The Austrian blade shown is being used to cut tough-stemmed brambles and it is being peened about every thirty hours of work. Peening is done only occasionally how often depends on the hardness of the steel and the nature of the work. Before being taken to the forest, the blade is peened in the workshop: this reforms the malleable steel to create an edge profile that can then be honed. In the example below, a short scythe blade, being used to clear brambles, is being sharpened. Historically, a peening station was set up on the edge of the field during harvest, but now more likely back in the workshop. Peening requires some skill and is done using a peening hammer and special anvils or by using a peening jig. For mowing fine grass, the bevel angle may be peened extremely fine, while for coarser work a larger angle is created to give a more robust edge. The purposes of this task is to create the desired edge profile, to locally work-harden the metal, and to remove minor nicks and dents. Peening reforms the malleable edge by hammering. The cutting edge of a tensioned scythe blade is maintained by occasional peening followed by frequent honing. Finish of the stroke and depositing on the windrow to the left Historically, beginners relied on mentors to help them set up and maintain their scythe and to teach them to mow comfortably and efficiently.ģ. Common beginner errors include setting up the snaith with the handles in the wrong locations to suit the body, setting the blade at the wrong turn-in and turn-up angles to suit the conditions, choosing a blade that is too long for the skill level, failing to start with a sharp edge and persevering with a dull one during use, chopping or hacking at the grass, trying to cut too wide a strip of grass at once and striking the ground with the blade. Long-bladed scythes, typically around 90 centimetres (35 in) (such as in the example below) and suitable for mowing grass or wheat, are harder to use at first consequently, beginners usually start on shorter blades, generally 70 centimetres (28 in) or less. Mowing with a scythe is a skilled task that takes time to learn fully. Many cultures have used a variety of 'cradles' to catch cut different kinds of grain stems, keeping the seed heads aligned and laying them down in an orderly fashion to make them easier to sheaf and winnow. Skilled mowers using long-bladed scythes honed very sharp were used to maintain short lawn grass until the invention of the lawnmower. A long, thin blade 90 to 100 centimetres (35 to 39 in) is most efficient for mowing grass or wheat, while a shorter, more robust scythe 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) is more appropriate for clearing weeds, cutting reed or sedge and can be used with the blade under water for clearing ditches and waterways.
Scythes are designed for different tasks. Mowing grass is easier when it is damp, and so hay-making historically began at dawn and often stopped early, the heat of the day being spent raking and carting the hay cut on previous days or peening the blades. Mowing may be done by a team of mowers, usually starting at the edges of a meadow then proceeding clockwise and finishing in the middle. Each strip of ground mown by a scythe is called a swathe (pronounced / s w eɪ ð/ rhymes with "bathe") or swath ( / s w ɒ θ/ rhymes with "cloth"). The mower moves along the mowing-edge with the uncut grass to the right and the cut grass laid in a neat row to the left, on the previously mown land. Men working in a field near Fort Frances, between 19 Scythes almost always have the blade projecting from the left side of the snaith when in use, with the edge towards the mower left-handed scythes are made but cannot be used together with right-handed scythes as the left-handed mower would be mowing in the opposite direction and could not mow in a team. A curved, steel blade between 60 and 90 centimetres (24 and 35 in) long is mounted at the lower end at 90°, or less, to the snaith. The handles are usually adjustable to suit the user. The snaith has either one or two short handles at right angles to it, usually one near the upper end and always another roughly in the middle. Simple snaiths are straight with offset handles, others have an "S" curve or are steam bent in three dimensions to place the handles in an ergonomic configuration but close to the shaft. A modern scythe of a pattern common in parts of EuropeĪ scythe consists of a shaft about 170 centimetres (67 in) long called a snaith, snath, snathe or sned, traditionally made of wood but now sometimes metal.
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