A website committed to promoting the use of the scythe
April 25, 2012 1:40 PM Subscribe
The folks behind the Scythe Connection no longer sell scythes, but the site remains a fantastic resource on an ancient tool still being used by some today. Maybe start browsing at the Navigation Guide. The site covers the tools, technique and sharpening, while weaving in a sort of mystical appreciation for the scythe. If you read nothing else, read their profile of Danish "creek worker" Niels Johansson, the "Mower of the Decade."
That's neat stuff. I was watching some of the videos on the site and thinking "I wonder if I could use this to mow the lawn", and then I thought "...without impaling one of the children or bisecting a cat" and decided that the answer was probably no.
To be sure, though, I'm about to add a beehive to the backyard and have been mulling over what to do about the grass that grows near the hive box, since the sounds of gas-powered weedeaters and mowers apparently bugs the hell out of them. Clip it by hand quietly, I guess, if not some landscape fabric and mulch.
posted by jquinby at 1:59 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
To be sure, though, I'm about to add a beehive to the backyard and have been mulling over what to do about the grass that grows near the hive box, since the sounds of gas-powered weedeaters and mowers apparently bugs the hell out of them. Clip it by hand quietly, I guess, if not some landscape fabric and mulch.
posted by jquinby at 1:59 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Dang apostrophe... beg pardon.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:59 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:59 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
what to do about the grass that grows near the hive box
Reel mower? I've heard newer ones are much less cranky than the older ones.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:01 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Reel mower? I've heard newer ones are much less cranky than the older ones.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:01 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Alternate Scythe uses...
Woman with 5-foot scythe robs Green Lake convenience store
posted by Artw at 2:09 PM on April 25, 2012 [4 favorites]
Woman with 5-foot scythe robs Green Lake convenience store
posted by Artw at 2:09 PM on April 25, 2012 [4 favorites]
Reel mower? I've heard newer ones are much less cranky than the older ones.
Weird. I was just reading about those in another tab...our grass area is certainly small enough. Nowhere near a half-acre.
posted by jquinby at 2:11 PM on April 25, 2012
Weird. I was just reading about those in another tab...our grass area is certainly small enough. Nowhere near a half-acre.
posted by jquinby at 2:11 PM on April 25, 2012
Artw: I feel like your link has to be false. I honestly can't believe the facts as presented. The highpoints for those who don't delve in:
the woman grabbed a second Four Loko and a pack of Marlboros, told the clerk not to say anything and walked back out of the store
...
Officers found a woman matching the clerk’s description on a porch in the 900 block of North 74th Street. She was holding a pack of Marlboros, there were two Four Locos next to her and the scythe was laying in a blanket on the ground
Doh!
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:13 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
the woman grabbed a second Four Loko and a pack of Marlboros, told the clerk not to say anything and walked back out of the store
...
Officers found a woman matching the clerk’s description on a porch in the 900 block of North 74th Street. She was holding a pack of Marlboros, there were two Four Locos next to her and the scythe was laying in a blanket on the ground
Doh!
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:13 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:30 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:30 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
>Scythe's are pretty imposing tools,
>Dang apostrophe... beg pardon.
That was no apostrophe, that was a scythe, cleaving the 's' from the 'e'.
posted by EnterTheStory at 2:43 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
>Dang apostrophe... beg pardon.
That was no apostrophe, that was a scythe, cleaving the 's' from the 'e'.
posted by EnterTheStory at 2:43 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
There were still plenty of old farmers using them where I grew up in Ireland in the 1970s.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:45 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:45 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
A website committed to promoting the use of the scythe
Holy crap. I have a legitimate need for this, and have spent the last year wondering where I can get one. I knew that five dollar sign up fee would pay for itself one day.
posted by Stagger Lee at 2:57 PM on April 25, 2012 [4 favorites]
These things are just really hard work. Surprisingly efficient for a hand tool, well legs, back, arms "tool", and I expect after a few seasons muscles build up, but stuff like this is what spurred the growth of cities. Half way through 20 acres and you're thinking that super boring desk job sounds real nice.
posted by sammyo at 3:11 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by sammyo at 3:11 PM on April 25, 2012
If I ever muster growing barley for my homebrewed beer (I already grow hops), I will surely have to acquire a scythe for harvest time.
posted by exogenous at 3:17 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by exogenous at 3:17 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
These things are just really hard work. Surprisingly efficient for a hand tool, well legs, back, arms "tool", and I expect after a few seasons muscles build up, but stuff like this is what spurred the growth of cities. Half way through 20 acres and you're thinking that super boring desk job sounds real nice.
Hey, I've got about an acre and a half of tall weeds that need to be crudely cleared, and I have to work around uneven ground and the small trees I want to keep. It's a job that probably needs to be done yearly.
There ARE gas powered tools that could do the job, but these things are relatively cheap and easy to maintain, it's perfect for my use.
...and once I get all muscly from scything I can start scything shirtless. You know, for the ladies.
posted by Stagger Lee at 3:22 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Don't fear the reaping tool!
posted by argonauta at 3:26 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by argonauta at 3:26 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Own a couple. Used to use them to cut down the grass between our fence and our gravel road. Mostly use a gas powered weed-wacker these days.
And yes, it's in the hips.
posted by jgaiser at 3:38 PM on April 25, 2012
And yes, it's in the hips.
posted by jgaiser at 3:38 PM on April 25, 2012
Nursie: That was another good idea! You are so clever today, you better be careful your foot doesn't fall off.posted by George_Spiggott at 3:54 PM on April 25, 2012 [4 favorites]
Queen Elizabeth: Does that happen, when you have lots of brilliant ideas? Your foot falls off?
Nursie: Certainly does! My brother, he had this brilliant idea of cutting his toenails with a scythe, and his foot fell off.
I have three scythes in my house right now: two real, one fake.
The one currently on the mantelpiece opposite me is an old-school one with a properly curved wooden handle. I got it last year when my opera company staged Der Kaiser von Atlantis; Death is one of the main characters and the director asked me to source a proper Ingmar Bergman-style scythe. I duly looked at stills from The Seventh Seal, found that Bergman's Death wields a traditional farm scythe, and got one off eBay for not much.
The eBay auction was one of those pickup-only things, which meant I had get up at stupid o'clock and take the train all the way out to Milton Keynes to get the scythe. Luckily the sellers were very nice and helped me unscrew the rusty bolts to take the blade off for transport. I stowed all the bits in a long green bag that had once held a disassembled gazebo. As it turned out, the bag wasn't quite long enough, so for the rest of the day I was schlepping this bag around with an elegantly curved wooden scythe handle sticking out of it.
That day, on trains, Tubes and buses, from the fabric shop to the Apple store and (amusingly) the blood donation center, I was asked repeatedly:
"What is that!?"
"It's a scythe."
Then they would ask why, and I would explain about the opera, and Death and eBay and Milton Keynes and so on.
Of course, when the director saw it, he got upset because it was TOO DIFFERENT from the plastic shower curtain rail he'd been rehearsing with for the past week. So my friend the Goth model generously offered to lend me her smaller, lighter scythe, which she'd found half-buried in a field while on a photo shoot somewhere remote. Being a proper Goth, she went "YES FREE SCYTHE", brought it home and cleaned the rust off. It's also an agricultural scythe, but this one is metal-handled and about two feet shorter than mine. I presented it to the director proudly. He turned it down.
Eventually he ended up borrowing a tubular metal curtain rail I hadn't yet put up, painting it black without asking and gluing the "blade" from a plastic party-shop scythe onto the end. That one's in the attic right now, since the curtain rail proved unsalvageable; my friend's metal one is downstairs in the umbrella stand and the wooden one is with me in the workroom.
How I avoided unleashing its wrath on that director, I'll never know.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:16 PM on April 25, 2012 [14 favorites]
The one currently on the mantelpiece opposite me is an old-school one with a properly curved wooden handle. I got it last year when my opera company staged Der Kaiser von Atlantis; Death is one of the main characters and the director asked me to source a proper Ingmar Bergman-style scythe. I duly looked at stills from The Seventh Seal, found that Bergman's Death wields a traditional farm scythe, and got one off eBay for not much.
The eBay auction was one of those pickup-only things, which meant I had get up at stupid o'clock and take the train all the way out to Milton Keynes to get the scythe. Luckily the sellers were very nice and helped me unscrew the rusty bolts to take the blade off for transport. I stowed all the bits in a long green bag that had once held a disassembled gazebo. As it turned out, the bag wasn't quite long enough, so for the rest of the day I was schlepping this bag around with an elegantly curved wooden scythe handle sticking out of it.
That day, on trains, Tubes and buses, from the fabric shop to the Apple store and (amusingly) the blood donation center, I was asked repeatedly:
"What is that!?"
"It's a scythe."
Then they would ask why, and I would explain about the opera, and Death and eBay and Milton Keynes and so on.
Of course, when the director saw it, he got upset because it was TOO DIFFERENT from the plastic shower curtain rail he'd been rehearsing with for the past week. So my friend the Goth model generously offered to lend me her smaller, lighter scythe, which she'd found half-buried in a field while on a photo shoot somewhere remote. Being a proper Goth, she went "YES FREE SCYTHE", brought it home and cleaned the rust off. It's also an agricultural scythe, but this one is metal-handled and about two feet shorter than mine. I presented it to the director proudly. He turned it down.
Eventually he ended up borrowing a tubular metal curtain rail I hadn't yet put up, painting it black without asking and gluing the "blade" from a plastic party-shop scythe onto the end. That one's in the attic right now, since the curtain rail proved unsalvageable; my friend's metal one is downstairs in the umbrella stand and the wooden one is with me in the workroom.
How I avoided unleashing its wrath on that director, I'll never know.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:16 PM on April 25, 2012 [14 favorites]
I picked myself up an old sickle at an estate sale. I like the phony political cred of owning one. And I really hate all motorized yard care implements. On Saturdays, when I could be sitting outside, enjoying the butterflies and woodpeckers in my yard, reading a book—instead it's all weedwhackersbrRRRRRRRRR and blowersWHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEE or lawnmowers-oh-the-neverending-lawnmowers.... If I were the commie queen of my neighborhood, everyone would have to gasoline-mow during the same one-hour span in any given afternoon, and the rest of the time we could all sit outside in the blissful quiet.
We have a double lot (standard city sized lot circa 1890), and we mow with a whisper quiet Fiskars reel mower. (We've done this for years, so I highly recommend that brand. It's one of like two things in my life I have freely plugged on the internets.) And I use my sickle on the grass the mower misses. It's awesome. And I love that it makes the neighbors look at me funny.
posted by RedEmma at 4:16 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
We have a double lot (standard city sized lot circa 1890), and we mow with a whisper quiet Fiskars reel mower. (We've done this for years, so I highly recommend that brand. It's one of like two things in my life I have freely plugged on the internets.) And I use my sickle on the grass the mower misses. It's awesome. And I love that it makes the neighbors look at me funny.
posted by RedEmma at 4:16 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is but a shadow of Pallas Athena's story, but somewhat similar:
Years ago I attended a concert on Halloween with a couple of friends. One went as Jesus, and looked pretty credible with his robe, sandals, and very large wooden cross. The other went as Death, complete with black hooded robe and homemade metal-bladed scythe, because everyone appreciates that sort of authenticity and attention to detail. As it turns out, NOT everyone appreciates that sort of attention to detail, thankyouverymuch. Death was permitted to enter the concert, but his scythe had to go back in the Honda, along with Jesus's cross.
There's probably a decent parable there, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
posted by mosk at 4:29 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Years ago I attended a concert on Halloween with a couple of friends. One went as Jesus, and looked pretty credible with his robe, sandals, and very large wooden cross. The other went as Death, complete with black hooded robe and homemade metal-bladed scythe, because everyone appreciates that sort of authenticity and attention to detail. As it turns out, NOT everyone appreciates that sort of attention to detail, thankyouverymuch. Death was permitted to enter the concert, but his scythe had to go back in the Honda, along with Jesus's cross.
There's probably a decent parable there, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
posted by mosk at 4:29 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Pallas Athena: "That day, on trains, Tubes and buses, from the fabric shop to the Apple store and (amusingly) the blood donation center, I was asked repeatedly:
"What is that!?"
"It's a scythe."
Then they would ask why, and I would explain about the opera, and Death and eBay and Milton Keynes and so on."
Dude, you were *so* channeling Arlo Guthrie there. Good job.
Regarding reel mowers: the Fiskars model that runs about $200 is an engineering marvel. It can also be operated by a weak 8 year old. Uphill.
posted by notsnot at 5:05 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
"What is that!?"
"It's a scythe."
Then they would ask why, and I would explain about the opera, and Death and eBay and Milton Keynes and so on."
Dude, you were *so* channeling Arlo Guthrie there. Good job.
Regarding reel mowers: the Fiskars model that runs about $200 is an engineering marvel. It can also be operated by a weak 8 year old. Uphill.
posted by notsnot at 5:05 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
Ugh, I've used a scythe. In some situations, if the grass gets REALLY high, some people say that it's easier to scythe it than to try and get it with a gas-powered weed whacker.
Those people are WRONG, by the way.
posted by ErikaB at 5:39 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Those people are WRONG, by the way.
posted by ErikaB at 5:39 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
It really matters what kind of scythe, I've had one for 30 years with a light aluminum handle and Czech blade that I've never needed to sharpen, almost effortless to use.
posted by canoehead at 5:46 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by canoehead at 5:46 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
I remember using one years ago to clear brush at my grandmother's. I thought it was like cutting hair: anyone can hack away and clear the overgrown stuff, but it take practice to get a finish that doesn't look hacked.
And we nearly had a horrible accident when someone came up behind me and said "boo"... not sure if it would have been my ankles or theirs.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 6:24 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
And we nearly had a horrible accident when someone came up behind me and said "boo"... not sure if it would have been my ankles or theirs.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 6:24 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
When I was growing up, the elderly and lifelong resident next door cut his fields with a scythe. Hours and hours he'd spend. My father bought one too but wasn't nearly so ambitious.
posted by bz at 6:35 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by bz at 6:35 PM on April 25, 2012
I own a proper Austrian scythe, a Vix. I loved mowing my lawn with it!
People in Bosnia and Hercegovina still use them. I got mine at a local hardware store, it was one of only three left. I picked the nicest one.
It came with an absolutely horrible aluminium snathe. I would rather have a wooden snathe. I also VASTLY prefer the scythe's quiet and lack of smell to lawn mowers or weed-whackers. Plus anyone out scything looks awesome'!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:38 PM on April 25, 2012
People in Bosnia and Hercegovina still use them. I got mine at a local hardware store, it was one of only three left. I picked the nicest one.
It came with an absolutely horrible aluminium snathe. I would rather have a wooden snathe. I also VASTLY prefer the scythe's quiet and lack of smell to lawn mowers or weed-whackers. Plus anyone out scything looks awesome'!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:38 PM on April 25, 2012
I inherited one- it came with the barn I live in now.
I little while back I saw an ad for a scythe workshop in VT, but I never got around to it.
Which is a shame, because I never got the hang of it on my own.
Then the handle broke...
posted by MtDewd at 6:49 PM on April 25, 2012
I little while back I saw an ad for a scythe workshop in VT, but I never got around to it.
Which is a shame, because I never got the hang of it on my own.
Then the handle broke...
posted by MtDewd at 6:49 PM on April 25, 2012
Having settled in Vermont, I do a lot of work at my in-laws' nearby farm. They are modern people with all manner of engine-driven accoutrements, and since I'm a mechanic these are my little minions. But I love the old scythe I dug out of the barn; it stokes my affection for hand tools and I use it especially for the autumn work of cutting back tall stands of dead lillies. Their long fibrous leaves and stems are torture to cut with the string trimmer and after a little practice the scythe handily outperforms the trimmer's brush blade. Not to mention scything is a great workout, quiet and more satisfying than the motorized method.
The Scythe Connection's exegesis on sharpening is very good. I expect my relation with the scythe will be a long one, with plenty of time to absorb the finer points of snath, blade, and fit variations relative to the specific work to be done.
And it is fun to see the tourists double-take as they rumble by towing their jet-skis to the nearby reservoir.
posted by maniabug at 7:02 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Scythe Connection's exegesis on sharpening is very good. I expect my relation with the scythe will be a long one, with plenty of time to absorb the finer points of snath, blade, and fit variations relative to the specific work to be done.
And it is fun to see the tourists double-take as they rumble by towing their jet-skis to the nearby reservoir.
posted by maniabug at 7:02 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the post! What a coincidence. Today was my third attempt at scything long grass in the backyard. I've been reading the Scythe Connection's sharpening pages for the past few days and did the best I could with scraping paint off with a cheap knife, then emery cloths and a synthetic stone but really, I still have no fucking clue if what I did was correct. It did seem to cut grass more than attempts 1 and 2 did. Not much more though. Mostly the grass just bent over. I'm sure my technique is bloody awful. I have watched several Youtube videos of hip-action technique but am finding it difficult to execute. I came back in and searched hopefully for IRL scythe instruction but all I found was One Scythe Revolution in Wisconsin and Asheville, NC. Oh well.
The scythe makes a great conversation piece, anyway.
/goes off to look up scythe sharpening videos
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 8:10 PM on April 25, 2012
The scythe makes a great conversation piece, anyway.
/goes off to look up scythe sharpening videos
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 8:10 PM on April 25, 2012
When I was a kid, we had a grass whip for some reason. I liked to pretend it was a scythe, and it actually did OK for taming an overgrown corner of yard we had at the time that was difficult to get with the mower. Every now and then I see one in a garden center and I toy with the idea of buying one, but they seem to only come with absolutely no edge at all, and I'm not so sure I want to invest several hours of filing/grinding/honing the serrated edges to make the thing actually work. The scythe looks like such a more sophisticated and esoteric tool, I'm finding it has an odd draw.
For those who'd like to dabble, hand sickles are pretty inexpensive, and work well for small jobs. I have a few, some Japanese ones with both straight edges and one with a crazy serrated edge. The straight edge ones will give a taste of how to sharpen such tools.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:02 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
For those who'd like to dabble, hand sickles are pretty inexpensive, and work well for small jobs. I have a few, some Japanese ones with both straight edges and one with a crazy serrated edge. The straight edge ones will give a taste of how to sharpen such tools.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:02 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
I found The Scythe Book by David Tressemer to be helpful in explaining scythe technique (you can also get the book on Amazon, from Lehman's, and elsewhere), even with my old inefficient, heavy, found-in-the-back-of-the-barn, "American style" scythes. You can reed Peter Vido's shorter take at http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/techn1.html (this is included in current edition of The Scythe Book).
Check out the Vido family's videos as well (YouTube channel here), especially this one (which is not on youtube anymore cause it's got a bob dylan song in it, that link is to a page with embedded Quicktime movie) and this too. Note how easily she uses the scythe, both because she's good at it and strong, but mainly because it's so sharp, and because of the slicing technique rather than chopping. For gentle trimming like that on smooth ground you can actually kind of glide the blade on the grass and let it almost rest its weight on the ground as you move it.
... on weed trimming tools generally:
I also have something like this which is great for the edges and odd areas you might otherwise use a weed whacker for, and for taking care of dandelions and other weeds before they go to seed. It's wicked fun to use. You just wander around the yard and swipe at stuff :)
posted by thefool at 3:56 PM on April 26, 2012 [2 favorites]
Check out the Vido family's videos as well (YouTube channel here), especially this one (which is not on youtube anymore cause it's got a bob dylan song in it, that link is to a page with embedded Quicktime movie) and this too. Note how easily she uses the scythe, both because she's good at it and strong, but mainly because it's so sharp, and because of the slicing technique rather than chopping. For gentle trimming like that on smooth ground you can actually kind of glide the blade on the grass and let it almost rest its weight on the ground as you move it.
... on weed trimming tools generally:
I also have something like this which is great for the edges and odd areas you might otherwise use a weed whacker for, and for taking care of dandelions and other weeds before they go to seed. It's wicked fun to use. You just wander around the yard and swipe at stuff :)
posted by thefool at 3:56 PM on April 26, 2012 [2 favorites]
I really love sharpening, with an Austrian 'Turk blade' like I have, you take the whet-stone and your stroke should be //// then you go back and do it \\\\ over the whole cutting surface. This edge can be tested with a piece of paper.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:14 PM on April 26, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:14 PM on April 26, 2012 [1 favorite]
thefool: we called that a swing blade.... (not sling, swing)
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:26 PM on April 26, 2012
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:26 PM on April 26, 2012
« Older Ready for the Fight: Rolling Stone Interview with... | What I’m trying to do at the moment is go back to... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
It's all from the hips right?
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:57 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]