Learning How To Scythe
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2016
- In this video I describe the basic principles of scything, such as the proper stance, how and when to sharpen the blade and how to hold the snath when pulling through each stroke.
If you're learning how to scythe or interested in the trend of the One Sycthe Revolution, this video along with many others here on TH-cam will get you started.
I wish you all the best in your pursuit of FarmFitness.
Music provided under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses)
Artist: audionautix.com/ - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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I lover the little kid with the scissors just cutting a bit of grass. it's adorable
Thanks +GrandMasterArticula. He's a busy bee and hard worker. Yesterday he asked, "dad can I have a scythe when I get bigger." I love his enthusiasm.
@@JohnTrefethen aww so cute
The little boy, so cute!
Also wondering why crazy dads standing in the field having a long conversation with himself
I am new to scything this being my first year, but I have a few acres under my belt and would like to add two comments.. First it is much easier to acknowledge the angle/relationship of the blade to the grass and ground if you use your scythe on short grass, you can just visually see it much much better and then can adjust your handhold to adjust the blades orientation to the grass being cut and the ground. Secondly when you had your camera in front of you it appeared your using much too much arm and not enough of the rotation of your torso, if you rotate your torso and let your core move your arms and the scythe you not only get better cuts but man you can go for hours without getting very tired. Just a few things which have helped me this summer, I am excited to get to it next spring. Good health and strength to all.
have u mastered using it
havent tryed yet ty 4 teaching me both of u God bless
also you want the bottom off the blade flat only sharpen the top edge.
I wanted to coment the same: the shape of your tool dictates the form of your movement.
You seem to strugle with grass, but I suppose it has strong fibers!
Good job anyway!
I just bought Falci Italian scythe. Waiting for testing when I back to my village from Kiev.
"Why am I talking to myself? That's a good question..." :-D
The little boy just added to this video's charm. He looks like he's gonna be a good harvester/farmer etc. one day.
Died today from ligma...
This was an extremely helpful video for me to start using the scythe we found in our basement (from the previous owners of the house) in the garden. The POV camera is very useful. After watching this video I just went out to try it and I had SO much fun. It's fantastic.
i saw this one old guy use an English scyth and he said it was easy and made it look easy. he didn't have to bend over and instead of using all your arm strength like you're doing, he used more of his body. kind of like when you twist your body to swing your arms around. it makes longer fuller cuts with less arm energy
I know who you are talking of and yes he is really cool and make it look easy
@@pascalviau4016 is he Voldemort?...why wont anyone take his name?
I saw a guy in Ireland mowing his field with a scythe. He cut on forward and backstroke both.
@@Change-Maker His name is Joe..... something...
Older women scythe as well and they make it so easy. But then again .... practice makes perfect
"Why am I talking to myself? That’s a good question." -me to myself
I just started. Boy it's tough and like everything else in life, it's all about simple and effective technique. This video helps. I see that it's not about nice broad 1/2 circles but more like quick s d tedious increments. Definitely outstanding excercise and considering the amount of land you have, you must be strong as hell by now! Ppl fear/respect soldiers but they should really fear/respect farmers...they're the ones who know how to keep us alive and are tough SOBs
Both id say. Capability
you should do a longer video of just you using the scythe on early morning grass, when it's easier to cut, as a soothing video. that was fun to watch and so relaxing to listen to.
I love scything but only had one chance to use the technique so far, cutting Phragmites reeds on a nature reserve. Now considering getting a scythe to replace the mower and keep the wildflowers happy, this was a great refresher thanks!
Yeah! I prefer scythe to mowers because sometimes the mower gets stuck in mud or bramble or something. Nothing beats two legs with iron swings
This is basically ancient lawn mowing and was popular everywhere..
I watched this video and felt motivated. I showed my friend this video and he felt motivated and thankful. We rented a projector and displayed this video in a big field for our whole village to enjoy and we are all motivated and thankful.
Wow! I commend you for doing that!!
I wonder how many weebs came here to learn epic scythe moves. But instead learned that a scythe is farming equipment
Then they'd be better for it, Clyde.
?? Don't people know that?!
I came here to find how to collect souls...
Nani?!
Hey Clyde, I have 2 scythes, and it feals good to study the old ways sometimes because you never know what you learn that could come in handy when you don't have any modern tools around; But it's cool how people fight with them, and I tried practicing with my big one. Twas real difficult, I am still amazed how strong, and presise they had to be back in medieval times when the farmers had to defend themselves.
"WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO YOURSELF" i love it😂
Thanks for the information. It gave me a greater appreciation of labors and laborers of the past, and the technology I have available to me.
Great thank you. I’ve just had a barn find of an old scythe similar to yours. I was sharpening it incorrectly. Now about to go and sharpen it properly and get cutting! Great video. Love your little one helping with his scissors ❤
Thank you! Little 6 minute video really improved my technique. Only just started.
I just ordered mine. We have acres of overgrown fields. These had been abandoned for more than 80 years. No tractor or other machinery here in the Andes...we have to clear and the hoes, machetes and rakes are not working out so well. This may not be the perfect solution, but I believe it is better than what we are currently doing.
How did you go?
@@AbrahamLure honestly, not well. I don't know if I got the wrong type or if I am not using it correctly, but I have had very little success. I will keep trying, though.
Excellent little video. Well presented, very well presented, informative, pleasant, and seeing your little son there too is wonderful to encourage our society overall to go back to more wholesome things like workouts producing something of value, and family.
God bless you and thank you for the video.
I've been scything for years and I can't agree that scythe mowing grass like you're cutting in this video is "a lot of work". It isn't effortless, but it's gentle, near to no impact, measured in pace, full body involvement. I like to express the action as the lead hand pulls transmitting the power and the rear hand guides controlling blade position. Power is generated through rotation of your torso and a weight shift between your feet. Watching your stroke, I would suggest that you could probably get another foot or two of length to your cutting arc by rotating further in both directions ;)
Hi, it's always wonderful to see sopmeone using this marvellous tool on a daily basis! It is hte most useful farm tool I reckon.
You have probably improved since this video was posted, so my comments may be superfluous, coming from a self-taught scyther with 6 seasons of haymaking now under my belt.
But your hafting angle is waaay too wide. The tip of the blade should be at least 2'' lower I would think, for that length of blade. As it is, the angle seems like 90 degrees to the snaith. That means you are chopping into a wide chunk of grass each stroke, instead of hooking into a narrow slice. It's like the difference between slicing a soft loaf of bread, versus pushing down on it with the whole blade.
Also, you're doing a straight cut across the front of yourself. You should be pushing the scythe around to your right with your left arm as far as it will go, then pulling with your left arm, as far round to the left as you can, to create a half-circle around the front of you. The tip of the scythe then enters the grass to your right side, not out in front of you. You don't have a "radius" in this video, because you aren't making a half-circle. And you're only cutting about 4 feet across, not 6. It actually looks like easy grass to cut, if you adjust these details.
Also, I think your honing technique could be better. Watch Peter Vido in "Living Lightly". Don't use such an obtuse angle with the stone. The closer your stone is to parallel with the blade, the thinner the bevel will be, therefore sharper. Don't pull the stone down, but slide it along the blade as it comes down. The stone should barely do anything on the underside, just enough to flatten the burr. The underside of the blade edge should always be parallel to the blade. If you are trying to "sharpen" the underside by using the stone at an angle, you are really blunting it, because your edge bevel will be twice as wide. It's a common error to think that creating a bevel on both sides of tools like the scythe, is making them more sharp. It does the exact opposite.
Keep up the good work!
Wish we could turn time to when working the fields was just that. Now it's all loud, air polluting, power equipment. Thank you for the nice video.
Great intro to scythe mowing. You are right about it being a fantastic workout! And pulling is definitely more efficient than pushing. I wonder why the blade is digging in? My scythe came with a wooden wedge to set the tang angle (I think that's what its called) more like 20 or 30 degrees up from the ground. I rarely get mine to dig in. It almost floats. Now rocks and wire fencing are a whole 'nother story!
Hello +Joshua Eastlund , thank you for your thoughts here. You might be right about that wedge. I should give that a try. My scythe came with the wedge too but I never installed it, assuming I'd be able to manage without it. For the most part, my scythe floats along too. However, when scything on a slope like I am in this video, I have to compensate for the up hill angle and it throws me off sometimes, especially when under the watchful eye of the GoPro. :)
your toddler is so cute and learning so much! in fifteen years he'll be the one I want on my zombie apocalypse survival team.
Fascinating information on the scythe. This pointed out good body mechanics that would be similar even for using a weed whacker. I always have instinctively used this same motion. It's like qi gong swimming dragon. That's a pretty decent exercise. It's good to relax your body and get in a nice flow with it, as you've shown here. Thank you.
Nice, thank-you for sharing 👍
Very useful introduction and describing the pressure used for the whetstone was well done.
Great video, love how your child is around and looking up to you , chips in with ground breaking wisdom, kids eh! Keep on sything, way quieter then a weed wacker
Having borrowed a scythe, I found it better than the weed whacker...and when I looked back, the lawn looked better. Everything old is new again.
Thanks for the video John! Very useful for young people like me!
Thank you for this video. You made it look easy but I know it is hard work.
I'm actually here just cause I'm just a huge Children Of Bodom fan and bought a scythe just because
It seems actually fun to use it, nice
This was such a satisfying video to watch - both because I need a scythe in my life, and also surprisingly, from an ASMR perspective.
Glad it was helpful, Nicole. There are many intangible benefits from the scythe, I hope you're able to explore its benefits along your journey.
Great video.
Nice and very useful video. Thank you
so relaxing, already love your content :)
This is so cool.
excellent work out and better for the environment, I will get one too
A clip of an environmentally preferable method of mowing preceded by an ad for Roundup. I know OP has little say in what ads are shown, but this I had to mention. Cool video by the way :)
I'm so glad that my uncle taught me how to mow with a scythe
Thanks for posting this! I'm kinda scared to use a lawnmower tbh, plus I really like this method as I love working out :D
Thank you for this. What is the brand of your scythe? It looks like it can be adjusted to a variable height?
Hey man, thank you for the nice instructions and the trick with pulling through stroke. I went out today for the first time in my life to use a scythe and it surpassed my expectations! I will buy a new scythe (this was an old rusty one) and use it a lot. I mowed a wild grass around my club's rugby pitch. I did it before with Stihl Trimmer and it was slow and exhausting and laud and smelly and bits of grass all over me... I lookd some youtube videos of scythes befopre but this time I finally gave it a go and happened to watch your video for instructions before I try. I sharpened the blade with japanese diamond stones I have for woodworking. I got to the gras, made a first swing and it was - magic! Like some laser beam cut everything in reach! Anyway I just had to say thank you, I will convert all the guys in the club to scythe, gasoline mower only for the pitch! Also adorable and smart kid ("Good question" :))
What scythe did you use?
@@KonpeitoKoil in Croatia we traditionally use Austrian type of scythes (we were once the same country :)
Thx for the tip mate, it worked well
Did you ever learn how to scythe? This was six years ago. No pull, no push. You slice. Keep an ark. I’m in my 50s. Super sharp peen and it slices like Buddha. Bless you.
Windrow gardening. Leave the windrows in place as a mulch. Eventually plant in the mulch. Thats what we're doing this spring. No need to move the cut grass.
Could give the little guy a sickle
I could listen to this sound for hours
Thanks for the tutorial! So I have to scythe a first-time field with high grass, I'm afraid to hit stones that I can't see and damage the scythe. Do I need to wade through the waist-high grass to check for that first?
Fresh cut grass is awesome in your Methane digester !
Use the Methane to heat your Rocket Mass Heater and you have free heat.
Thank U. Very informative. Gonna start sything here soon
thanks for sharing your knowledge :-)
Do these still work well I was thinking about giving one a go on our lawn cause it grows heaps fast
Thank you for the informative video. Would you be so kind to do a video on how to make your scythe handle? I need to make one.
"Daddy, who are you talking too?"
LATER AT HOME:
"Mommy, Daddy is scaring me. He is out in the back talking to his self."
Thank you!
Where I can buy one of those? Can you send me the link to it.? Thank you.
Nice work. I’m puzzled though as to why you about turn and mow against the windrow. This increases the effort as you’re pushing the fresh cut grass up against the windrow. It’s more common to mow in the same direction with each row, so the cut grass falls onto your previous swath. I know you want a workout but at the same time it’s all about making life easy.
I have a very old scythe that belonged to my great grandfather. I never actually used it because I use a sling blade or a weed eater to cut tall grass.
May i ask a question if its ok how come you dont use a lawnmower if i may ask
Looking for recommendations on a good scythe to purchase. Seems there are a fair number that are not that great.
I used a scythe as a teen. Now I'm a broken down guy in his 60's, but I've got this ditch... I think I have the answer, but would you suggest a full sized scythe, or maybe a long handled sickle for keeping ditch weeds at bay? I've had too many close calls with the zero turn mower.
I went to Lowes, home depot and tractor supply looking for one, we're did you acquire a scythe to begin with?
You need to rest your stone on the spine of the scythe. That way you won't take off as much metal by doing it at that steep angle.
Hello. Would you tell how you done scythe first preparations after buying? (Mean, beating, sharpening)
Were do i buy a scythe?
Very helpful for removing the reeds from our lake thanks
Is that scythe setup from Scythe Works on Vancouver Island?
mate you could only use a lawn mower if grass is no longer than 10 inch. I work in landscaping in uk and we are always behind with work. thankfully, my romanian grandad teach me how to use a scythe so when grass on lawns gets to hay, i use a scythe so we don't kill the strimmers and the lawnmowers. works like a charm
That seems totally fun.
Hey :) How long does it take you to do an acre?
Subscribed!
(And your lad is aborable!)
Never been blistered in my like I was the first time I used a scythe.
I’m here because I’m reading Anna Karenina, & scything sounds satisfying.
Very useful. Thank you sir
Your little boy's adorable.. 🙂
Where is available this product pl.s reply
what is the tool name u use to sharpen the scythe?
brilliant lol. love the question about why you are talking to yourself
Where would you purchase a good scythe? I'd like to find one but they're hard to get hold of for me, any help or suggestions would be appreciated
Me : lets clean this farm..
My kids : LETS BE A GRIM REAPERRR
Good video. I can relate to the uploader, i could use a trimmer but i like using a Scythe instead, even if it is hard work on thick and fairly long grass!
What kind of grass is best
What’s quicker a scythe or a lawn mower?
Use your hips more. twisting your whole upper body with your lower body. only use your arms for a little extra umpf. This will make it much easier for extended periods of time.
Great advice, +My_Name_Is_Chef. Thank you.
I realized how hard dogwood is down in Kentucky when my neighbor cut his tree down and i chipped the brush for my garden. It is hard...and we have ash here...mostly dead now but its here. Never chipped hedge, but i guess its harder.
You can own a farm and have people pay you to come do your work. Calling it ' farm fit' is a great step towards such a business model.
i like this and no lie, i would pay for it. whenever i worked construction i felt great, had a raging appetite every meal and slept like a stone
It's easy to cut grass like that which is all the same kind of grass with long fine blades. What most people have is a mix of grass, some of which have very thick woody stems which wear out the blade very quickly.
I need to dry and bundle those cuttings. Poor mans hay- mainly for the chickens nesting area :) I have a Scythe that must have been my grandparents....It hasnt been started up and run in decades! Thankyou for the walkthrough.
Ik the 30$ ones probably don't perform as well as the 100$+, but do they still get the job done right or should I just invest on a higher priced one?
Where to buy the scythe?
I’m going to buy a scythe and mow my lawn with it
Does the repetitive motion cause for stress on the body? I can’t seem to think of the technical terminology used in industry. I believe the field of study is ergonomics. Is there such a thing as a scythe that is designed to be used in the opposite direction? To help balance the repetitive motion?
You raise a very good point, @Agent P. There are blades that are designed for right or left pulling motion. You might consider reaching out this expert for his advice: scytheworks.ca/contact/
I've never done this but from others I've seen the technique seems to be to take less forward movements for each stroke and to take a wider whole body swing. I also think that these work better for harvesting dryer more rigid rows of cereals. I'd imagine normal grasses would be be "gummy" if that makes sense.
Future little Scyther 😊
Where did you purchase you scythe
Good job i like hard working
shouldn't you cut more often to keep it easier to cut?
It's good exercise, I use mine in places that are not safe for the tractor.
My brushcutter is just laughing his ass off in the shed
I had a European style snath made, would an American blade like the Seymour work with it?
Provided that you can attach it, yes.
Hopefully you can help me. I am having trouble with the left handle loosening on me as I move through the stroke. What am I doing wrong? Or is something slipping inside the handle in the mechanism. With this handle moving on me I have a hard time getting a consistent stroke.
+Craig Simon is your snath wood or metal