Who else uses a scythe?

Well, I cleaned it up a little more and I can definitely read
D.W on the top line
AUB and maybe even another U on the bottom line

so, it doesn't actually say David Wadsworth & Son, but instead probably D. Wadsworth (& Son?)



I also had one more question. I was reading a little about scythes today, and I didn't realize that there were different blade types (grass, weeds, brush, etc).
42 (or anyone else), can you tell what kind of blade my scythe has?
Thanks again!
 
Here's a couple sickles and a scythe of my grandparents I cleaned and sharpened. The first one's handle was part of a Hubbards and co pick handle.
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Very cool seeing that Ace Hardware-branded Seymour snath. The blade is a True Temper Briar Edge. Also nice to see the "BARD & CO" stamp on the handle of that grass hook. I've seen those particular hooks around, plenty, but not with markings.
 
We've gotten the North Star scythe hardware switched from water jet cutting to plasma cutting, and while we lost some definition, the cost is about 1/3 that of water jet and it's just as effective. We did need to increase the ring wall thickness a little to prevent burn-through, but the complete hardware still weighs about 2oz less than what a full set of Seymour hardware does. Our steam bending manufacturing partner is almost done with 72" and 78" ash Longfellow snath shafts, and will be prototyping one in cherry, as well. We'll be able to offer them soon, and I'm very excited for the challenges that these will solve for a lot of folks getting started with scything.

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I just watched a segment of "Survival Russia" "Solo Overnight At The Frontier Camp Work and Planning 2018. that was posted on You Tube a couple of days ago. The man in the videos is a Dane married to a Russian woman who lives in some pretty small village somewhere in Russia. Most of the episodes start off with a drone flying over his home and showing a forest as far as the eye can see from several hundred feet in the air, and in one episode he says the forest goes 1000 KM (600 miles) in that direction. He was clearing an area for a hunting/camping area with a home made, but old scythe. A completely straight handle, obviously a small sapling, with another hand cut branch (?) stuck into it as a handle. The interesting part was the end of the sapling was cut at a 45 degree angle, with a hole drilled thru the end. The blade had a right angle turn at the end, which fitted thru the hole and the blade was secured to the handle by a hand forged ring. He did reinforce it with some wire, and it seemed to work OK, but very crude or basic compared to what we usually see on the link. John
 
Nursie: Another good idea. You’re so clever today, you’d better make sure your foot doesn’t fall off.
Queenie: Is that what happens when you have good ideas? Your foot falls off.
Nursie: Oh yes! My brother had this brilliant idea of cutting his toenails with a scythe, and his foot fell off!

 
John A. Larsen said:
I just watched a segment of "Survival Russia" "Solo Overnight At The Frontier Camp Work and Planning 2018. that was posted on You Tube a couple of days ago. The man in the videos is a Dane married to a Russian woman who lives in some pretty small village somewhere in Russia. Most of the episodes start off with a drone flying over his home and showing a forest as far as the eye can see from several hundred feet in the air, and in one episode he says the forest goes 1000 KM (600 miles) in that direction. He was clearing an area for a hunting/camping area with a home made, but old scythe. A completely straight handle, obviously a small sapling, with another hand cut branch (?) stuck into it as a handle. The interesting part was the end of the sapling was cut at a 45 degree angle, with a hole drilled thru the end. The blade had a right angle turn at the end, which fitted thru the hole and the blade was secured to the handle by a hand forged ring. He did reinforce it with some wire, and it seemed to work OK, but very crude or basic compared to what we usually see on the link. John
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Someone shared that video with me. He'd not need the wire if he just positioned the ring higher up on the tang. The overall construction was a fairly crude yet typical Russian snath, with the one notable exception that the grip piece was mortised in rather than being a length of wood boiled and wrapped around the shaft with the ends tied together, which is the more typical fashion.
 
A neighbor gave me a snath with a brush blade on it today. I looked up the patent on the handle and found out it is a Seymour patent although it was designed by Samuel L. Crowe in 1930. The blade is just marked KELLY. But enough talking, on with the pics! In the pics I have included my grass scythe for scale. Also, why is there cloth under the metal cap? P.S. Bonus challenge! Can someone guess the pat.# based on the info I gave.
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It's a No.25 Seymour Ironclad snath. I'm not a big fan of the Seymour Ironclads on account of how the lips of the heel plate can bite into the wood "shelf" to either side if the retaining bolt is overtightened. This often causes them to crush or split the wood in that spot. Derby & Ball also made "Ironclad" snaths (they used that same nomenclature and the shrouded loop bolt off the end of the snath rather than going through the wood) but the heel plate was formed in the conventional manner--flat, without lips.

Patent #US1824123A

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Dang man! I am impressed! Are you just as confused as I am about the cloth between the wood and the steel cap?
 
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