It literally starts with saturating the stone in water, though?

@FortyTwoBlades you don't have to reapply?

@@EffdaBlx not in so short a period, no. It's saturated. The water is in it.

You can find a page with our suggested starting equipment here, though we also have additional items under their respective sections. byxco.com/pages/suggested-starting-equipment

Do you mean an Austrian made American pattern, or a continental European pattern? They are radically different from one another. Seymour's blades are made by Schroekenfux of Austria, but are American pattern and run at a higher hardness for superior edge retention. There are many Chinese made Austrian-look scythes on Amazon and they have universally been found to be of poor quality. If actually Austrian made/European style we suggest supporting specialty retailers like One Scythe Revolution, as they can do things like properly peening the blade for you to help give you an idea of the kind of edge to strive for, much like how we grind properly thin bevels and adjust the tang angles on our blades. Welcome to the world of scything!

@@FortyTwoBladesI assume it is an European pattern, Made by Müller Austria, bought in the American Amazon Store to be used in South Carolina around my Pond! I grew up in Austria, my Grand Parents taught me on a very old wooden model! My Grandfather even built himself a bench with a metal bar exposed, where he carefully hammered the Blade straight and used a stone to sharpen it!

@@kukolino likely sold by Wisemen Trading, then. We actually supply them with sharpening stones, though the Müller snaths and blades are not the finest examples out there. Wisemen is not a specialist retailer so it will need a bit of work in the edge before it will be ready to mow. Very doable, just keep it in mind that it'll need that little bit of elbow grease put in before it'll be performing its best! Fortunately there are lots of decent videos online about tuning up European scythes. Again, we suggest One Scythe Revolution for that!

It can be used dry, but performs best with water or oil, according to your preference. 😊

@@FortyTwoBlades Excellent, thank you!

For a number of reasons, some of which are easier to concisely explain than others! The main advantage to peening is that it allows for bevel maintenance with durable rather than consumable equipment, and in continental Europe many poor farmers could not afford a grindstone back in the age when synthetic abrasives did not exist--they were dependent on the qualities of their local stone or else had to import at great expense. But also part of why the blades are made so thin and soft is to facilitate that peening. In the Nordic nations, the UK, and America we had abundant stone resources that were suitable for grinding wheels. As such, those regions all made their blades with a harder heat treatment from the beginning, which allows them to hold their edge significantly better (approximately 5x as well) and they gain basically no advantage through peening. Peening only increases the edge hardness by 1-3 HRC and does NOT improve its resistance to abrasive wear. This means that while it's true that the metal is drawn out by peening, it is nonetheless fed to the stone through honing. By heat treating a blade harder in the first place it not only needs less frequent honing to stay sharp, but also is more resistant to abrasive wear from dirt and silica in the plant stalks because the steel is in a harder crystal phase (martensite) rather than the soft phase more present in European blades (mostly pearlite.) The better edge retention and apex stability of harder steel also means that it cuts better at slower speeds, and so does not need to compensate for low sharpness (for a scythe) with a fast stroke like European types do, and so do not need to be made as light. Having a blade of certain weight is actually helpful in mowing heavy growth, because the higher input energy required at the start of the stroke is stored as inertia that's expended at the end of the stroke when the load on the snath from the cut material is the highest, leveling out your effort curve and keeping you in the aerobic zone better. This allows for deep strokes even in heavy growth without having to add a burst of energy at the end of the stroke, and folks using light European scythes in heavy growth often complain of left shoulder pain from having to add that extra oomph at the end of their strokes to avoid getting bogged down in the cut.

Clearly spoken as someone who hasn't used it. It chops excellently and is designed for it based on extensive experience with machete design and use. An 1/8" thick prototype was tested during the design phase because of people who thought it should be thicker. The 2.2mm thick example chopped better and weighed almost half a pound less while doing it.

@@FortyTwoBlades you should try to fall a bigger sampling than the cherry trees and tell us your opinion such comfort time to take to fall down the tree and if the blade vibrate ETC

@@viseshseernam39 the testing was done years ago and was quite extensive. No further testing is needed, though I still have the prototype. Felling larger trees than this is doable, and I've done it, including on standing dead beech trees about a foot in diameter. However, such work is much better suited to using an axe. The machete is fully capable of handling it, however, and does very VERY well for machetes in its blade length range. It can also take the head off a deer in one blow. This machete was designed to handle the full range from light grasses through full-blown trees if need be, but machetes are inherently better suited to saplings and branches as the upper range of targets that they'd be *typically* used on, with trees this size and larger being a case of "use what you have" rather than what you'd pack with the intention of using for that kind of work in volume.

You don't need to produce a hollow grind--an appropriately low edge angle and backing geometry is the important thing. About 7-9° per side. While this is a VERY aggressive hyper-coarse bonded abrasive stone, it is not as fast as the grinding point is. Once beveled properly, proper sharpening techniques, occasional touchups with a very coarse stone like this or the Manticore Continental-pattern scythe stone to reduce thickness at the shoulder, and avoiding edge damage through accidental impacts can help drastically extend how long you can go before having to regrind it. The Seymour scythe blades or our Meadow King grass blade are soft enough that a file will readily cut them while still being harder than even harder examples of European style blades by about 5 HRC. You might enjoy one of those if looking for a blade that lends itself well to non-electric beveling without the need for a manual wet grinding wheel. The grinding point is just much faster.

@@FortyTwoBlades I don't know what brand my scythe blade is. It's an antique I got off of Ebay and restored. But it does seem to be doing better since I used the grinding point on it. But I really don't like the dependence on electricity. I would happily spend more time pleasantly sharpening manually. I see your Seymour grass blades are sold out. I''m looking at the Meadow King grass blade and the Seymour weed blades. You would feel confident grinding those blades with this Manticore abrasive file? And I'm also curious, should I be using the "American" whetstones you sell or the "Continental" whetsones? I've been using the continental shaped stones for honing my american scythe blade, but now I'm wondering if those are mainly meant for European scythe blades and that I should be using the American whetstone shape on my american scythe blade. Whew! Learning curve is steep. I'm able to cut grass now with my American scythe, but when I see Slottergubben and his Nordic snath and European (peen) style scythes, I'm very tempted to make the switch. I want to cut grass as easily as he does, but as of right now, the level of sharpness that I'm able to get on my american scythe blade, plus the weight of my old, heavy, snath is just not capable. Thoughts? Have you watched Slattergubben's videos?

The Grim Reaper and Father Time are depicted as carrying scythes because of the way that harvest with a scythe (reaping) must be done at the right time. Much as crops (whether grain or hay) must be harvested at the correct time, so too is it their duty to harvest souls when it is THEIR time.

The blades are curved a bit on the short axis, so even when you place it directly on the ground, the edge won't dig in. From there, it's just a matter of taking a short stroke and paying attention to the ground as it changes. You might have to come at the same patch from several angles, like he did as he circled around the burdock, but scythes cut best down at the ground level because the ground is helping to hold the plant in place. If you tried cutting higher up the stalk, the plant would just bend out of the way.

As Threeriversforge1997 mentioned, the blade "smiles" somewhat, allowing you to get down into hollows. The flatter the blade, the more even a stubble it leaves, and the more of an inverse crown the blade has, the less even a stubble it leaves, but the better it's able to navigate undulating terrain.

Total elapsed time under 5 minutes. Not slow at all for the space cleared.

The alternative is to string trim and then come back with big shears, it's technically faster just more labor intensive

@@cheyannei5983 if not actually trying to save a plant, it'd be much faster! Very easy to plow right through burdocks and grass like that; but this was just a demonstration of how you can selectively mow to help preserve certain desirable plants!

As we mention in the description, we weren't actually trying to save this plant! With one we were actually trying to save, obviously we wouldn't have then cut it down. 😉

This one was made by Falci, but we do also carry the Rinaldi one, which is a little shorter.

Propane doesn't do a good job of heating the metal quickly to prevent the spread of heat into the cutting portion of the blade. If using propane, we'd suggest taking steps to ensure the blade stays cool in the process, such as by submerging it in a water tank while doing the heating, using a coolant mister (with a shield in place to prevent overspray onto the heated portion of the tang) or thick soaking-wet felt blocks laid over the edge. Otherwise, it would be better to use an oxy-acetylene torch. Most folks without the means to DIY it or purchasing through us have had success with having a local mechanic do the job.

What method are you using to set the bevels? They should only be about 7-9°per side, so a quite thin geometry. Many find the grinding points we sell to be a good economical way of getting blades back in proper shape.

I'm not sure what you're asking here...both are forward-weighted tools and neither of them are at all prone to rolling in the hand. The Giustina model has a more forward balance, but this is due to its longer length. Neither is inherently more or less balanced than the other, merely balanced differently.

It's due to the manner in which it's designed, not due to any faults inherent to standard American snath design! Standard American snaths will typically comfortably fit users up to 5' 11" tall while the Longfellow us designed not only for very tall folks, but also for people who intend to share the snath between users of different heights, since users of any height will use the same tang angle thanks to the arrangement of the hands in use. Unless you're taller than 5' 11" it's most likely the trouble you had was due to poor tuning and fitting! American blades need to have their tang angle set for the unique combination of snath, user, and mowing conditions. The shank of the tang is heated with an oxy-acetylene torch or induction heater and bent to the correct angle needed for that user to bring the edge appropriately low to the ground. For most users that ends up being somewhere between 10-15°

@@FortyTwoBlades My height is 6'3" which is what I meant by understanding why I have a hard time with a normal size snath. Would you recommend staining or sealing the longfellow snath before using it?

Check our website for maintenance equipment and our links and reading section for the instructional material we have on our blog! We have detailed instructions for beginners. byxco.com/ site.baryonyxknife.com/blog/?p=6

You may find this more detailed video helpful, or the educational materials on our website (byxco.com or our blog under our links and reading section) kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3ybfImdgpyKd68

Chances are you're either failing to fully bring the edge to an apex, are rounding over your angle, or are creating an aggressively rolled edge. Check for any of those problems and it should solve the issue!

@@FortyTwoBlades Thank you! I’m grateful for your help because it’s my first time trying this.

They're Specialist II Work Clogs, or their predecessor, at least.

Cost depends on the particular snath (handle) and blade combination. Shipping to India may be very expensive, so we would suggest organizing a group order if you're able. You may peruse our selection on www.byxco.com and contact us from there regarding a quote.

We're actually the global specialist in American scythes! In addition to vintage blades, we also carry newly made ones like the Seymour Midwest model shown. To the best of my knowledge we're the only retailer doing tang angle adjustment and edge grinding.

This approach is faster, more precise, and more controllable, providing it's used with properly selected wood.

It's an Angelo B. "Abruzzo" pattern pennato (double-edged billhook.)

Because a hatchet doesn't penetrate into the wood as easily or allow for controlling the split of the lath. You use this with selected wood that has a good straight grain to it (or as close as you can find) during the course of stacking your wood, and you set those pieces aside. A hatchet is considerably worse for this very specific task, though certainly capable of the job. The splitting knife allows you to set the edge exactly where you want it and split off very thin, uniform laths that light and catch easily, to a fairly remarkable degree.

@@FortyTwoBlades preciate the answer.

~2.85mm, with a slight distal taper.

Rinaldi doesn't disclose their steel, as they consider it a trade secret, but it is some form of silicon-manganese spring steel heat treated to 57 RC. The thickness varies both due to distal taper as well as pattern, but are generally between 1/8" to 1/4" thick and can be thought of as "cleavers for wood."

As noted in the video description, it's our Arctic Fox series dual grit pocket stone! byxco.com/products/byxco-arctic-fox-pocket-stone

If anything it works easier in wet grass!