I wanted to make it a little shorter. All the negative experience I had with the Scythe supply snath also came into play. It felt like it was too long for me, despite being fit to someone almost identical in height. I think this might stem from growing up using a hockey stick that was about 4" shorter than the average "acceptably" short stick (butting against your chin-- mine came up to jugular and its still all I can use).

Untitled.jpg


I had a blast making it so whether it works out or not, I definitely got my times worth of experience out of it.
 
Frickin' sweet, dude! I just got back from seeing a man about a scythe. It was in rough shape (trashed blade, loose nibs) but it's a very old one and based on the collar shape seems to be an early D&B. Will take photos later. I doubt it'll be a user due to the loosening of the collar from severe wood shrinkage but it's a good collector. I hadn't seen the particular adjustment mechanism before.
 
G-pig said:
...This is the first snath I've ever built, despite being a bit tenuous I sort of went ahead with a what the hell attitude. I'm glad I did. It took about 2 hours (including plenty of stepping back and wondering whether I have FUBAR'd it or not) before I even had a cup of coffee. I used Birch for the snath and Cherry for the handles. Apart from a couple things I remember from reading scythe connection material on snath theory, I had really no idea what I was doing. In addition to trying to get the blade hung more closed (which was the worst part of the Scythe supply snath) I wanted the offset that Peter talked about, I wanted the mid balance without the blade, and I wanted to make it a little shorter...
Click to expand...

This is great, I think that Peter Vido would be happy to see this. The offset of the blade look good. How about a photo showing the side profile curvature?

The angle of your left grip might feel sub-optimal in use (hard to be sure from the photo angle). The ideal for ergonomics would be for each grip to angle away from the body, as well as drop down a little (instead of pointing straight toward the user). Some swell or knob at the end of each grip is good, too (can't see your grips very well here). These photos from ScytheConnection show what I'm talking about:

snath21.jpg


snath4.jpg
 
Steve Tall said:
This is great, I think that Peter Vido would be happy to see this. The offset of the blade look good. How about a photo showing the side profile curvature?

The angle of your left grip might feel sub-optimal in use (hard to be sure from the photo angle). The ideal for ergonomics would be for each grip to angle away from the body, as well as drop down a little (instead of pointing straight toward the user). Some swell or knob at the end of each grip is good, too (can't see your grips very well here). These photos from ScytheConnection show what I'm talking about:

snath21.jpg


snath4.jpg
Click to expand...

The grips are not secured yet, I am going to make some other ones and switch them out to play with before anything gets fixed for good. The bottom grip is too close to right angle like the old SS handle, which I didn't care for. The upper/left hand grip is meant to come off like normal, but its also made from a crotch of a cherry just like the lower right hand grip to lower the upper end of the snath down like a teeter-totter, because this blade had a shallow tang, and I thought I'd try some different things out that arent steam bending. Of course there isn't any mowing to do, so I am going entirely on feel and balance so its sort of limited at this point.

If you can tell me what the side profile curvature is, I'd be glad to take a photo of it tomorrow :)
 
Last edited:
Here are some shots of the business end of the scythe I picked up today. The shape of the collar makes me think this is a D&B but the mechanism is one I haven't seen. More simplistic than the one on later models, and the raised lips on the swing plate firmly hold the tang but would limit the blades that would fit it properly. The snath itself has a flat end (rather than the more attractive taper seen on many) and extremely heavy curvature to the point where I'd consider it unusually well-done. The length is generous as well, falling into the upper end of what I would consider to be a "normal" length. The bands on the nibs are very nicely "domed" as well. I suspect this is a fairly early example.

IMG_2488_zps5f373de4.jpg


IMG_2492_zpsc48c4dc7.jpg


IMG_2493_zps8e5cbe9a.jpg


IMG_2495_zpsf279e3be.jpg
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Here are some shots of the business end of the scythe I picked up today. The shape of the collar makes me think this is a D&B but the mechanism is one I haven't seen. More simplistic than the one on later models, and the raised lips on the swing plate firmly hold the tang but would limit the blades that would fit it properly. The snath itself has a flat end (rather than the more attractive taper seen on many) and extremely heavy curvature to the point where I'd consider it unusually well-done. The length is generous as well, falling into the upper end of what I would consider to be a "normal" length. The bands on the nibs are very nicely "domed" as well. I suspect this is a fairly early example.

IMG_2488_zps5f373de4.jpg


IMG_2492_zpsc48c4dc7.jpg


IMG_2493_zps8e5cbe9a.jpg


IMG_2495_zpsf279e3be.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats nice looking. Maybe a soak in linseed would tighten it up? If not, maybe shim the whole collar?
 
I'd have to shim the whole collar. It's got about a full 1/8" of slop in every direction! :eek::D There's also a crack (you can see it on the end) that would need to be given some reinforcement, but it's not one of major concern.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I'd have to shim the whole collar. It's got about a full 1/8" of slop in every direction! :eek::D There's also a crack (you can see it on the end) that would need to be given some reinforcement, but it's not one of major concern.
Click to expand...

Maybe you could put a thick shim in on the side where the bolt is, to pull it tight on the other side. you could drill through the shim for the bolt after, and give it a soak? That's what came to mind. Of course its your snath to do what you choose, but I bet we will have more subpar snaths (condition wise) to repair in our collective scything futures.
 
Last edited:
That's pretty much what I was planning on doing. I'm also considering cutting some shaped shims then gluing them to the snath and sanding it back down for a snug fit. The nibs will need tightening too--one of them has the classic "nail under the loop" and is still loose and the other one isn't any better. I think it dried the hell out over its long life! Makes me wonder how dry the wood was when new. I suspect not dry enough prior to shaping!
 
Steve Tall said:
I meant a photo from the side, showing the curvature of that profile, like this shot from ScytheConnection:

snath10.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh, ok. I will snap a pic tomorrow. I dont think there is as much of a curve as that one. The piece had a bit of curve in only one plane really, so orienting the offset in as well as trying to make it conducive to working with the shallower tang angle was tricky. I dont think the Scythe supply snath had any belly gaps when laid flat save for the steam bend.
 
Last edited:
001-3.jpg


As you can see here, not much curvature in that direction. I guess I didn't have that plane in mind when building it or cutting the piece for the snath. The SS snath is so straight it didn't strike me. I did elongate the shank on the lower handle as well as use a different upper handle to try to make it work with this blade. Also switched the former lower grip to the upper one with some modification and added a different, more comfortable lower grip. Not gonna glue these any time soon because I like to switch them around and change the angles etc. Now I have a good excuse to make another one, not that I need an excuse I guess..
 
Last edited:
I was just working on one of the english blades from the craigslist lot. Its fairly nice, needs edge work, but its got a pitched tang and has a rather lengthy 45 1/2" cutting edge. It's stamped "anchard" I believe, although the hole punched to attach the cradle could well have taken some letters off from the beginning. I think it will cut a nice wide swath in light grasses =)
 
G-pig said:
I was just working on one of the english blades from the craigslist lot. Its fairly nice, needs edge work, but its got a pitched tang and has a rather lengthy 45 1/2" cutting edge. It's stamped "anchard" I believe, although the hole punched to attach the cradle could well have taken some letters off from the beginning. I think it will cut a nice wide swath in light grasses =)
Click to expand...

If it's a hole at the base of the blade, chances are it's a hole for attaching a "grass nail" for keeping grass from catching in between the heel of the blade and the snath. Most cradles use a forward hole from what I've observed, but one at the base doesn't hurt either!
 
Yep, this one is towards the base, with a wood sheathed bolt spanning from the blade to the first finger of the cradle. its probably 6 inches from the start of the edge. It seems to serve both as a stiffener for the blade and also divert the cut grass from getting caught in the space between the snath and blade tang.

It's sort of odd that I am on such a scythe kick in the middle of January. I guess there aint much else to do though, cant haul logs, and all the wood is put away (realistically have enough to heat the shop for several years)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top