Who else uses a scythe?

FortyTwoBlades said:
As far as tang steepness goes, the bend in the neck minimizes how much of a bend is required in the tang. It's the whole reason why bends exist in snath necks at all. ...
Click to expand...

But as you know, the Russian one-grip snaths are still typically straight, avoiding the need to steam-bend them. The accommodation for steepness is usually done at the blade attachment, with a taper and/or wedge (in addition to whatever angle the tangs have from the factory). Some tradeoffs are involved, of course. (From your earlier posts, I know that you have that induction heater, which is why I asked.)

Thanks for sharing your prototypes with us! I think it's great that you're working on these developments.

For those who aren't familiar with the Russian (or Slavic) snaths:
image002_103.jpg

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from http://scytheconnected.blogspot.com/2013/12/russian-variations.html
 
Yup! This isn't a Slavic snath, however. It just superficially resembles one, since it's mostly straight and single-gripped and happens to be shown here with a Russian blade. The angled cut on many Slavic snaths only works with a cut that runs the full length of the tang, which generally requires a thicker shaft than I'm using here (1.25" diameter) so they usually would use a light wood like poplar for it instead of ash, like in this example. :)
 
A quick video clip of the prototype Longfellow in action. The grass isn't all that particularly long yet, but I was able to find a spot where the cuts would show clear enough.

[video=youtube;AHceSkH2Ch8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHceSkH2Ch8&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
Oh yes, I scythe mow all that and more. It's part of why I like long blades. :D

Some areas are flat but there's actually a lot of bumps, undulations, and depressions both in other areas and in the one shown--they just tend not to show up clearly on camera. I've groomed the area over the past year to remove most outright obstructions, though.
 
I've had a lot worth posting about lately but no time to do it. In the meantime I suggest anyone with a Facebook account to join up in this group for a more up-to-date feed of the goings on in Scythe Land.

Recently scored some more early Clapp-style nibs and a neat little true Swedish pattern Banko. I've also been getting more time in with my Arti blades and enjoying them quite a bit, as well as the Longfellow snath. My machinist has been bedridden with the flu, so I've waiting on his recovery so I can get the taller North Star rings done up and a quote on fabricated couplings for the North Star snath.
 
Lieblad said:
Btw, I made a real peening anvil and worked over an old 'Fux blade,
Incredible difference over those post & cap peeners. Its much faster as one peens about 10mm per strike & less strikes gets me a more uniform edge. Best of all, less stoning since the edge is not getting banged against that centerpost.
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Pics!
 
Sorry no anvil pics. I am sort of a web-land luddite.
Anyway, the anvil is simply made of a 1kg crosspeen hammer.
Welded flanges on so it wont shift whilst clamped in a vise, radiused nice & polished up its point.
I just need to modify those welded tabs to hold some kind of wooden or plastic fingers the blade edge will rest against.
Eventually I may weld on a bar what can stab into the earth or something, but i dont forsee me peening at somewhere outside my workshop.
 
Lieblad said:
...the anvil is simply made of a 1kg crosspeen hammer.
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If the homemade anvil's contact surface doesn't seem hard enough, I've heard that pounding it repeatedly with a hard (and smooth) hammer can make a noticeable improvement, due to work hardening. (To clarify, this is done to the anvil without the blade present.)
 
Thanks, that hammer is plenty hard.
It spent its prior decades pounding on stuff. Its as hard as workhardening will ever get it.
Were I thinking it still too soft, a trip thru my forge would fix that.
 
[video=youtube;MZbwzYJAFlQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZbwzYJAFlQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
They know what the scythe means and always get excited when they see I have it out. :D

13254619_10209446907998066_42953987850897316_n.jpg
 
[video=youtube;l_6PgjCeunQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_6PgjCeunQ[/video]
 
Just managed to snag an original copy of the same Derby Ball & Edwards snath catalog I have a library scan of. It, unfortunately, has a hole punched through it, but I'll be able to take high-rez scans of it instead of the black and white low-rez ones I got from the remotely-sent library copy.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
[video=youtube;l_6PgjCeunQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_6PgjCeunQ[/video]
Click to expand...

I would class those conditions as good :), but those sudden stops when you hit something are why I quit using the level rotating arc stroke for anything but cutting smooth lawn type stuff! It can be a small sapling, a rock the edge of a dip or an 8" thick clump of mature orchard grass, whatever resist beyond the blades momentum will stop it and transfer shock back to the tool and, worse, the user. With a steeper pitched and crowned blade, a sweeping motion across the swath is less likely to have an obstruction stop the blade, and if it does, the shock is transferred back to the arms and shoulders mainly, not a twisted spinal column! Of course, the finished appearance is somewhat less smooth and even and the width of the swath reduced, but the difference in harvested grass/hay is negligible if at all.

Just my observations, but important to me because I think scythes are most useful in places most unlike the flat, smooth fields we most often see them used in on YouTube.
 
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