Benjamin Bouchard

r ranson wrote:Great suggestion.

I find early morning mowing before chores or sunrise works well.  But we get morning dew here.

One thing I was worried about is a spark. We have a rocky area I want to chop and drop, but it got too dry and I don't know if sparks are a possibility with a scythe.  We are on the no-mower stage of summer drought because if a blade hits a rock, the grass will ignite so fast.  I was hoping a scythe would have less risk.

Sparks are THEORETICALLY possible but much less likely to occur due to the slower speed/lower force/greater interval. I've never read of an instance of a fire being started as a result of such.

T Blankinship wrote:

Benjamin Bouchard wrote:
Coarse scratch pattern, extra-crisp apex. Use a coarse stone to set the scratch pattern, then jump to a very fine stone. This will help eliminate any burr at the apex by cutting it off without actually erasing the "serration" of the coarse scratch pattern. Then finish with a wooden "whipping stick" to strop the blade. No polishing compound is needed -- just the bare wood. I like to make my whipping sticks from 1/2" x 2" pine or spruce, though any wood will do, and shape a grip on one end then sand the broad faces so they have a slight convex shape to them. The wood will grab any microscopic folds or unevenness in the apex at that stage and draw it straight.

This would make the blade sharper right?

Yes, but also it's going to make that edge more "grabby" and able to catch slippery, dry, waxy grasses.

Zoe Piel wrote:It's been quite some time since we got a good rain in my area. It's also been deadly hot, and I haven't been keeping up on mowing too well this summer. Now I go to mow with my grass blade and find I can't get much purchase on the dry grass. It's mostly green foxtail (with thick, horsey stems) and bermuda grass (with dry, crispy thatch underneath).

Any tips for dealing with dry dry dry grass?

Coarse scratch pattern, extra-crisp apex. Use a coarse stone to set the scratch pattern, then jump to a very fine stone. This will help eliminate any burr at the apex by cutting it off without actually erasing the "serration" of the coarse scratch pattern. Then finish with a wooden "whipping stick" to strop the blade. No polishing compound is needed -- just the bare wood. I like to make my whipping sticks from 1/2" x 2" pine or spruce, though any wood will do, and shape a grip on one end then sand the broad faces so they have a slight convex shape to them. The wood will grab any microscopic folds or unevenness in the apex at that stage and draw it straight.

Mozam Media wrote:Thank you for all of the information!!

How did you learn all of is this? Are there some resources you’d recommend making myself familiar with??

I am, to the best of my knowledge, the leading researcher and collector of American pattern scythes and ephemera. It's a LOT of digging through period documents in libraries, archives, digital repositories, collecting and studying surviving examples of blades, and so on and so forth.

Sibley actually supplied the contracts for scythes used in the construction of the Panama Canal! They're very good scythes in my experience. Yours is a plain-web grass blade and it does look like it may have a bit of a "frown" to it. When viewed edge-on it should be either dead flat or gently "smiling." Being marked as "solid steel" it's not a laminated example so correcting the bend (if indeed present) will take a little oomph atop the chine at the site of the bend, with the underside of the rib against an anvil surface. The snath is in the style of a Derby & Ball, possibly of the "Derby, Ball, & Edwards" period, and in the lineage of the No.50 grass snath (likely went by that name but if not, at time of production, it's in the same family) and looks to be of good lighter weight build without the usual condition issues I often see with these. If the snath is over-heavy (and if it is it probably isn't by much) you should be able to get it down to a weight of about 2lb 12oz without any issue, and possibly as low as 2lb 8oz, including all hardware. A very nice scythe overall--a great find!

If you do any restoration work to it, do be gentle. It's a very nice example and you wouldn't want to do anything overzealous to it. But some work will definitely be needed to get it back in ready-to-mow condition.  

They basically learned from Falci and produce blades of good quality if somewhat thicker build than one finds from Falci and Fux, but that thicker build also makes them more robust. They are better than Tovarna Kos in my estimation, and Tovarna Kos isn't bad by any stretch. Not the top of the line blades, but very strong value blades.

Kevin Olson wrote:

Benjamin Bouchard wrote:The iron snath is likely by Troyer Manufacturing. They later made aluminum snaths in the same fashion. Rather unique clamping mechanism and nib hardware on them.

I hadn't considered that it might be a "commercial" product, I'd simply assumed that it was made by a farmer or in someone's tractor shop to meet the needs of the moment with the materials at hand.

I'll have to give it a closer look.

Thank you for the additional info.

If the hardware on the end is a sort of tapered saddle that clamps to the tang by a bolt on either side, it's a Troyer. The nibs should be iron tube with a hex bolt going down through the top, which is covered by a washer. Don't take them apart unless you plan on keeping track of small parts. The interior is a little complicated and probably rusty.

I just recently was fortunate enough to get my hands on this phenomenal catalog and just completed scanning and uploading it. Some real gems in here that I'd not seen before, and I can only hope I get the chance to see a few of the snaths and cradles shown here in person. Much like the Derby, Ball, & Edwards catalog I'd previously uploaded, this one tells the retailer to destroy any old catalogs in their possession--no wonder I hadn't seen any Seymour catalogs from the golden age of scythes pop up in the past! This one was likely printed roughly a few years plus-or-minus 1931 due to the inclusion of loose-leaf snaths patented late that year.

Kevin Olson wrote:Benjamin -

I'll have to give your current offering a read-through before I can offer helpful suggestions.

I bought a stone and holder from you a few years ago - well used, now, though I am still learning.

I started with a wooden American style snath and a brush blade (bought from a second hand store), then picked up an aluminum Seymour snath (for $5!) and moved the brush blade to that.  Later, I acquired a decent grass blade on a rather pitiful wooden snath (but with one good nib, and good nib hardware for the other).  Now, the grass blade is on the Seymour snath, though if I need to cut heavier stuff (tansy, small maple or box elder shoots, etc.) I won't hesitate to swap the brush blade back on.  I also have a snath which appears to have been bent up from steel pipe (!) - crazy heavy, but had some good hardware on it, and was available at the right price.  So, slowly piecing together a start for medieval grade mowing (I have a couple of sickles and reaping hooks, also).

I've also been doing some finish mowing with an old Craftsman "Ball Bearing" reel mower, but I may need to track down someone (maybe the local golf course?) who has a proper grinding setup for the reel and bed knife, since I have succeeded in back lapping (Pin High brand grit) a slight "hook"  or recess into both ends of the bed knife, now, after several summers of use.  Last summer I was rather unwell, and used the electric rechargeable mower - I just didn't have the stamina to do the job the old fashioned way.  But, doing better, now, so am looking forward to getting "back into the swing of things", so to speak!.

Anyway, thanks for posting this resource for all of us scything tyros.  My maternal grandfather could have given me some pointers I'm certain, but I never thought to ask when he was alive.  Sorry I couldn't provide any helpful feedback, at the moment, but I will give this some time in the next few weeks.

Kevin

The iron snath is likely by Troyer Manufacturing. They later made aluminum snaths in the same fashion. Rather unique clamping mechanism and nib hardware on them.

I've been working on updating my guide on American scythes and have been having some of the diagrams redrawn and new ones in progress to better illustrate what I currently consider as best practices. I've especially been working away at adding an appendix of notable makers with explorations of their history, models or innovations they're best known for, and so on. If anyone has requests for particular topics to be covered, feel free to comment them here and I'll see what I can do to work them into the overall document.