Author Topic: Anybody using a scythe? (Read 3526 times)

keith44 · « **on:** March 27, 2011, 08:30:41 PM »

bought a brush scythe last year for clearing areas the mower andtractor just can't go. yeah yeah I got a brush blade on the weed eater too, the scythe is quicker. Iwas just wondering if anyone else herewas using one, why did you try em out? With todays gas prices I think it's a viable option, and a decent workout

Couger · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2011, 07:54:46 AM »

Any pics you can post?

Bugflipper · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2011, 08:09:04 AM »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe

I have one that belonged to family a few generations back. I like it for medium use fence clearing. Briers and small hedges is about as big as it sees. But it is a lot easier on the back than a machete. Also since it slices through you don't ruin the blade by hitting something like a rock. I also use it on the garden spot to lay down the manure crop to till under in the spring. The mower slings everything away. The scythe pretty well lays it down where it stands if you keep it sharp.

chefjeff · « **Reply #3 on:** March 28, 2011, 09:27:28 AM »

I have an old one that I use every summer just to keep in touch with my roots. It has a short "brush blade' as opposed to the longer grain blade. The curved handle is called a snath. Yeah, its agood workout and you can really mow when you get the hang of it. Great for banks and slopes.

Graybeard · « **Reply #4 on:** March 28, 2011, 09:39:26 AM »

Not for over 50 years but did as a boy. Back then there were no string trimmers so when ya wanted to clear a larger area of tall weeds it was a sling blade or scythe. We had both as well as the sickle a one handed version. It was great for weeding around and under fences.

scratcherky · « **Reply #5 on:** March 28, 2011, 09:55:09 AM »

Yep, I have one along with a 2 man crosscut saw. Reckon I do not ever plan on using either one again.

AtlLaw · « **Reply #6 on:** March 28, 2011, 10:30:50 AM »

Quote from: Graybeard on March 28, 2011, 09:39:26 AM

Not for over 50 years but did as a boy. Back then there were no string trimmers so when ya wanted to clear a larger area of tall weeds it was a sling blade or scythe. We had both as well as the sickle a one handed version. It was great for weeding around and under fences.

Yup! What Bill said!

charles p · « **Reply #7 on:** March 28, 2011, 10:59:09 AM »

At $4 per gallon for gasoline, a lawnmower is still the best labor saving device I own. A gallon of gasoline in my push mover will do hours of work for me. I've had rotator cuff surgery three times and both shoulders are hurting right now. Can't imagine swing a scythe for half a day. Farm people were in much better shape back when hand tools were the only option. When I was a kid, the mule pulled a mowing machine and we used buch axes on ditch banks, and slng blades on weeds.

blind ear · « **Reply #8 on:** March 28, 2011, 11:32:10 AM »

A cythe for mowing compares to an adz for building a dugout canoe except the cythe is not as much work. Thank goodness for gasoline engines. ear

jlchucker · « **Reply #9 on:** March 29, 2011, 04:47:32 AM »

I don't use one right at the moment. The snow's too deep. When we have grass, though, I agree with the guys here who've been praising lawn mowers and string trimmers. It's nice to be able to say we've used scythes and hand-powered crosscuts back in the day. Those of us that have had to in the past seem to have seen the "romance" of using them fade over time as we've gotten older.

keith44 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 29, 2011, 06:40:39 AM »

I'll post pic's of why a mower, and string trimmer are not options, it's more a necessity than any sense of romance. (that and I really don't want to use the chemicals required to clear the areas in question. Besides we're only talkin a couple hours a week and not every week.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2011, 11:24:47 AM »

cows keep fence clear

keith44 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2011, 09:47:29 PM »

Quote from: SHOOTALL on March 29, 2011, 11:24:47 AM

cows keep fence clear

no they don't, at least not white face, nor angus, that my grandfather and father raise. They prefer to walk through fences to get at the grain and hay stored in the barn.

Hooker · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2011, 03:56:13 AM »

I spent a lot of summers when I was a kid cutting barditch hay with a scythe.
One section line at a time a mile up and a mile back ,it made for one heck of a days work.
The old man would dump me out early in the morning with a water can, sharpening stone and a scythe. So to answer the OPs question I know how to use one but I ain't got no use for one.

Pat

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2011, 02:48:21 PM »

wood cooking ranges, hand crank cream seporators, cream cans, horse drawn farm equipment(one row of anything) ever do 10 acres of corn useing a one row lister? let alone 40 or 80 acres?, beavertail slide stackers, hand milking 10 milk cows, lighting by lantern, useing a privey, hay mows, root cellars, ice houses and cutting ice, corn cribs, hay knives, hand shucking ear corn, corn knives, walk behind plows, hauling water, boiling water, bucking, hauling and stacking wood all were labor intensive, they came out with labor saving devices to free you up to go do stuff.

I love my front load maytag washer, push 3 buttons and a scoop of detergent and its doing hours of work for you, same with indoor plumbing,
I'd keep something like a scythe as a last resort but even then I'd most likely use a gas powerd commercial grass cut/ brush cutter instead of the scythe.
labor was hard thats why families were huge and everyone pitched in and helped pick corn or stack hay, it was hard and some people just couldent dedicate ther lives to spending weeks cutting just hay with horses to tend, crops, basic house chores and farm chores, you'd be run ragged and you would have to get up at the crack of dawn just to get anything accomplished. work till dusk and felt you were behind the curve the whole way.

blind ear · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:29:50 PM »

I had an uncle that started manageing a plantation that had over 250 mules. When he left that farm they were farmnng it with 12 or 15 ford 8-n tractors. He started selling tractors when he left the farm. ear

keith44 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 30, 2011, 10:03:14 PM »

I like the direction this has taken, pics will be posted soon. The scythe is only used where nothing else will work, and it is lighter and easier than my weedeater!!

blind ear · « **Reply #17 on:** March 31, 2011, 09:43:06 AM »

KEITH44, I am too fat and old to fight a sythe on anything but flat ground, at least I wouldn't want to have to. Nor a weed eater, give me a seat wheels and a motor.... Oh yea, a lot of us are just old farts digging at ya. I believe you.
ear

gypsyman · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2011, 07:24:23 PM »

Got one hanging in the barn. Haven't used it in over 30 years. Reckon it'll hang there another 30. Reading this brought back a funny memory. We had a weed whip, that would be put into my hands every so often by my dad. He never called it a weed whip though. He nick named it an idiot stick. Guess if ya think about it, anybody out out in the hot sun swinging this thing, looked like an idiot. gypsyman

keith44 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2011, 07:00:40 AM »

Quote from: gypsyman on March 31, 2011, 07:24:23 PM

He nick named it an idiot stick. Guess if ya think about it, anybody out out in the hot sun swinging this thing, looked like an idiot. gypsyman

Yup!! by 9am those tools are to be put back in the barn!!

Lost Farmboy · « **Reply #20 on:** April 01, 2011, 10:43:57 AM »

I have been looking for a scythe for 2 years. Haven’t used one for forty years. Hope when I finally find one it's not sold as a $1000 antique.

The best tool for clearing brush is a goat. Good for meat and milk too.

parkergunshop · « **Reply #21 on:** April 01, 2011, 11:26:56 AM »

I have a scythe I purchased new in 1969 and still use it where my Troybuilt wheeled weed eater want reach on the creek bank. It extends your reach by a good four or five feet and I can cut small saplings with it up to 3/4 inch in diameter.

I also have a Froe.

I bought my scythe because my grandfather and father had and used one.

I use the Froe to rive white oak logs into narrow strips to weave into baskets, it belonged to my grandfather.

Hooker · « **Reply #22 on:** April 01, 2011, 06:39:43 PM »

Lost Farmboy you ain't lying them goats do real good job, but if you ain't got any goats a weed burner will do an even better job.

Pat

keith44 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 02, 2011, 06:51:37 AM »

Scythe connection is a good place to start, spent $200 (ish) on mine

schoolmaster · « **Reply #24 on:** April 05, 2011, 07:31:55 PM »

Most of the people that replied to this thread are old enough to remember when these things were just tools and not antiques. I spent many a day on the wrong end of a crosscut saw, buck saw and a mowing scyth. Still have Dad's brush scyth and weed scyth but the crosscut was stolen some years ago. We spaded up the garden and used rakes, hoes, and a one wheel cultivator. Dad had a buzz saw that ran off his 48 Case tractor using a long belt from the fly wheel to power it. I was a real happy kid when he bought his first chain saw. It made cutting fire wood for winter a lot easier. We heated water on the kitchen stove that we pumped from a hand pump in the yard to fill a wash tub for the Sat. night bath. Made lye soap, churned our own butter from our milk cows, butchered our own meat, made our own noodles, bread, and much of our own clothing. All country folk did the same back then.

keith44 · « **Reply #25 on:** April 05, 2011, 08:49:51 PM »

When I first posted this I was curious if anyone was currently using one of the newly manufactured Sythes. I am amazed that it has stirred the memories of youth from so many. I bought mine to clear areas too steep and too tight for the mower or tractor and bush hog. I guess here I am as wierd as I was in high school (25 (ish) years ago) only difference is now I relish being different.

I guess with all the hype about gas prices, and bad economy and all I was curious if anyone was turning to the old ways to save money, and what the reasoning was. The way this turned out is much more interesting.

Keith

Cornbelt · « **Reply #26 on:** April 19, 2011, 03:36:17 AM »

This has been an interesting thread. We keep a sythe hanging in the entryway, but "we" don't use it. Seems that job is always delegated to me. I like it because I don't have to temporarily misplace my religon to get it started like I do w/the weed eater... -I wait till after I've started. Lot of times they can be bought at auctions for $15-$20. Seems nobody wants to have to use one.
The oldtimers say not to cut hay till the stems are hollow. Probably because of a sythe.
I tried my hand at a grain cradle in a wheat field once when I was young and energetic; it made the sythe seem like a kid's job.
But I like mine best when its hanging on the wall!

moony · « **Reply #27 on:** April 24, 2011, 06:37:57 PM »

Don't know if it's a scythe, I call mine a sicle, (it's small and hand held), but use it for some of the reasons mentioned above. (steep, remote areas) to clear areas for motorcycle trails and events we promote. A guy could burn up quite a bit of weedeater string in a hurry otherwise. Works better than a machete for close to the ground work 'cause it'll get those up to 1" or so trees without leaving a sharp point sticking up.

keith44 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 24, 2011, 07:40:08 PM »

moony, a Scythe has a handle long enough to stand up straight (more or less) and wears a blade from 18 inches to up to 40 inches (maybe more, but I have not seen any longer) The blade is arched, and wider at the end nearest the handle. A sicle has a deeply curved blade and is typically a one handed tool. Both do about the same job.

The Hermit · « **Reply #29 on:** April 25, 2011, 06:10:42 PM »

Yes. and I still have a scar on my left index finger when I tripped because I stepped into an old chuck hole. Should have had stiches, but the old man wrapped a sock around it and told me to "be more carefull". Yup, those were the days. The darn thing still hangs in the tool shed. I still have and use a Black Beauty corn sheller, burr and stone grinders, 1934 Kalamazoo Presidents Model wood cook stove with a warming oven, canners, meat grinders, slicer, kerosene lamps( got one lit now), leg hold traps, ice creme maker, and plenty of guns. Still cook outdoors a lot and love it.
Been at it 75 years, too old to stop now.

The Hermit