Who else uses a scythe?

You are doing super fine work with those, 42.
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Hahaha--well, both are vintage classics, I suppose! :D Never was one for hotrods, but I love the cars usually used as the bases. Such nice lines. Not much of a car guy in general, in fact, but I do love me some art deco, no matter what form it comes in. :)
 
Latest mowing vid. Knocking down some unruly marsh pepper smartweed.

[video=youtube;DxvH3kI4txQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxvH3kI4txQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
Square_peg said:
Pretty fast! What are you using to sharpen the your scythe in this video?
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It's a Friedrich Dick Balkan-style "flat" steel. I like to call it a steel "rifle" or "riffle" hone dueto its strong resemblance to scythe rifles, which were abrasive bonded to a wooden handle. Whips up a terrifying edge and restores dirt-cutting damage with just a few light swipes and it doesn't get clogged by rust or grass. Not inexpensive, but it's well worth it in my opinion. :)
 
Interesting. Likes like a great steel.
Do you know of any similarly shaped and sized diamond hone? I like steels but they don't last as long as diamond hones.
 
I haven't seen any big ol' oval diamond steels. However, you'd likely be very surprised by how long an F. Dick steel lasts. They're hardened like high-quality files. One of the advantages of a steel is that it removes only a minuscule amount of metal from the blade, vastly extending its life. On medium-hardness carbon steels like butchers' knives and scythe blades it also work hardens the edge a bit.

G-pig has one of these steels as well, and I hear he's been having fun with it. :D
 
A teaser photo of the latest project. The emblem is of the fruit and leaves of deadly nightshade.

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Wonderful thread. A few days ago, I payed $15 for a scythe from a guy who had set up a little fleamarket
by the side of the road. I could not wait to get started, and hope I have not harmed a good blade. I took the
rust off by setting the blade on a tarp, pouring 1/3 of a 2 liter generic cola over it, soaking about an hour
then scrubbing with a green scouring pad and repeating until the cola was gone. I finished by soaking and a baking
soda solution, scrubbing with baking soda and finishing with the wire brush in the picture. What the wire brush took
off was black. Maybe I should have stopped sooner? Wire brush instead of green scrubber pad might have spared
me a sore thumb from scrubbing.

The blade appeared to have a bevel only on one side and I followed that with a file, making it a little more acute, then a coarse
and fine sharpening stone, with a little work on the opposite side.

The snath has Seymore No 1 carved into it and apparently an 'ironclad' end but not with an adjustable web, with the middle nib
not in good shape and fixed in place by fencing staples. Unlike other pictures I have seen, the fastening on the end included washers.

How should cutting feel? I tried sweeping it over some grass like that in the lawn mowing videos here, but nothing happened,
not like taking a razor to a hanging sheet of paper as it appears on competition videos and as I knew it would not be.
I then tried some long grass that was lying flat and found I could cut when the point got in under the grass. Following through the stroke
felt like pulling out a tangled mat of grass and there was a fair bit of resistance to my stroke. Maybe I need to make the mounting angel
sharper so I don't take in as much grass. Perhaps bending the tang will make a night and day difference, but that is beyond my means.

beard.jpg

point.jpg

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Welcome to the forum! If it says "Seymour No.1" on it, it's probably not an Ironclad. The Ironclad models have a shaped end on them that matches that of the loop bolt while the No.1 has a draw-formed domed cap.

That blade looks extremely tired and at this point you'll want to do contact-grinding against the chine (raised lip of the spine) and the underside of the rib or else your edge won't be properly thin. Work evenly from both sides. Many American blades are laminated, with hard steel forming the core of the edge. If you work unevenly then you'll be using the soft cheek steel as the cutting edge and will have poor results. Bending the tang will help a lot in finer grass but you may still have good results in heavy growth.

Your edge is likely not fine enough, the lay of the blade is probably not suited to your target type, the hang may not be ideal, and you may need to adjust the nibs.

For reference, the washer is is probably there because the original user stripped the wood at the top of the nib, rendering it unadjustable. Cutting away the wood at the top of the nib allows access to the nut for removal, and then the reinstallation with the washer allows it to actually tighten up again.
 
Thank you 42. The end cap is as you say. That is where the washers are. Any idea on the vintage?

I am relieved that I did not ruin a unique blade, that what I had was indeed tired rather than a unique design.
Lamination makes sense. I cannot get any of my sharpening implements to bite at all on the thin beard section, which would be that
hard core.
Following are some more pictures, of the scythe, its label, No1 Seymour Grass Snath, damage around the nib and on the body, and all my $100.00 worth of lawn gear (shop scissors have taken down much grass). Finally, a picture of the edge with the broad top bevel illuminated and the thin bottom grey. Notice the
speckles on the black metal. Is this pitting?
scythe.jpg

seymour.jpg

chip.jpg

gear.jpg

edge.jpg
 
My gut tells me that's a late 40's model. Your nibs have the cap covering the top nut, which was an earlier feature. The aluminum nib blocks obviously date the piece to post-1920 as aluminum was a rare material until a cheap method for its extraction was developed at that point in time. The washer looks to be a much more recent addition, and it looks like the damage to your blade possibly arose from some idiot trying to take an angle grinder to it as if it was a lawn mower blade. Note the way the damage is of fairly uniform (and significant) depth, and how it suddenly stops with an arc-shaped transition. That blade doesn't have much use left in it save for beater work, I'm afraid. Once you hit the bead it's basically done for. The snath is fixable from what I can see, though. Those nib bands are pretty corroded but you might be able to clean them up and tighten the loop for a better fit. No need for those staples if you just snug up the band! :)
 
Hi 42 Blades
I have just barely begun to work on the old scythe I posted up here some weeks ago. I am trying to get the nibs off so I can sand everything but the nuts and bolts are really rusted tight. I have been dripping penetrating oil on the exposed end of the nut and bolt for each nib but so far no go. I do know (I think) that they are left hand thread. Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Col Defender said:
Hi 42 Blades
I have just barely begun to work on the old scythe I posted up here some weeks ago. I am trying to get the nibs off so I can sand everything but the nuts and bolts are really rusted tight. I have been dripping penetrating oil on the exposed end of the nut and bolt for each nib but so far no go. I do know (I think) that they are left hand thread. Any suggestions?

Thanks
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The nibs are, indeed, left handed, so you'll need to turn them to the right in order to loosen them. If penetrating oil hasn't been doing anything, though, they may be a lost cause. I often come across nibs that are simply impossible to remove without busting the wooden grip off it and taking a wrench to the nut. I then save the nib block and use a replacement upper or lower nib, as appropriate. The vintage nib blocks are always higher quality castings than the modern-made ones (though they work!) so I find performance much improved using the vintage blocks with the new grip and band. Often the threads/nuts used on vintage ones aren't the same as modern ones, and often in cases where they simply won't loosen you'll find that the band and/or rod on the interior are VERY badly corroded.
 
And I should add, the wooden nibs are in pretty bad shape -cracked and with enough looseness in the wood where it grips the nut that just by hand I can turn one of them without turning the nut. If I cant get the nut to turn on the bolt by turning the nib I have thought about cutting just enough of the wood off so I can get a wrench on the nut or possibly cutting all the wood off, get the metal parts apart and then make a new wooden handle myself. Being highly challenged in wood working that may be tough and would be a last resort. Does anyone sell nibs for an American scythe?
 
Thanks 42 - our last posts crossed but you already anticipated my second post. I'll stay at it with penetrating oil for a while. There is no hurry. If I have to make new nibs what should I start with? Like a dowel of sufficient diameter or shovel handle or whatever?
 
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