Who else uses a scythe?

[BG_Farmer]

Very much enjoyed it. When they say "SiliFix" they really do mean the "fix" part! I had run through some hidden clods with pebbles in them a couple days ago and it put some nicks in my edge about 1/4 of the way back from the toe. Rather than grind it out I just honed over it with a few coarse passes and then was going to let it hone its way out. Using the coarse side of the SiliFix Duo finished removing the nicks and put a good strong micro-serration on the edge that the fine side (really towards the fine end of medium) polished it up without erasing that scratch pattern. Made for VERY aggressive cutting, taking swaths more than 11" deep with a fully open hang to the blade.

What grit do you estimate for the coarse end? Even the Norton stone is too fine for my brush and weed blade. The double ended concept does seem promising for field use with hay blades, also, where it is easy to go too far between honings and then have to spend a lot of extra time with an overly fine stone.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

The manufacturer rates it at 100 and 180 grit. But the fine side feels finer than that, so it makes me wonder if there's a typo in their catalog. The fine side looks a lot like their SiliCar stone.

 

[cgarai]

My daughter found an old scythe and 3 large buck saws while hiking in the woods. I was wondering what anyone can tell me about this scythe and whether or not i can bring it back to service.

I have actually filed an edge onto it and I'm waiting for a couple of scythe stones to finish the edge. I also cobbled together a snath out of an oak branch. I've tried it and it works, but I don't think it is sharp enough and of course with this rather unusual set up I can't really know how close it is in form to a proper scythe. I'm sure it's heavier!

One thing that feels wrong when using it is the angle of the blade relative to the direction of travel. At the beginning of the swing it looks to be a little less than right angles with the direction of travel, but by the end of the stroke the angle changes to probably 45 degrees to the direction of travel. I haven't foujnd a good video that shows what the stroke should look like.

Here is a link to some photos:

https://plus.google.com/photos/102324247297226262993/albums/6154484936987300049

Thanks,
Chris

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

When following the arc of the stroke, the heel should remain the most proximal and the toe the most distal or else the blade is too closed relative to the stroke and you're just ramming the spine at the toe into things. Likewise the heel should be engaged in the grass when taking a stroke of the greatest possible depth without bogging down, or else the blade is set too open for the stroke. If your edge is sharp enough you should be able to cut even relatively short grass with a very slow stroke without much force behind it. The grips look to be set in rather odd spots on that snath you made. With the snath stood on its blade end next to you the lower grip should be roughly the height of the ball of the hip joint, and the upper grip should be distanced from it the length from your elbow to outstretched fingertip (one cubit.) An alternative method that I like is for the upper grip to sit tight under the armpit when stood upright like that, and the lower grip set one cubit down from there. The minimum depth for a given blade to cut with full edge engagement is to set the edge at the toe perpendicular to you, and see how far down the heel is. Any more closed relative to the stroke will be causing the spine to be shielding the edge, and from there the blade may be opened until it starts bogging down, at which point you close it back up a little and you're at a proper depth.

Here's a photo I snapped yesterday while doing a little mowing and you can see the orientation of the blade and the path it had followed.

 

[timbo114]

My daughter found an old scythe and 3 large buck saws while hiking in the woods.

The hardware and blade look to be in amazingly good condition, considering where it was found.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

It's a late-period economy snath that I've seen sold with True Temper labeling. I'm unsure of the actual manufacturer of those.

 

[Steve Tall]

...I also cobbled together a snath out of an oak branch...

Here's your photo:

To give it better balance, a line drawn through both grip positions should intersect the blade (in the 2-D view), as shown in this photo (by Peter Vido):

Also compare the grip positions... Your grips look like they are too close together, and/or the right grip looks like it could be too far from the blade, and the left hand position looks too vertical.

Quoting FortyTwoBlades, "With the snath stood on its blade end next to you the lower grip should be roughly the height of the ball of the hip joint, and the upper grip should be distanced from it the length from your elbow to outstretched fingertip (one cubit.)"
[Adding a couple inches to the cubit measurement can give some benefits when field mowing heavy grass.]

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

As a bit of a further explanation from my experiences so far, most American scythes were used with the right hand as a floating pivot and the left arm powering the stroke so that a first class levering action would be made (this stroke is of benefit with heavier scythes) and so the lower grip should be oriented so that, when a plumb line is dropped from the grip point, it is more or less perpendicular to that line (if using rear-facing grips like you are here--the same concept applies in a slightly different way with forward-facing nibs.) The left grip should then be placed in a position that is comfortable at full arm extension across the body and through the closure of the stroke, which will vary depending on the individual and the shape of the snath. In a scythe being powered either exclusively or mostly by the right hand with the left hand as the pivot, you'd want to drop the plumb line from the top grip and the right grip should also lie along that line.

 

[Bo T]

Picked up an old Burlington Northern Rail Road scythe a few weeks ago. It was probably used to clear brush along the tracks. The nibs were pretty well shot so I ordered a couple and a spare blade. Fortytwoblades mailed them out Thursday and they showed up today. My wife loved the lavender soap I picked up for her at the same time. I'll get it set up over the next couple of weeks.

I'm working hard at getting everything set up and been practicing a little. I am having difficulty on getting the nibs to stay in place. Especially the upper one. But it comes loose then the bottom nib comes loose. I'm not cutting fresh grass worth a damn but once the stem gets a little firmer the blade catches and cuts really well. Or if the grass is thick enough to give a little resistance it cuts well. I'm keeping the blade sharp enough that it catches on my thumb nail. I'm using a Norton canoe stone. Anyway, I mixed some sand and Tite-Bond and placed under the nibs. I'll try again tomorrow if my stomach stops cramping at my rib cage.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Get rid of that sand! It's not going to do you any favors. You need to size the band to the diameter of the snath with a hammer for a good fit. The nibs should hold very secure as long as the bands have been tapped small enough. I'll be resizing some bands within the next day or two and I'll take a video of the process, but there are details in my guide HERE.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Here's the video break-down. It's all shown using a blowhorn stake anvil but alternative/more common tools are discussed. If wanting to invest in a mandrel you can get a jeweler's mandrel for hoop earrings that's of good dimensions for nib bands for only $30--otherwise pliers, a vise, and some black iron pipe can be used instead.

[video=youtube;DpwfQe5EK58]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpwfQe5EK58&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[Bo T]

I picked up a couple more scythes at a yard sale this weekend. One is a brush scythe similar to the first one I got. The other one is aluminum with a grass blade. I can put my 10" wheel on the grinder and practice the bevels. I have the brush blades to practice on - they are a little nicked up. The weed blade I got from FortyTwoBlades still sharpens up easily although it seems to dull easily too. I am looking foreward to using the grass blade once I get it sharpened up. I'd like to get a left handed weed blade.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

It's possible there may still be a slight burr on the edge, which could cause an artificial sensation of rapid dulling, or it may need final honing at a slightly lifted angle (less likely.) Try using a wooden dowel like a stone to draw any burr out--if your edge is refreshed by doing so it was rolling causing the dulling rather than abrasive wear. Also depending on what your mowing conditions are like and how your scythe is set up it may be running into fairly dirty growth that dulls the edge. If you're considering using a belt grinder for scythe blades there are a few considerations to address with a wheel, one of them being that you'll want to set up a roller jig if you can. Also that the blade will only be contacting the edges of the belt unless your contact wheel has a crown on it, so the edges of the belt will wear out early if you use them for that a lot. You won't find any left-handed American blades--or, if you do, please let me know because I've never even seen a reference to one. Lefty blades seem to be somewhat exotic even with European scythes, in part because while the scythe is an asymmetric tool, it uses both sides of the body fairly equally. Congrats on the new scores!

 

[Bo T]

I hadn't thought about the uneven wear on the belt. I have a solid 8" idler that has a slight crown. If I have serious problems with edge wear on the belt I might try that.
I dislocated a bunch of ribs last year. My right side develops more tension after a while. I've looked at the blades and it should be a simple matter to forge that hook over to the other side then set the blade angle by inspection. The bow on the snath is off a little but I am thinking that is a lessor problem than getting the nibs set.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

It would actually be a pretty significant problem. If flipping the blade over and forging the knob over onto the other side, the curves would be presenting themselves in the wrong direction, and that will adversely affect the hang of the blade. You'd have to close the set of the heel by a large degree to achieve a normal orientation to the blade in use. As previously mentioned, scything uses both sides of the body pretty evenly, so there would be little change in the muscle engagement required. If anything my preferred stroke (with a conventional "right-handed" scythe) mostly uses left-side muscles to power the stroke. As one set of muscles tire it's standard practice to adapt your stroke to engage a different set of muscles. I liken using the scythe to playing the French horn--I played trumpet up until high school, which uses the right hand to actuate the valves. I switched to French horn my freshman year, which uses the left hand for the valves and the right hand in the bell to control the tone. Despite the switch in "handedness" it didn't present any challenges because both hands were being engaged with the action of the instrument. So while many initially think the French horn is a left-handed instrument, the handedness of the player doesn't really play into it.

What grinder do you have? If it's tiltable so you can work the top of the wheel you can tilt the blade so that the arc of the wheel is being presented to the edge despite the square face of the wheel, like the fellow in THIS publication.

 

[joshiecole]

Obviously I don't use my scythe enough!

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Looks like something of a scythette. Out of curiosity, what region of the world are you from?

 

[Bo T]

Thanks FTB that publication helps a lot.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Happy to help!

 

[joshiecole]

Looks like something of a scythette. Out of curiosity, what region of the world are you from?

I assume that question is for me given that my 'scythe' is rather a pathetic example. I'm from England. I can't tell you too much about the origins of the scythe because it is my dad's and I'm not really sure why he owns it. It's far too modern to have come from my great-grandparents' farm.