Amanda La

That's a really good point. I could sharpen the current bevel with stones and not change too much. There's no dents/pits in the current bevel so it shouldn't be too crazy to use stones in the first instance.

As for the draw knife, there are pits in the back too! Not as obvious but I guess I'm never gonna get it razor sharp without the saw tooths. I guess I now know what to look for when buying older bladers. Good lesson! Luckily the draw knife does what I need it to do. Whew!

I guess I do have a question. If the current angle is 15 degrees, should I maintain this angle or try and file down to 7-9 degrees? I think working hard now to file to a flatter 7-9 degree angle is better since the bevel will ultimately last longer with future sharpenings??

I’m using the draw knife for a making a sapling bow. I just need to shave enough wood off slowly and the draw knife does that as it is if I shave at a 90 degree angle. I think it’s okay for now but when and if I need to just it for finer work, I’ll try and take the serrated edge off. The pock marks are less deep than when it started (no horrible bumpy sounds with a sharpening stone anymore).

As for the scythe blade... I marked 1/4” of the entire length of the blade both sides with marker and will slowly scrape it off with my files. The “backbone” of the scythe on one side, and the middle smaller “backbone” on the other side gets in the way of of my file so I’m only really able to use the tip. The current angle of the blade is definitely more than 7-9 degrees. It’s more like 15-20 degrees. I don’t have an anvil or a hammer so I think I’ll just try and file it down to 7-9 degrees... which makes me think this won’t be ready in time for Christmas. Haha. Oh well, there’s no grass to cut now anyway.

Thanks guys!

Cool. I read the thing on the link but will take a listen to the podcast. I guess my main concern if the bleach used to make TP white is okay to compost and bury. I don’t grow anything where the compost is buried (there’s not enough sunlight) although there’s this type of sapling that thrives there and then gets ripped out by the landlord.

Hello!!! How interesting. I’ve been doing bokashi for maybe the last year and usually have decent results (except once when the bucket putrefied quickly probably because I left it open too long). Anyway, I we just had our sewage hole flood and the landlord was cautioning us about our type of TP. I’ve been reading and thinking about how we pee and poop into essentially clean water (the dog is right to drink from the toilet bowl, haha). I’d try peeing and pooping in a bucket but that’s probably too controversial for the landlord and the city. But I wondered if I could just bokashi compost my TP instead. I’m a “primitive” bidet user (pre-COVID) so I don’t use as much TP, I think, as a non-bidet user. Has anyone tried composting TP???

Hi. So a little update with a couple questions.

Got the broken metal bit from the welding school. The teacher used it to teach the students brazing cast iron and apparently everyone was a happy camper! Win-win! It fits really nicely on the scythe that I’ve applied Danish Oil to three times. A little annoying that the one handle I couldn’t pop off decided it would pop off as I did the last application of Danish Oil! I guess the penetrator oil worked... three weeks later. I just cleaned the handle a bit and popped it back on - I can’t be asked to sand the whole thing down again 😩 Maybe next time.

I finally found some draw files I thought could handle metal (instead of wood). I tried it first on an old antique draw file which had a lot of weird rough pock marks (as it someone pour acid on it or filled it in with some other type of metal). It removed quite a bit of the pock marks and unevenness to the draw knife blade. I then used stones to smooth everything out. I’m just gonna throw a non-scythe question here: the draw knife is definitely sharper than before but it still has some unevenness to the blade (see pic). Is this okay or just shoddy work on my part?

I tried to then draw file the scythe. I was really having a lot of trouble trying to get a 7-9 degree angle 1/2” into the blade because there was a natural divet on the blade edge about 1/4” in..... I then just read Benjamin’s instructions again and it was supposed it was 1/4” which would have made perfect sense. Eeek! I hope whatever I did working 1/2” isn’t such a big deal???

If draw filing is what I think it is... then I would’ve had a metal draw file handy to file the corrugated fastener down. Haha. I do kinda need a metal draw file anyway since I have a half finished knife to complete (at my leisure).

I’ll continue with stones for now since that’s what I have handy... lots of novice ignorance (and bliss)!

I’ll update when I get the piece back from the welders!!

Thanks all!

Cool! Ok, so I snipped one corrugation off by weakening it with some needle nosed pliers and for some reason, I have a pair of tin snips... and snipped it off. Hammered it in slowly and there was no cracking! I wasn’t looking forward to filing it off (would have to find and borrow some metal files).

Off to use some Danish Oil! The warnings of spontaneous combustion really is quite terrifying.

I also started working on the blade. Just one side and a quarter on the other side with a coarse stone... does it look reasonable?

Thanks, Benjamin!!

Oh cool. Thanks, Benjamin.

So, on the blade it says Austria. Is it still an American blade?

Can you confirm... that when you say end grain but perpendicular to the crack, is this correct (pictures)?

Oh I also sharpened the blade. I didn’t preen...  or try preening yet.

Here’s some pictures in case anyone was interested