Anyone Know the Proper Way to Use this Toothed Sickle?

I just bought a couple of these


If you can't tell from the photo, the teeth are oriented towards the handle. I'm right handed so I assume I just pull out to the side away from my body with a slight wrist flick motion at the same time.

Anyone?

Watched this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nI0GK6qrdk
and thought it sounded like the right way to use it , but sure enough someone at the bottom of the comment section begs to differ. It's probably not the same thing as what I bought though. Not sure if that makes a difference. Here's the comment I'm talking about:

Improper use and a low quality example of the tool. It is not a sickle, but rather an offset grass hook--sickles are of different form and used for the manual harvest of cereal grains. There are several varieties of the American type grass hook, of which the shown tool is one of the economy sorts. A properly hard American grass hook does not benefit from peening and should have the bevel set with a file or water cooled grinding wheel. The edge is then maintained with a stone. Edge angle should be very thin and the scratch pattern forward facing. A very fine edge is desired. The grass hook shown is intended to cut on the push stroke--one made for a pulling stroke would have a more open angle of presentation to the blade.

I have used one of these for rice harvest in nepal. Think a big field with a bunch of dried stocks. There was a big group and the way to use the tool was to grab the stock of rice with one hand than bring the toothed sickle to the base. Pull the sickle thru the stocks. Almost like you are sawing thru the stocks.

So a ripping/pulling movement. You put the part closes to your hand next to the stock and than pull the blade all the way thru.

This is what the blade was used for there.

Once i figured out how to use it it worked great.

I believe it it meant to harvest things with a ripping/sawing movement...

Scott Obar wrote:I just bought a couple of these


If you can't tell from the photo, the teeth are oriented towards the handle. I'm right handed so I assume I just pull out to the side away from my body with a slight wrist flick motion at the same time.

Anyone?

Watched this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nI0GK6qrdk
and thought it sounded like the right way to use it , but sure enough someone at the bottom of the comment section begs to differ. It's probably not the same thing as what I bought though. Not sure if that makes a difference. Here's the comment I'm talking about:

Improper use and a low quality example of the tool. It is not a sickle, but rather an offset grass hook--sickles are of different form and used for the manual harvest of cereal grains. There are several varieties of the American type grass hook, of which the shown tool is one of the economy sorts. A properly hard American grass hook does not benefit from peening and should have the bevel set with a file or water cooled grinding wheel. The edge is then maintained with a stone. Edge angle should be very thin and the scratch pattern forward facing. A very fine edge is desired. The grass hook shown is intended to cut on the push stroke--one made for a pulling stroke would have a more open angle of presentation to the blade.

You're making the common mistake of conflating grass hooks and sickles. Toothed sickles ARE sickles. The one shown in the video is an American pattern grass hook and he's describing using it LIKE a sickle when a grass hook is intended to be able to cut on a push stroke (as well as a pull--there ARE circumstances where that's a desirable method, but swinging the tool from the wrist and fingers is how grass hooks ARE meant to be used, when he says they aren't.) The rice harvest he was describing having watched would have been done with a sickle in the method he was describing. He merely was in possession of a different (though related) tool.

Toothed sickles are a smooth bevel on one side (usually the lower face) and the serrations are cut in on the other. Sharpen the smooth-faced bevel only. You'll grasp your target material in the off hand and make the cut with a pushing or pulling action of the wrist. The material you're cutting will determine which direction works most favorably. Sometimes the more aggressive direction of cut is a benefit, other times a detriment, so try both to see which responds better.

So what I bought is a "toothed sickle"? Dumb question, but do the direction the teeth are oriented towards, indicate the direction you should cut?

Scott Obar wrote:So what I bought is a "toothed sickle"? Dumb question, but do the direction the teeth are oriented towards, indicate the direction you should cut?

Correct, you purchased a toothed sickle. The orientation of the teeth does not inherently indicate the direction you'll cut, as it will still cut in either direction, but will be more aggressive when the teeth are leading in the cut rather than trailing.