A traditional wooden scythe.
For the ancient Sicilian tyrant, see Scythes. A
scythe (
[Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1933: Scythe] or ) is an
agricultural hand tool for
mowing grass or
reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of
Europe and
Asia.
Etymology
"Scythe" derives from
Old English siðe.
Structure
An example of a scythe:
1. Toe
2. Chine
3. Beard
4. Heel
5. Tang
6. Ring
7. Snath or snaith
8. Grips
A scythe consists of a wooden shaft about long called a
snaith,
snath,
snathe or
sned (modern versions are sometimes made from
metal or
plastic). The snaith may be straight, or with an "S" curve, but the more sophisticated versions are curved in three dimensions, allowing the mower to stand more upright. 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. A long, curved blade about ) long is mounted at the lower end, perpendicular to the snaith. Scythes always have the blade projecting from the left side of the snaith when in use, with the edge towards the mower. In principle a left-handed scythe could be made, but it could not be used together with right-handed scythes in a team of mowers, as the left-handed mower would be mowing in the opposite direction.
A scythe blade is made by
peening the leading edge of the blade. In some uses, such as for mowing grass, the blade-edge is made almost as thin as paper. After peening, the edge is finished and subsequently maintained by very frequent stropping or
honing with a
whetstone or
rubber (fine-grained for grass, coarser for cereal crops), and peened again as necessary to recover the fineness of the edge.
Use
Using a scythe
Using a scythe is called
mowing, or often
scything, to distinguish it from mowing with more complex machinery. Mowing is done by holding the top handle in the left hand and the central one in the right, with the arms straight, the blade parallel to the ground and very close to it, and the body twisted to the right. The body is then twisted steadily to the left, moving the scythe blade along its length in a long arc from right to left, ending in front of the mower, thus depositing the cut grass to the left. Mowing proceeds with a steady rhythm, stopping at frequent intervals to sharpen the blade. The correct technique has a slicing action on the grass, cutting a narrow strip with each stroke – a common beginner's error is to chop or hack at the grass, with the blade length at right angles to it, thus trying to cut too wide a strip of grass at once. This is much harder work, and is ineffective. Cutting too close to the ground can contaminate the blade with soil, rapidly blunting it. Much of the skill is in keeping the blade close to the ground and the cuts even.
Mowing is normally done cutting out of the uncut grass, the mower moving along the mowing-edge with the uncut grass to their right. The cut grass is laid in a neat row to the left, on the previously mown land. Each strip of ground mown by a scythe is called a
swathe (: rhymes with "bathe") or
swath (: rhymes with "Goth"). 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. Mowing grass is easier when it is damp, and so hay-making traditionally began at dawn and often stopped early, the heat of the day being spent raking and carting the hay cut on previous days.
Mowing with a scythe is a skilled task, performed with relative ease by experienced mowers, but often poorly and with very great effort by beginners. Long-bladed traditional scythes with double-curved wooden snaiths are harder to use at first, but once mastered are more effective and comfortable for longer periods. Shorter-bladed or
hack-scythes are easier for beginners. A skilled mower using a traditional long-bladed scythe can even cut very short grass, and this is how
lawns were maintained until the invention of the
lawnmower.
An unskilled user could actually disembowel himself.
In addition to mowing grass and reaping crops, a scythe can also be used for mowing
reed or
sedge, remaining effective even with the blade under water.
History
A modern scythe of a pattern common in parts of
EuropeAccording to the
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities of
Sir William Smith, the scythe, known in Latin as the
falx foenaria (as opposed to the
sickle, the
falx messoria), was used by the ancient Romans; for illustration, Smith shows an image of Saturn holding a scythe, from an ancient Italian cameo.
According to Jack Herer and "Flesh of The Gods" (Emboden, W.A., Jr., Praeger Press, NY, 1974.); the ancient
Scythians grew hemp and harvested it with a hand reaper that we still call a scythe.
The scythe appeared in Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. Initially used mostly for mowing grass, it replaced the
sickle as the tool for reaping crops by the 16th century, the scythe allowing the reaper to stand rather than stoop. In about 1800 the addition of light wooden fingers above a scythe blade produced a form of scythe called the
cradle which soon replaced the simple scythe for reaping grain and mowing other tall vegetation such as reeds. In the
developed world, all of these have now largely been replaced by motorized
lawnmowers and
combine harvesters.
The
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in
Sheffield, England is a
museum of a scythe-making works that was in operation from the end of the 18th century until the 1930s. This was part of the former scythe-making district of north
Derbyshire, which extended into
Eckington. Other English scythe-making districts include that around
Belbroughton.
Mowing with a scythe remained common for many years even after most mowing became mechanized, because a side-mounted finger-bar
mower (whether horse or tractor drawn) cannot mow in front of itself. Scythes would therefore be used to
open up a meadow – to mow the first swathes, thus letting the mechanical mower in to complete the mowing.
Scythes in national cultures
The curved blade of the scythe is clearly shown. Note: this image shows the blade with its edge uppermost – normally used the other way up, with the blade pointing to the left of the mower.
The scythe is still an indispensable tool for farmers in developing countries and in mountainous terrain.
In Romania, for example, in the highland landscape of the
Apuseni mountains, scything is a very important annual activity, taking about 2-3 weeks to complete for a regular house. As scything is a tiring physical activity and is relatively difficult to learn, farmers help each other by forming teams. After each day's harvest, the farmers often celebrate by having a small feast where they dance, drink and eat, while being careful to keep in shape for the next day's hard work.
Among
Basques scythe-mowing competitions are still a popular traditional sport, called
segalaritza (from
sega: scythe). The contenders compete to cut a defined section of grown grass before his rival does the same.
The Norwegian municipality of
Hornindal has three scythe blades of in its coat-of-arms.
Mythology
The scythe also plays an important traditional role, often appearing as weapons in the hands of mythical beings such as
Cronus, and the
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, specifically,
Grim Reaper (Death). This stems mainly from the Christian Biblical belief of death as a "harvester of souls."
Military contexts
A
war scythe has had its blade transformed so that it extends upright from the staff, and is used much like a
halberd. It was widely used by
Polish peasants (
kosynierzy) in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Scythes also were used for
scythed chariots.
After the
Peasants' Wars during 1524/25, a fencing book edited by
Paulus Hector Mair described in 1542 techniques how to fence using a scythe.
