Scythes

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Penny Outskirts	Scythes We went down to Dorset this weekend and met Simon Fairlie to get scythe for Steve's birthday. What a smashing man, so enthusiatic about his product, was a joy to deal with him. Steve has only stopped playing with his new toy as it's now dark. Simon knew all about Downsizer, which was nice, especially Gil of course. If anyone was thinking of getting one, we'd recommend going to see Simon, or get it by mail order. He fitted the schythe to Steve, gave us a demonstration and Steve got to have a go. http://www.thescytheshop.co.uk/ You also get to see Monkton Wyld Court, which is stunning.
gil	Yay ! New mower ! And Simon Fairlie is ace, as you say. Hope Steve enjoys his new scythe; many happy hours mowing.
Penny Outskirts	I can hear sharpening sounds coming from his den
Hairyloon	So, what is the word on scythes? How do they actually fair against strimmers? Has anyone actually tried them head to head?
Finsky	There is not that much difference in perfomance wise between both tools. Well maintained scythe work as well as strimmer with difference that not all greenery is turned into chopped up mush...that mush is pain to tidy up if one should do so. Long grass clean up much easier and FASTER! Strimmer can be easier to use if the space is tight and one cannot achieve 'scalped' surface with scythe quite same..nor you should scythe near hard surfaces without great control of the tool or risk damageing the blade. Both tools have their own uses..but in open field situation they are quite equal.. I haven't used them 'head to head' but do use both tools in 'home' and for work. I do tend to go for scythe more if the end result and space allow it. I'm not able to do quite a 'lawn cut' standard with scythe... ..yet..
gardening-girl	Head to head, the sythe wins. We watched a trial at the Green Fair/Scything Festival .
Penny Outskirts	Such a lovely swishing noise, no fuel required, great excercise. What's not to love?
crofter	Such a lovely swishing noise, no fuel required, great excercise. What's not to love?

repetitive strain injuries Twisted Evil

robkb

Such a lovely swishing noise, no fuel required, great excercise. What's not to love?

That's why I want one too. I really hate my petrol strimmer Mad

gil

Unlike Finsky, I find a scythe easy to use in a tight space, including round trees.

For a 'lawn finish', an Oriental blade is good, whereas the Austrian blade leaves the grass slightly higher on the left side of your swath (i.e. the area of grass you are cutting).

I can scythe faster than I can strim.
If I take clearing up into account the scythe wins by even more.

There are videos on YouTube of various scythe vs strimmer competitions at the West Country Scythe Festival. Treacodactyl

I haven't used mine that much yet but I like the quietness of the scythe and the fact it doesn't require petrol or produce loads of fumes.

Also, you can't have as much fun calling on your elderly neighbours in wearing a cloak and holding a strimmer, can you? Cathryn

Gil is a good teacher, I still haven't got one though. I would recommend guinea fowl, they are very good at keeping your lawn short. Hairyloon

I would recommend guinea fowl, they are very good at keeping your lawn short.

But harder to attach to a snath, I imagine? Wink

HL - the Austrian scythe I tied last year was very light and very sharp, and Simon Fairlie showed it was reasonably easy to keep a good edge on the blade. Conversely, I saw an 'old' one at a woodfair last year - it weighed a ton, would've knackered my back in minutes, and looked like it'd take an age to sharpen. Finsky

Old and new both will get rusty if not looked after properly.
I've got set of new blades that need 'doing up' before they work properly but I loooove to use my old blade on the new shaft. The new shaft is much lighter and has adjustable handles so it 'fits' to my measuments. My old scythe was wooden..it was heavy and huge to use, though I do admit I do like the feel of wood more than metal and the old blades look like they've made of cheaper and lighter metal but they are so easy to maintain and work well.
I suspect quality has always varied..being old or new doesn't changed it...'How hard' is another matter. It helps if you can actually see first from experienced scyther how things are done...after that is matter of practice. Basic cutting tecnique is not that hard at all..it just one of those things..all of the sudden 'penny drops' and you do it just right.. Finsky

You just couldn't get it into cutting angle..it wouldn't fit. It was a beauty in open field situation..could reach half a field on one swing Laughing

vegplot

How hard is it to achieve the required technique... and the required edge on the blade?
I instinctively feel that old ones are more likely to be of a proper quality... or are they more likely to have gone too rusty?

Modern (Austrian) scythes are better than traditional IMHO. Better quality steel, much lighter and easier to handle.

The edge is easy to achieve if you know how. Hairyloon

Head to head, the sythe wins.
Does that not depend upon what you're cutting?
What're they like on brambles?

I saw an 'old' one at a woodfair last year - it weighed a ton, would've knackered my back in minutes, and looked like it'd take an age to sharpen.
But also an age to lose its edge? Or no.

With a ditching (short, more robust) blade brambles don't stand a chance and you don't get bramble spikes flying everywhere.

They needed sharpening more often but that was due to the quality of the then available steel.

Do some research at http://www.thescytheshop.co.uk/ gil

Do some research at http://www.thescytheshop.co.uk/

Yes, have a look on the Scythe Shop website, which has a LOT of info.

Different blades for different tasks.

Ditch blade / bush blade = great on brambles, stands of rosebay willow herb, bracken, and I've even mown reeds in a bog partially underwater (also there are current experiments with reed-cutting in Norfolk wetlands).

Basically, if you are going to cut tough stuff, don't peen the blade as much, and don't hone it to razor sharp (though that kind of fine edge is great for cutting meadow hay). Also, hone it with a medium coarse/fine stone, rather than the mega-smooth. Sometimes I even use the coarse stone to sharpen before tackling scrub, which seems to give my blade an almost serrated edge, and I can feel it rip through the stems.

The sharper the edge, the more often it will need sharpening.

Anyway, the pause to hone is a good break ! But only takes a couple of minutes, if that.

Robkb : the old English scythe blades are made from a flattish sandwich of metal, and are sharpened equally on both sides. Heavy, because of the weight/volume of metal involved.

Really different from the Austrian steel blades which are lighter, thinner, curved and sprung/tensioned along their length/width/depth, and you cold-forge (peen) them as a more occasional part of keeping them sharp.

Part of the year's cycle is getting my scythe out and getting all the rust off the blade before peening and honing. There are arguments in scything circles about whether you can ever really keep your blade rust-free over winter, and whether the rust forms a protective layer that is a good thing.

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