The road to self sufficiency is built on a slippery slope.
You start looking at everything a little differently after a while. And when trying to start my strimmer I thought there must be another way and took a step back.
You start looking at everything a little differently after a while. And when trying to start my strimmer I thought there must be another way and took a step back.
I don't do huge amounts of strimming here, but I do like to knock back the clumps of nettles and docks on the edges of the fields rather than using sprays if I can help it. to replace it I'd still have to buy a fairly professional machine if I was to get another one (one that would start and work every time), as it's far more than what the average person needs in their garden. That's more money than I can justify. What's the self sufficient alternative?
A Scythe!
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| £10 - bargain? |
Spurred on by both Sunnybrook Farm and Vera at Snippets From Labartere, who use a scythe frequently, I decided to give it a go. I got mum to look out for one at a flea market and she came back with this little beauty for £10.
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| Handles are completely adjustable to wherever you want them |
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| Elwell stamped on the blade, so its a good old make. |
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| The blade has four slots for adjustment depending on your hight. |
The blade needs a lot of work to get it back cutting well, but for the moment it knocks down a patch of nettles in the same time as a strimmer does.
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| Patch of nettles before... |
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| And after! |
Although when I think about sharpening it I do keep thinking back to my geeky teenage years and the Terry Pratchett book Reaper Man -
"thinking he might fight back against the New Death, Death (Bill Door) sharpens a scythe blade. First on a grindstone, then on an oilstone, then on a steel. It was too blunt. Miss Flitworth supplied, from her rag bag, satin, then silk, finest white silk, never worn (from her wedding dress). It was still blunt. Then it was sharpened on cobweb. Then on the breeze at dawn. Finally, on the light of the new day"
Anyone else secretly turning into a Luddite? Sometimes things designed to save us time cost us more in the long run.
We're having strimmer issues here, hubby has a petrol one which is always playing up so he went to the repair shop and was laughed at "oh we have had a stack of these to go back" Quite a well known brand that costs a fortune and your lucky if it lasts 6 months.
ReplyDeleteThe next step would be to buy a Stihl but we would have to re mortgage to get one so a tenner sounds like a good deal to me x
Ours is a stihl but its been playing up for a few years now. When it starts (after quite a few pulls) it doesn't run very well and you have to keep it on full revs or it stalls.
DeleteI did suggest a scythe to hubby the other week but he didnt fany the idea and opted for a multi tool thingy with a strimmer and brushcutter attachment, but i dont like machine things I would like a scythe hopefully if I pick one up at a sale, he will give it a go.
ReplyDeleteI think once he tries one he might like it. It's not really any extra effort as a big strimmer isn't much easier.
DeleteA good scythe is great if you are relatively fit and don't suffer from back problems like my self. Also if you live several miles from a petrol station they are a good idea when you run out of fuel.
ReplyDeleteI suppose we should be leaving some of the nettles to attract the butterflies and you I believe can make nettle hay.
I often wonder how can people be truly organic if they use fossil fuels and drive cars, tractors and use petrol machinery? A lot of organic farmers use tractor toppers to control rushes. I wonder how much wild life like frogs and insects get killed when using this machinery?
There are some very good light weight Austrian scythes for sale on the Internet.
No back problems here thankfully. Also no worries about leaving some nettles for the butterflies, there's plenty here to go round!
DeleteI think if we all try to reduce what we bring on to our homesteads/smallholdings then it's a step in the right direction and if that means petrol and diesel so much the better. I'm not ready to give up the rotovator yet though!
We have been scything for years :) Much nicer than a strimmer, you can hear the birds and thinggs get a chance to move out of the way before you hit them. Ours was from TFSR
ReplyDeleteI just had to google that! Looks a nice place to buy it from. I was out using it last night and it also gives you time to think before you swipe, so you know you're getting the right bit!
DeleteWe have an Austrian scythe, much lighter than the English one am getting to grips with it now and it makes short work of all the dock , managing to catch it before it flowers for a change too
ReplyDeleteI've read about them but the weight of this one isn't too bad and I'm quite a big chap.
DeleteLook at you! That was a good buy and is similar to my US style but the blade is a little different and more stout than some of the ones made on the continent and China. If you can find a good hand stone to carry and keep a sharp edge, it should cut better than a trimmer when you get a little practice. I don't use sweeping strokes like the experts unless I get into a nice flat area, usually I use short cuts as I am dealing with weeds so use it to your purposes and have fun.
ReplyDeleteI know! I got all inspired! I've got plenty of stones brought from car boot sales over the years but it needs re grinding first really as the blade is all over the shop.
DeleteUsed one many years ago, on nettles and thistles, they take some getting used to.
ReplyDeleteSharpening them was quite a skill as well. with a "rubber", a long thin round stone, it was easy to cut your hand learning.
Yeah I can see that! I think sharpening things like this is what puts a lot of people off. they use a blunt one and think they're useless and then never use them again.
DeleteUsed one many years ago, on nettles and thistles, they take some getting used to.
ReplyDeleteSharpening them was quite a skill as well. with a "rubber", a long thin round stone, it was easy to cut your hand learning.
They can take a bit of getting used to and there are some handy tips at http://scythephotographs.weebly.com/how-to-use-a-tyzack-patent-blade-type-scythe.html
DeleteI love my scythe! It is an Austrian one, bought online after much research. But what I also researched was how to actually use the scythe, which is an art in itself. I have a back which will complain very fast if I am abusing it, and that is why I did the research on how to position myself when scything. This also gets the vegetation cut right down to the ground, as well as exercising my back. Scything keeps my back flexible, has made me stronger, and I love it! Welcome to scything!
ReplyDeleteCheers Vera! After seeing how much hay you cut with yours I thought I've got to give it a go! I need to watch a few youtube videos now to get the technique right before I do too much.
DeleteMost of the strimming we do here is edges so a scythe wouldn't work. C has a long handled reap hook which he uses for small patches of taller things.
ReplyDeleteOur strimmer was bought new 22 years ago, is used about once a fortnight in summer and still going strong and You can't cut your legs off with a strimmer!
I bet you're more likely to have an accident with a strimmer than with a scythe. At my last place I had a stone fly out from the strimmer and smash a £70 piece of glass in a window! Didn't realise I'd it until afterwards!
DeleteNo fumes, no noise!
ReplyDeleteYep! I can still here the birds singing.
DeleteI like either ... as long as they have a man operating them on the other end!!
ReplyDeleteAt the moment we have (or should I say my Lovely Hubby has) a Stihl brushcutter and it's behaving itself, before that came along we went through 3 other strimmers in 5 years.
So for economy and reliability I would say the old fashioned way, the scythe is the way forward, as it is with such a lot of things we use once we go down the self sufficiency route. We do have a small single hand held one which is in the shed .... somewhere!!
That sounds like a good way to do it! No chance of that here though. If I don't do it then no one will - maybe when the girls are a bit older!
DeleteMy small hand held hook is indispensable in the garden and orchard. Great for taking the flowers off docks and nettles, chopping down comfrey etc.
I am going to assume strimming is what we do with a weed whacker? Has what looks like fishing line on it, motorized and cuts weeds down or you edge with it. :O).... Honeyman does that here. I like to mow and do a lot of that here. I actually prefer the push mower so I can bag my clippings. I use those for all sorts of things. His weed whacker is so heavy I couldn't use it if I wanted to. Its a gas powered one. I have never used a scythe. I wouldn't mind giving it a go... :O)
ReplyDeleteSounds the same, although you can have a fixed blade on it as well. It was always a chore in my teenage years to go do some strimming up the orchard! Weed wacker sounds like a cooler name though!
DeleteWow, that's really cool. Now in the heat of our Summers here in Texas, not sure how much energy I'd have to keep that up, ha. But it's very nice. Sometimes the old solutions can be better huh?
ReplyDeleteThough this was written for the American pattern scythe, the English scythe is nearly identical in operation and most snaths fitted to English blades are American ones made by the firm Seymour Mfg. from Seymour, Indiana.
ReplyDeletehttp://site.baryonyxknife.com/blog/2014/08/10/a-primer-on-the-selection-use-maintenance-of-the-american-scythe/
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DeleteI had read in "The Young Farmers Manual" http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Young_Farmers_Manual_v1_1000120000/379 the author sharpened his scythe with a rifle. I wasn't familiar with the term but on farther research I think it might be a smaller version of a whipping stick demonstrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNkrl40iZk8
ReplyDelete