Thread: Scythe rescue

On monday I was doing some tractor work around a shed for my 70 yr old neighbour when I spotted his fathers old scythe hanging on the wall. After a little negotiation it came home with me.
I stripped it down putting the rusted metal parts to soak in white vinegar and sanded the wood before giving it a good two coats of tung oil. Tuesday with the metal work cleaned and oiled it was reassembled the part called the grass nail made and fitted. It was then tested on the grass around the dog kennels and worked as well as the weedwacker and faster.
Monday

Tuesday

Very nice job. You could bet you now own the flashest scythe around.

I would get a black robe and have fun scaring the shit out of people.



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I borrowed my wife's grandfather's one to knock back the long grass at a place we had moved into. Hats off to the old guys that used to cut hay with them. All technique plus hard work. No bad back excuses in those days.
Regrettably the one that I borrowed was full of borer holes and broke some time after.

Nice, I have one with factory paint still on it. You know to sharpen them you will need to tease the blade edge out with a hammer and hand anvil (forgot the fancy word) not just a stone?

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I love scything... once you get the knack of how to position the blade it is enjoyable work ... John Seymour states in his book that a man should be able to scythe two acres a day ... but grain would take longer than a lovely multi-specie sward ...

Good work @john m

I also have my Grandfathers scythe his one has two blades one long like shown in you photos and one thicker in width but about half the length

I also have a couple of slashers and a bill hook slasher that looks like it would take your leg off with one easy swipe

Cheers
Pete

Originally Posted by JasonW

Nice, I have one with factory paint still on it. You know to sharpen them you will need to tease the blade edge out with a hammer and hand anvil (forgot the fancy word) not just a stone?

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You are talking about peening, but you don't do it with that blade as it is a Tyzack patent blade and much harder steel.

I cut hay this summer with my grandfather's scythe, but not a huge area! I also ended up buying an Austrian scythe which is lighter and easier to use but does need peening. I built a manual hay baler and now have 29 bales of hay in the shed for the cows this winter

Originally Posted by zimmer

Hats off to the old guys that used to cut hay with them. All technique plus hard work. No bad back excuses in those days.

Dead right! They probably never had sore backs either because they were fit and strong. A lot of our modern health problems are because technology has made life easier (and more efficient?) and most of us don't work hard like in those days.

My Douglas fir waste thinning crews/guys who clamber around steep country swinging chainsaws 5-6 days a week all year round are hardly ever sick, and are more fit and stronger than guys 10-15 years their junior.

Back in the 1960's I cut quite a lot of hay with a scythe once you get the technique down pat you can get through quite a lot in a short time,
the paddocks we used for hay were of irregular shape the bits we couldn't reach with the tractor mounted mower we did with scythes
great fun when a teenager not so much now.