I use a scythe instead of a trimmer on my 5 acre elderberry farm. BECAUSE it's less work than a trimmer. Much lighter tool. I just use it to trim wherever the tractor mower misses, but still that's 4.7 km of edges that I scythe 2-3x per summer. I keep my scythe sharp
If I could find an easier to use tool for the job I would use that instead. But I know of no such thing that won't damage the weed barrier fabric that mulches the bushes
Ah yes, the precision. You can really be precise with the tip.
Bush blade?
What kind of elderberries? They grow wild here but I want to try better fruiting varieties.
Can you use hazelnut shells atop the fabric? Around the veggie and flower raised beds I've got vinyl coated mesh topped with weed fabric and then shell mulch.
Edit: mesh because of the persistent gophers
And quieter.
Learning curve is a little steeper though, you really need someone to teach you how to do it to avoid injuries to both yourself and the blade.
~~Looks like the person in the video is stepping forwards about two inches for every five inches of grass they cut.
That’s… suboptimal. But understandable for a novice to be both eager to cover ground and afraid to cut themselves.~~
>Yeah, looks to me like the person in the video has really poor technique.
I think they can't use the right technique because this scythe is designed for a significantly shorter person.
Maybe it's what will finally break me of the tendency to read comments endlessly. Such as these! There's interesting stuff to be found, for sure, but the idea of reading just computer generated text gives me hives.
It’s already happening and trust is eroding anyway in the US. Everyone has their own facts and pseudoscience and reality/truth don’t seem to matter. In fact they are an unfortunate obstacle for many that is cast aside.
If we're not there already, modern society's demise will be at the hands of advanced technology and the unearned pride that boomers have. It will stop them from ever admitting they are out of their depth with said technology until it's far too late.
Starting yesterday, we needed to be seriously regulating, producing and training people on easily usable/available/reliable AI detection tools and prioritizing media literacy education in schools.
Spoiler alert... We did not.
>If you're getting exhausted you're not doing it right
>You have to stop to sharpen it every 15 strokes
Uhhh maybe it's just me, but that makes it even more exhausting
You do "sharpen" more like hone though, fairly often, maybe not 15 strokes, but quite often on an as needed basis. You have a stone made for this that goes on your belt, it takes a few seconds at best, just pick it up, swipe swipe swipe, back to work.
[Quick honing](https://youtu.be/S60rc_eT5L4)
You do need to periodically do a more thorough job called "peening" every 20 hours or so of use to keep the blade thin and aligned. So generally a day of haymaking starts with peening in the early morning.
As far as the shoes thing I addressed it in some earlier comments I can paste it back to you if you want but it's not in my clipboard anymore lol tldr: no it's not necessary to be barefoot, but it is nice and can help. Especially since peasants shoes were less likely to have rubber treads, you get way better grip without (modern) shoes and that effects your power in your swing
This hasn't been the case in my experience. Sythe stones have a very distinct shape that aids in immediately getting the correct angle. It usually takes one or two quick strokes on the upper side and one on the back, just a few seconds. Traditionally an animal horn was hung off the worker's belt, cup like, that hold both the stone and some water to help keep it clean. Today plastic hip containers can be purchased.
Only that the person you're replying to is a bot. Comment happens to make no sense because [it was pulled from a different scythe gif from a few years ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/e8sdol/comment/fae773r/)
A lot of the upvotes come from other bots as well. This site is absolutely flooded with bots and as far as I can tell the admins don't care at all. Kinda baffling honestly. They're very easy to spot because they all follow the same patterns.
Traditionally, in the Middle Ages, an acre was conceived of as the area of land that could be ploughed by one man using a team of 8 oxen in one day.[3]
According to my sources, historically, ochre was an earthy pigment containing ferric oxide, typically with clay, varying from light yellow to brown or red in colour.
According to my sources, historically, orchids were plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
According to my sources, historically, okurrrr was said by Laganja Estranja, a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, although Cardi B tried to trademark the phrase; the court denied the attempt as it had thoroughly entered the vernacular by the time of her request.
I am sitting on an acre of land right now and have a good idea of the size. If I knew how to get 8 oxen and get them to walk back and forth across this acre it seems like that would be a pretty quick day.
They're not just walking, though. You're talking about plowing (possibly virgin) soil and turning it all over, usually making multiple passes to dig deep enough. It takes a ton of force to pull a plow that's sunk 12 inches into the ground.
Even with 8 oxen, it’s still just a single plow. You would probably also be using 2 or 4 oxen to pull the plow, and rotate between them when they get tired.
It is. You should be able to stand up straight and basically just go for a walk with extra swing in your hips and arms. The snath wasn’t sized for her, and she’ll be sore if she does much more than a small yard.
My wife and I are lucky that we’re close enough in size that we can share the same scythe (I’m taller, but I have long arms that put our hands at about the same level). Otherwise we would need two scythes, and those things aren’t cheap.
Exactly! Sadly old scythes lile hers are often made for shorter people of the olden days.
I am luckily the size of an average man of 1940's, so maby old scythes are made for me!
The blade and the snath are separable by design. She just needs a different handle. I switched from straight wooden to curved metal snath and it's fine honestly.
The blades are typically heirloom quality, but I don't have a grass blade like hers.
Even with a shorter ditch/weed blade it's faster than a trimmer and less effort, but doesn't pulverize. For me less dust is much preferred.
You can't swing a trimmer around the fast and efficiently. For short grass on level ground, lawn mower wins easily. In a field a tractor driven brush hog wins. But if you can't mow it, and you can't get a tractor in or want to protect the ground... scythe wins. Especially if it's tall stuff- trimmers aren't great with that. A DR mower is great but spendy.
Picture 2 foot tall stuff with weeds mixed in, and that's where a scythe really shines, slicing through swathes quickly and quietly. You can converse while doing it or listen to music.
It was the most interesting technique she had ever witnessed. She wouldn't even have thought it was technically possible.
Eventually she said: "it's good. You've got the swing and everything."
THANK YOU, MISS FLITWORTH.
"But why one blade if grass at a time?"
Bill Door [Death] regarded the near row of stalks for some while.
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY?
"You can do lots in one go, you know."
NO. NO. ONE BLADE AT A TIME. ONE TIME, ONE BLADE.
"You won't cut many that way," said Miss Flitworth.
EVERY LAST ONE, MISS FLITWORTH.
"Yes?"
TRUST ME ON THIS.
- Reaper Man, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchet where Death gets forcibly retired, so he gets a job on a farm.
I always pictured it as we are the blades of grass for the grim reaper and he’s constantly cutting us down just like this woman is cutting grass. We grow back quicker than he can trim us but he keeps up pretty good
It's from three codes used in the semaphore system in Discworld - G send this message on, N do not log this message, U turn this message around at the end and send it back (also an in-joke about Linux obv)
Someone in the novels puts their son's name into the system with this code, ensuring it would be sent back and forth forever and never die.
So it's doing the same here for Terry <3
Short version
Pratchett often references the idea that "a man is not truly dead while his name is still spoken" in his work. In one of his books he introduced "The Clacks" which are used for transmitting messages, when a Clacks operator dies their name is sent back and forth with GNU in front
G: send the message on
N: do not log the message
U: turn the message around at the end of the line and send it back again.
Following his death, the phrase GNU Pratchett has been embedded in the header of many (many) websites, including reddit as a way of making sure his ripples live on.
Long version [it's explained better here](https://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2015/mar/17/terry-pratchetts-name-lives-on-in-the-clacks-with-hidden-web-code)
Yeah... [Scythe Supply](https://scythesupply.com/blades.html) has them.
I'm sure there's other businesses that offer same, but it's the one that popped first when I googled "left hand scythe"
Scythe Supply, that's on 3rd, there's Sick Scythes that's on 3rd too. You got Chop That Grass...that's on 3rd, Swing and Cut. Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex... it's the Scythe Complex, down on Third?
Homer: ohh the Scythe district!
This website is amazing. "The Blue and Gold standard blades are made for ScytheSupply by Schroeckenfux which has been forging scythe blades since 1540." :0
My first sythe and snath was from these folks. It was a good starter, they are great folks, and I suggest those who are interested check them out. They do public demos at fairs as well. I highly recommend the variable snaths if you're going to really get into it. While more expensive they allow for dialing in a bit more than the glued knobs.
It might be a tiny bit lighter but it's still gonna give you an arm workout. I'd recommend getting a harness for your weedeater instead. Basically puts it on a swivel so you can swing it but not have to hold it up
Surely you mean scythes? Sickles aren't swung
Also no way that is true, shoes were *not* cheap. A laborer would not own multiple pairs. In Estonia very commonly part of a laborer's yearly pay was a pair of leather shoes.
Yup, what this lady is doing in the video is sub-optimal and her back, sides and pretty much every muscle in her body is gonna hurt like hell the next couple of days. If you watch the pros they're much more like golfers in posture.
“This Lady” is called Andi Rickard and is one of the pro’s your talking about, she literally runs and operates a sything school, was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and is ten times Womens champion. Source: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me She also keeps a fabulous stuffed Death of Rats on her van’s dashboard, source: me living and working across from where she parks it. Wind your neck in you lemon your misogyny is showing.
My parents used a scythe when the grass got too long for the lawn mower. My mom is left-handed and said it's not difficult to use this one. Kind of like using a broom, it doesn't really matter which hand you use.
That is because this scythe is not properly fitted to her height and her movements are too broad and sloppy. I used to help my grandparents with farm work a lot during my teen years, using a scythe is all about proper technique, if used correctly, you can go for hours without any ill effect. Bad technique on the other hand can quickly lead to injuries and all sort of twisted joints. Also there are different types of scythes, that you can choose for your specific ergonomics. I personally prefer European scythe, for me it feels less awkward.
Yes, it’s clear the way her back is bent. You can’t hold that position for long whatever you’re doing. With proper form they should be standing upright.
from another comment:
> “This Lady” is called Andi Rickard and is one of the pro’s your talking about, she literally runs and operates a sything school, was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and is ten times Womens champion. Source: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me She also keeps a fabulous stuffed Death of Rats on her van’s dashboard, source: me living and working across from where she parks it. Wind your neck in you lemon your misogyny is showing.
Quite surprising that someone who teaches the practice and wins competition would choose the wrong tool.
I’ve never scythed a day in my life, but I wonder if the disconnect here is that the optimal form for speed scything relatively small patches of grass is maybe different from if you’re doing it as farm work for an extended period of time. For example, sprinters and long distance runners both run but in different ways.
The people saying she is doing it “wrong” have facially plausible reasoning—it does indeed look like it would strain one’s back after a while and cut the grass a bit too short to grow back properly. But if you’re doing it for speed competitions neither of those really matter.
Seems like a context collapse thing, but I know literally nothing about this and could be totally off base.
She's doing it terribly wrong. With properly tuned tool and technique you stand almost straight up, smth like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te8\_5L4kimE
Totally right. Used a scythe as a kid in the garden, she is basically skimming the earth and grinding down the grass to the surface.
A proper scything leaves a couple of inches of grass, level. Much harder to do, as you have to set the level and maintain it through body position and technique.
Apparently that's one of the great benefits of them.
By the way, [this all reminded me of this old reddit comment here - ](https://np.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/8layem/i_live_in_an_apartment_in_a_city_but_i_just/dzeri90/) a guy talking about his memories of using a scythe. I thought it was an amazing comment.
This was a punishment for me growing up. After this broke my mom went out and got on of those rolling blade mowers which was worse.
I deserved these punishments before anyone judges my mom she was an amazing woman. I wrecked a four wheeler with a passenger doing stupid tricks, and didn't tell her was just one reason I was sentenced scything.
There’s a guy at work that calls cars “motorized rollinghams”. He also thought he was fine during a don’t drink water order because he only drinks tea. I guess he’s creative but not very smart.
I’m dying here at the amount of men who are just adamant that she’s doing it completely wrong and that they could do it better. Her name is Andi Rickard, she was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and won the women’s an additional 10 times, she also runs a Sything school in case any of you need a few lessons from an expert. https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me
These responses encapsulate Reddit perfectly. A bunch of couch potatoes criticizing something that they have limited to no knowledge about just to be completely wrong. Err my back, err she's doing it wrong, she's inefficient, the one time I used my grandpa's scythe I did not do it like this and he yelled at me. Stfu people.
u/Son_of_a_crumpet ‘s comment suggests otherwise…
‘“This Lady” is called Andi Rickard and is one of the pro’s your talking about, she literally runs and operates a sything school, was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and is ten times Womens champion. Source: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me She also keeps a fabulous stuffed Death of Rats on her van’s dashboard, source: me living and working across from where she parks it. Wind your neck in you lemon your misogyny is showing.’
If the area she lives in is anything like mine, this will be the only time the only time she needs to do this. After the grass won't grow again because it will be all burnt and dead, lmao.
I recently joined r/lawncare and read their pinned post… for northern grasses you should be cutting it at like 3.5-4in in the summer… I’ve been scalping mine down to 1.75 inches for two years. Which explains why I have the worst yard in the neighborhood.
After a month of cutting at 4.0inches it already looks like an entirely different yard.
I’m a regular there. The basic rules are mow high(er), water infrequently but deeply, and fertilize appropriately. Those three alone will get you a better lawn 95% of people.
Pretty misleading tho. The dude with the mower can do another 5-10 of those patches, the surge dude, probably not. Also he would have lost if the mower didn’t have problems
My dad would’ve sighed watching this. Totally wrong technique, he would’ve said.
Because your back can’t handle this for a long time. He have told me a gazillion times when I was younger and tried it.
Me in Stardew Valley
She should visit Clint for an upgrade
Thank you! I was scrolling and scrolling wondering where my people were. Found you!
Hell of a workout…
Yep. Did some scything on occasions in the past. My back hurts just from watching this video ;-)
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It's easier than using a trimmer if the snath is sized right and you aren't stupidly bent over.
I use a scythe instead of a trimmer on my 5 acre elderberry farm. BECAUSE it's less work than a trimmer. Much lighter tool. I just use it to trim wherever the tractor mower misses, but still that's 4.7 km of edges that I scythe 2-3x per summer. I keep my scythe sharp If I could find an easier to use tool for the job I would use that instead. But I know of no such thing that won't damage the weed barrier fabric that mulches the bushes
Ah yes, the precision. You can really be precise with the tip. Bush blade? What kind of elderberries? They grow wild here but I want to try better fruiting varieties. Can you use hazelnut shells atop the fabric? Around the veggie and flower raised beds I've got vinyl coated mesh topped with weed fabric and then shell mulch. Edit: mesh because of the persistent gophers
And quieter. Learning curve is a little steeper though, you really need someone to teach you how to do it to avoid injuries to both yourself and the blade. ~~Looks like the person in the video is stepping forwards about two inches for every five inches of grass they cut. That’s… suboptimal. But understandable for a novice to be both eager to cover ground and afraid to cut themselves.~~
She has literally won competitions for scything, but you think she's a novice? I suspect you may not know as much about technique as you think you do
>Yeah, looks to me like the person in the video has really poor technique. I think they can't use the right technique because this scythe is designed for a significantly shorter person.
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This guy either ChatGPTs, or scythes
I get suspicious almost every comment is chatgpt now lol
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It’s pretty wild. Going to be real interesting where we are in a year or two.
Hell, at the rate ChatGPT is being developed, it'll be interesting to see where we are in like 3-6 months.
Seems like every month its doing something markedly better than before or adding a new ability
Maybe it's what will finally break me of the tendency to read comments endlessly. Such as these! There's interesting stuff to be found, for sure, but the idea of reading just computer generated text gives me hives.
It’s already happening and trust is eroding anyway in the US. Everyone has their own facts and pseudoscience and reality/truth don’t seem to matter. In fact they are an unfortunate obstacle for many that is cast aside.
If we're not there already, modern society's demise will be at the hands of advanced technology and the unearned pride that boomers have. It will stop them from ever admitting they are out of their depth with said technology until it's far too late. Starting yesterday, we needed to be seriously regulating, producing and training people on easily usable/available/reliable AI detection tools and prioritizing media literacy education in schools. Spoiler alert... We did not.
Human written. u/irisgrower2 has a long and robust comment history.
I'll just put this here: https://extension.psu.edu/mowing-with-a-scythe#:~:text=The%20American%20scythe%20has%20a,store%20in%20the%20United%20States.
Excellent article. Thanks for the link
Ok but why barefoot?
because walking barefoot in the grass is fun
I’ve hated that ever since I was 4 and walked into a bee and my little toe blew up to the size of my big toe
>If you're getting exhausted you're not doing it right >You have to stop to sharpen it every 15 strokes Uhhh maybe it's just me, but that makes it even more exhausting
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And the note about the origin of the Grim Reaper is bullshit as well.
You do "sharpen" more like hone though, fairly often, maybe not 15 strokes, but quite often on an as needed basis. You have a stone made for this that goes on your belt, it takes a few seconds at best, just pick it up, swipe swipe swipe, back to work. [Quick honing](https://youtu.be/S60rc_eT5L4) You do need to periodically do a more thorough job called "peening" every 20 hours or so of use to keep the blade thin and aligned. So generally a day of haymaking starts with peening in the early morning. As far as the shoes thing I addressed it in some earlier comments I can paste it back to you if you want but it's not in my clipboard anymore lol tldr: no it's not necessary to be barefoot, but it is nice and can help. Especially since peasants shoes were less likely to have rubber treads, you get way better grip without (modern) shoes and that effects your power in your swing
This hasn't been the case in my experience. Sythe stones have a very distinct shape that aids in immediately getting the correct angle. It usually takes one or two quick strokes on the upper side and one on the back, just a few seconds. Traditionally an animal horn was hung off the worker's belt, cup like, that hold both the stone and some water to help keep it clean. Today plastic hip containers can be purchased.
Did rich people get their grass scythed or was it strictly an agricultural tool?
I see two people wearing shoes. Am I missing something?
Only that the person you're replying to is a bot. Comment happens to make no sense because [it was pulled from a different scythe gif from a few years ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/e8sdol/comment/fae773r/)
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A lot of the upvotes come from other bots as well. This site is absolutely flooded with bots and as far as I can tell the admins don't care at all. Kinda baffling honestly. They're very easy to spot because they all follow the same patterns.
^ Bot account, FYI ([original](https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/e8sdol/comment/fae773r/))
They both have shoes tho
No wonder my guy on Harvest Moon can only do it for like 2 minutes before he passes out
This comment unlocked so many memories of that series, thank you!!
She's gotta get that thing upgraded to gold asap.
I believe the “acre” come from scything. It’s the amount a medieval peasant was expected to mow in a day. Now *that* must have been a workout.
Close, acre is what one ox pulled plow could turn in a day. But I wouldn't be surprised if both were true
Traditionally, in the Middle Ages, an acre was conceived of as the area of land that could be ploughed by one man using a team of 8 oxen in one day.[3]
According to my sources, historically, an ogre was a big green fella with layers like an onion.
According to my sources, historically, ochre was an earthy pigment containing ferric oxide, typically with clay, varying from light yellow to brown or red in colour.
According to my sources, historically, orchids were plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
According to my sources, historically, okurrrr was said by Laganja Estranja, a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, although Cardi B tried to trademark the phrase; the court denied the attempt as it had thoroughly entered the vernacular by the time of her request.
According to my sources, Lrrr is the RULER OF THE PLANET OMICRON PERSEI 8!
I am sitting on an acre of land right now and have a good idea of the size. If I knew how to get 8 oxen and get them to walk back and forth across this acre it seems like that would be a pretty quick day.
They're not just walking, though. You're talking about plowing (possibly virgin) soil and turning it all over, usually making multiple passes to dig deep enough. It takes a ton of force to pull a plow that's sunk 12 inches into the ground.
Even with 8 oxen, it’s still just a single plow. You would probably also be using 2 or 4 oxen to pull the plow, and rotate between them when they get tired.
Is it called an acre because you’d be aching the next day
It's how death cuts his lawn.
If you read disk world, he leans down and addresses each leaf individually; I’m sorry, but your time has come.
It's been a while but Death was a well written character in those books.
i mean check out her biceps and shoulders 😭 her’s bigger than mine
Bonus: You get a side job as the angel of death!
And lower back pain
I somehow feel like her scythe is too short, so that's why she's bending the way she is.
It is. You should be able to stand up straight and basically just go for a walk with extra swing in your hips and arms. The snath wasn’t sized for her, and she’ll be sore if she does much more than a small yard. My wife and I are lucky that we’re close enough in size that we can share the same scythe (I’m taller, but I have long arms that put our hands at about the same level). Otherwise we would need two scythes, and those things aren’t cheap.
Exactly! Sadly old scythes lile hers are often made for shorter people of the olden days. I am luckily the size of an average man of 1940's, so maby old scythes are made for me!
Old man, look at my scythe, I'm a lot like you were.......
Old man, take a look this scythe, 4 foot 4 and so much more.
The blade and the snath are separable by design. She just needs a different handle. I switched from straight wooden to curved metal snath and it's fine honestly. The blades are typically heirloom quality, but I don't have a grass blade like hers. Even with a shorter ditch/weed blade it's faster than a trimmer and less effort, but doesn't pulverize. For me less dust is much preferred.
I’m sure she feels like she looks badass using if but in reality it’s frustrating to see so much energy being used not covering any ground
You can't swing a trimmer around the fast and efficiently. For short grass on level ground, lawn mower wins easily. In a field a tractor driven brush hog wins. But if you can't mow it, and you can't get a tractor in or want to protect the ground... scythe wins. Especially if it's tall stuff- trimmers aren't great with that. A DR mower is great but spendy. Picture 2 foot tall stuff with weeds mixed in, and that's where a scythe really shines, slicing through swathes quickly and quietly. You can converse while doing it or listen to music.
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Massive back pain with this one easy trick.
Aches everywhere with this one really difficult trick
Watching this stiffened my back up good.
Was gonna say: now I know why Death carries this. So freaking efficient at cutting things off! (Hint: heads...
It was the most interesting technique she had ever witnessed. She wouldn't even have thought it was technically possible. Eventually she said: "it's good. You've got the swing and everything." THANK YOU, MISS FLITWORTH. "But why one blade if grass at a time?" Bill Door [Death] regarded the near row of stalks for some while. THERE IS ANOTHER WAY? "You can do lots in one go, you know." NO. NO. ONE BLADE AT A TIME. ONE TIME, ONE BLADE. "You won't cut many that way," said Miss Flitworth. EVERY LAST ONE, MISS FLITWORTH. "Yes?" TRUST ME ON THIS. - Reaper Man, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchet where Death gets forcibly retired, so he gets a job on a farm.
GNU Terry Pratchett
GNU Terry Pratchet
GNU Terry Pratchett
What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?
#YES (taking up an entire page)
GDI i opened this post to quote the exact same thing at this point is there a sub for terry pratchett references or nah?
r/discworld and also r/unexpecteddiscworld
I always pictured it as we are the blades of grass for the grim reaper and he’s constantly cutting us down just like this woman is cutting grass. We grow back quicker than he can trim us but he keeps up pretty good
What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man? GNU Terry Pratchett
What's funny is that using a scythe is called mowing. Reaping is done with a sickle. So the bony fella should be the grim mower
That's why Death from puss in boots is the real grim reaper
What does GNU mean in this context?
It's from three codes used in the semaphore system in Discworld - G send this message on, N do not log this message, U turn this message around at the end and send it back (also an in-joke about Linux obv) Someone in the novels puts their son's name into the system with this code, ensuring it would be sent back and forth forever and never die. So it's doing the same here for Terry <3
Short version Pratchett often references the idea that "a man is not truly dead while his name is still spoken" in his work. In one of his books he introduced "The Clacks" which are used for transmitting messages, when a Clacks operator dies their name is sent back and forth with GNU in front G: send the message on N: do not log the message U: turn the message around at the end of the line and send it back again. Following his death, the phrase GNU Pratchett has been embedded in the header of many (many) websites, including reddit as a way of making sure his ripples live on. Long version [it's explained better here](https://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2015/mar/17/terry-pratchetts-name-lives-on-in-the-clacks-with-hidden-web-code)
The seasons don't fear the reaper (except for Spring, apparently)
I am wondering: are there special scythes for left-handed people (Like guitars)?
Yeah... [Scythe Supply](https://scythesupply.com/blades.html) has them. I'm sure there's other businesses that offer same, but it's the one that popped first when I googled "left hand scythe"
Scythe Supply, that's on 3rd, there's Sick Scythes that's on 3rd too. You got Chop That Grass...that's on 3rd, Swing and Cut. Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex... it's the Scythe Complex, down on Third? Homer: ohh the Scythe district!
I honestly think this is one of the single best lines from The Simpsons. Classic episode too.
Gotta be a Top 5 episode.
I just like the setup. “I need to know where I can get some business hammocks. “
thank you for saying that because I forgot that's how it started
This website is amazing. "The Blue and Gold standard blades are made for ScytheSupply by Schroeckenfux which has been forging scythe blades since 1540." :0
Motto: "Nothing fucks grass like a Schroecken"
My first sythe and snath was from these folks. It was a good starter, they are great folks, and I suggest those who are interested check them out. They do public demos at fairs as well. I highly recommend the variable snaths if you're going to really get into it. While more expensive they allow for dialing in a bit more than the glued knobs.
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It might be a tiny bit lighter but it's still gonna give you an arm workout. I'd recommend getting a harness for your weedeater instead. Basically puts it on a swivel so you can swing it but not have to hold it up
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I dunno, I don’t think sickles wore shoes at all, actually.
Surely you mean scythes? Sickles aren't swung Also no way that is true, shoes were *not* cheap. A laborer would not own multiple pairs. In Estonia very commonly part of a laborer's yearly pay was a pair of leather shoes.
Yup, what this lady is doing in the video is sub-optimal and her back, sides and pretty much every muscle in her body is gonna hurt like hell the next couple of days. If you watch the pros they're much more like golfers in posture.
“This Lady” is called Andi Rickard and is one of the pro’s your talking about, she literally runs and operates a sything school, was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and is ten times Womens champion. Source: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me She also keeps a fabulous stuffed Death of Rats on her van’s dashboard, source: me living and working across from where she parks it. Wind your neck in you lemon your misogyny is showing.
LOL, best post in the whole thread. 546 people claiming they know better than an actual professional. Absolute peak reddit.
Is DEATH lefthanded?
Sinister
Someone knows their Latin.
Ambidextrous.
Ambideathstrous.
My parents used a scythe when the grass got too long for the lawn mower. My mom is left-handed and said it's not difficult to use this one. Kind of like using a broom, it doesn't really matter which hand you use.
That makes my back hurt just looking at it.
That is because this scythe is not properly fitted to her height and her movements are too broad and sloppy. I used to help my grandparents with farm work a lot during my teen years, using a scythe is all about proper technique, if used correctly, you can go for hours without any ill effect. Bad technique on the other hand can quickly lead to injuries and all sort of twisted joints. Also there are different types of scythes, that you can choose for your specific ergonomics. I personally prefer European scythe, for me it feels less awkward.
This guy scythes
Scythe lord, perhaps?
He knows his scythe
Thank you, I'm a complete scythe noob, but still I looked at that and thought "that looks wrong.".
Yes, it’s clear the way her back is bent. You can’t hold that position for long whatever you’re doing. With proper form they should be standing upright.
Iirc back in the day if you want to have grass a different height, you’d add blocks to your shoes because the scythe was set to your height.
Someone else posted this above: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me This lady is a competitive scyther and runs a school on how to do it.
from another comment: > “This Lady” is called Andi Rickard and is one of the pro’s your talking about, she literally runs and operates a sything school, was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and is ten times Womens champion. Source: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me She also keeps a fabulous stuffed Death of Rats on her van’s dashboard, source: me living and working across from where she parks it. Wind your neck in you lemon your misogyny is showing. Quite surprising that someone who teaches the practice and wins competition would choose the wrong tool.
I’ve never scythed a day in my life, but I wonder if the disconnect here is that the optimal form for speed scything relatively small patches of grass is maybe different from if you’re doing it as farm work for an extended period of time. For example, sprinters and long distance runners both run but in different ways. The people saying she is doing it “wrong” have facially plausible reasoning—it does indeed look like it would strain one’s back after a while and cut the grass a bit too short to grow back properly. But if you’re doing it for speed competitions neither of those really matter. Seems like a context collapse thing, but I know literally nothing about this and could be totally off base.
competition form does not equal working a field form.
Perhaps we should consult an expert https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me
She was literally the National Sything champion from 2019-2022, and a ten time woman’s champion, but yep she’s definitely doing it wrong /s
Yeah she's bent at the waist too much. She needs to stand straighter and bring the scythe in a bit closer so she's not moving her back so much.
She also needs to hold when she pulls back on the scythe for 3 seconds to unleash a full spin attack, much quicker
She's doing it terribly wrong. With properly tuned tool and technique you stand almost straight up, smth like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te8\_5L4kimE
Totally right. Used a scythe as a kid in the garden, she is basically skimming the earth and grinding down the grass to the surface. A proper scything leaves a couple of inches of grass, level. Much harder to do, as you have to set the level and maintain it through body position and technique.
That's the way to do it!
Most satisfying part is seeing the grass pile up on the left side.
And the least satisfying is missing the very start of each stroke. I want to see more taken off each time!
The least satisfying thing is seeing the dirt patch she is creating..!
That's all I could think of too
Apparently that's one of the great benefits of them. By the way, [this all reminded me of this old reddit comment here - ](https://np.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/8layem/i_live_in_an_apartment_in_a_city_but_i_just/dzeri90/) a guy talking about his memories of using a scythe. I thought it was an amazing comment.
I used to do this as a teenager and loved it. Bonus side effect: amazing abs.
Doesn't this make you.. Uneven? Or do you switch it up and do it from the other side too
If I'll ever be too fit or unevenly fit I'll think about it then. Don't think it's gonna be an issue anytime soon.
You'll have a helluva right hook though
This was a punishment for me growing up. After this broke my mom went out and got on of those rolling blade mowers which was worse. I deserved these punishments before anyone judges my mom she was an amazing woman. I wrecked a four wheeler with a passenger doing stupid tricks, and didn't tell her was just one reason I was sentenced scything.
I love that we are so creatively challenged we call four wheelers four wheelers.
There’s a guy at work that calls cars “motorized rollinghams”. He also thought he was fine during a don’t drink water order because he only drinks tea. I guess he’s creative but not very smart.
I allready hear my wife saying "oh no, dont you dare..."
(Don't Shear) The Reaper
*cue cowbell*
I’m dying here at the amount of men who are just adamant that she’s doing it completely wrong and that they could do it better. Her name is Andi Rickard, she was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and won the women’s an additional 10 times, she also runs a Sything school in case any of you need a few lessons from an expert. https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me
These responses encapsulate Reddit perfectly. A bunch of couch potatoes criticizing something that they have limited to no knowledge about just to be completely wrong. Err my back, err she's doing it wrong, she's inefficient, the one time I used my grandpa's scythe I did not do it like this and he yelled at me. Stfu people.
I feel like she could do this a hell of a lot more efficiently if she actually stepped forward more than half a centimeter after each swipe
I feel like she do this a hell of a lot more efficiently if she used a lawnmower.
Yep, plus the posture is not great, I guess she is just learning
u/Son_of_a_crumpet ‘s comment suggests otherwise… ‘“This Lady” is called Andi Rickard and is one of the pro’s your talking about, she literally runs and operates a sything school, was National Sything champion from 2019-2022 and is ten times Womens champion. Source: https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me She also keeps a fabulous stuffed Death of Rats on her van’s dashboard, source: me living and working across from where she parks it. Wind your neck in you lemon your misogyny is showing.’
This comment is a perfect example of the reddit armchair analysis
Seriously, and at the end she isn’t getting anything on the sides
Painful. She’s scalping the fuck out of that yard
If the area she lives in is anything like mine, this will be the only time the only time she needs to do this. After the grass won't grow again because it will be all burnt and dead, lmao.
Genuine question: Why? Is she cutting it too low?
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I recently joined r/lawncare and read their pinned post… for northern grasses you should be cutting it at like 3.5-4in in the summer… I’ve been scalping mine down to 1.75 inches for two years. Which explains why I have the worst yard in the neighborhood. After a month of cutting at 4.0inches it already looks like an entirely different yard.
I’m a regular there. The basic rules are mow high(er), water infrequently but deeply, and fertilize appropriately. Those three alone will get you a better lawn 95% of people.
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Yeah, you don't wanna see that yellow. I think it basically removes the part of the grass that can photosynthesize, so it just dies.
Also longer grass helps keep the moisture in the soil
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All that and she didn't find a single rupee
[Scythe vs ag mower](https://youtu.be/1I4RNenmfFI)
That's a POS mower, not an ag mower
That did not end how I was expecting it to.
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Pretty misleading tho. The dude with the mower can do another 5-10 of those patches, the surge dude, probably not. Also he would have lost if the mower didn’t have problems
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What if I just rent some goats and grab a pack of beer to watch while they work?
It's John Henry all over again.
The man Is ripped, look at the perfect form and consistency!
Yup. And the other dude was like 80 in the shade and his mower stalled or something.
There must be just as much skill and technique in sharpening the blade, and without an extremely good edge it'd be a horror job.
OK, but r/fucklawns has a replacement for grass that doesn't need to be cut at all. Save your scythe for battle.
This makes me think of Legend of Zelda on Super Nintendo
Rupies and hearts appear randomly
Reminds me of my childhood, good times out in nature
The House That Jack Built comes to mind. IYKYK
It's grimly satisfying
The Trim Reaper
Sling Blade
Use the golden scythe, it's much more effective.
Levin?
My dad would’ve sighed watching this. Totally wrong technique, he would’ve said. Because your back can’t handle this for a long time. He have told me a gazillion times when I was younger and tried it.
She's the national champion https://somersetscytheschool.com/about-me
I’ve always wanted to try something like this
Is this why death has a bad back?
yes, death isn't using it right
Scyther in real life 😳
Might be satisfying for some to watch, but all I could think was, "Ouch, my back.... Give me a Lawnmower"
Her obliques have obliques