"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Judith Browning wrote:I am enjoying this so much!
I have always dreaded mowing, especially when we had a gas push. Now we have a great electric but still we have to wait for the grass to dry to mow and to bag especially. I never minded the pushing, just the heat of the day.
With this scythe I can get out at my favorite time of day, dawn! and mow barefoot if I like.
I'm finally getting it well sharpened to no reflection on the apex and it's cutting nice although still a little like a bad haircut sometimes.
I might be pushing this blades limit and should get a brush blade also? I'm cutting mostly grasses but there are some stemy, almost but not quite woody things mixed in.
I don't understand what to look for to tell when it needs peening again though? Will it just cut less well?
"To live at all is miracle enough" ~Mervyn Peake
Baryonyx Knife Co. --Owner
James 1:19-20
Not all those who wander are lost - J. R. R. Tolkien
Caleb Mayfield wrote:Great to hear! I love mine as well. What I've noticed on mine is it will dull quickly when it needs to be peened again. The peening work hardens the edge steel and over the course of dressing the edge with stones you eventually wear through the hard layer. Being soft it gets dull much faster.
I'm currently mowing grasses that are "overgrown" and possibly too heavy for my blade, but the ditch and brush blades are heavier and more work to swing. My recommendation is to use the grass blade and take smaller bites as needed. If you take a slice and the blade stops on a thicker patch, either touch up the blade or take another light slice at it, just don't try to force the blade through. That is exhausting. If you are getting into real stalky/woody/stemmy stuff then a ditch blade might not be a bad idea.
"To live at all is miracle enough" ~Mervyn Peake
Baryonyx Knife Co. --Owner
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Judith Browning wrote:
Calab, Thanks! What I have is a ditch blade. I knew I would rarely be cutting just grass. I doubt I ever cut anything heavier than what I am now so maybe it's good enough and one day I'll get a grass blade also. Are you mowing pasture? My husband was the scythe person on our old farm until his back surgery. He has an American scythe that worked well for him but size wise did not for me. (and we did not have Benjamin's expertise to call on back then) This was back before we were connected to the internet so I had no other advice and always thought it was something I would never be able to do. That is making it doubly enjoyable now![]()
James 1:19-20
Not all those who wander are lost - J. R. R. Tolkien
Caleb Mayfield wrote:
Judith Browning wrote:
Calab, Thanks! What I have is a ditch blade. I knew I would rarely be cutting just grass. I doubt I ever cut anything heavier than what I am now so maybe it's good enough and one day I'll get a grass blade also. Are you mowing pasture? My husband was the scythe person on our old farm until his back surgery. He has an American scythe that worked well for him but size wise did not for me. (and we did not have Benjamin's expertise to call on back then) This was back before we were connected to the internet so I had no other advice and always thought it was something I would never be able to do. That is making it doubly enjoyable now![]()
Judith, I'm mowing what my wife and I have agreed to call "yard" versus "lawn". The yard might as well be pasture at this point, but I've just about gotten caught up now. Finally had some applicants and hired two. I get a day off once a week now! Some parts of the yard were thin but tall, and our south slope is thick and tall. It is a real workout even though the blade is sharp and cutting well. It's a lot of grass to move into a windrow. I started with a 30" American pattern grass blade on an old snath I cleaned up. It was an American Pattern wooden snath my grandfather had in one of the barns for an unknown number of decades. I never quite got the feel for it and ordered a new snath from Scythe Supply. Game changer. Getting into the heavier grass with the 30" blade was getting to be too much so I ordered a 26" grass blade and it was as much a game changer as the new snath was.
My desire is to mow the yard areas with the scythe when they get mid shin to knee high and try laying it up for hay mulch this fall. I bought Ian Miller's Scything Handbook and want to try a few things from it if I get the chance this year. If not, then next year.
"To live at all is miracle enough" ~Mervyn Peake
Baryonyx Knife Co. --Owner
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
"To live at all is miracle enough" ~Mervyn Peake
Baryonyx Knife Co. --Owner
James 1:19-20
Not all those who wander are lost - J. R. R. Tolkien
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden
Greg Martin wrote:I just got mine Judith....can't wait for the grass to start really growing!
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
My previous laptop never exploded like that. Read this tiny ad while I sweep up the shards.
The Intentional Community Summit - Feb 21-23 (2025) - online
https://permies.com/t/273995/Intentional-Community-Summit-Feb-online
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