Відео

Thank you for watching. Enjoying your thoughts :)

Thank you :)

Thank you for watching :) I completely agree!

Oh dear. Good luck with the removal :)

@@iboughtafield Thanks!

Thanks for watching. I find it is not too bad on the back. Some people do stretches beforehand.

Thank you :)

:) I really want to try weaving a chair

​@@iboughtafieldYou can do it! Just start it as child size so by the time it can support your weight it should be the perfect size. Otherwise it'll be huge like knight in armor huge. 😂

Let me know how it goes when you have a go :)

Thank you :)

Thank you :)

Thanks for watching:)

Hi Chris, If you are UK based then Scythe Cymru is good, www.scythecymru.co.uk/. I have also used the scythe shop as well, www.thescytheshop.co.uk/. These both sell the scythe style that I'd recommend for any decent amount of mowing. If this is unaffordable then there are cheaper alternatives, which may be reasonable for hacking nettles and bracken, but they won't be as comfortable or as good at cutting as these quality scythes. For a future video I have been testing out a cheap scythe of ebay which is very bad in comparison, but compared to a weed slasher it is quite good, and can cut grass reasonably after a lot of peening. I would recommend a decent scythe unless it is unaffordable or you want to just have a play around without a high price commitment.

Thank you for the comment. Completely agree that it is better to use your torso to get the motion. This is some of my earlier mowing, which I was mowing at the end of Autumn and so it is not the best mowing, I am using a really short blade. I usually use 65-75cm blades and mow in the spring and summer. I have some better recent footage of mowing. The English, Scottish and American style scythes tend to be sharpened with a file or grindstone, but most of the blades on the European style scythes tend to be very soft and can just be sharepend by peening and whetstones.

I read an ariticle about this a bit ago. There are left handed blades (or at least blades pointing to the right rather than the left), however they are rare and most people will just use the usual blades. It doesn't seem to make any difference to your scything ability and by learning with the usual blades will make it easier later for switching blades later. Most of the strength is in the torso and so being right or left handed makes little difference. I think it is a bit like how some people will dig with their left hand at the top of the spade even when right handed, it is just what you get used to.

Thanks for watching. Interesting about the worth of metal. The English/American style scythes and the Scottish style scythes which I have had a quick go with are certainly much heavier and the metal is harder than the Austrian style. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the European style scythes shape were formed around the 12th century (the Austrian scythe just being one of these similar designs- see nordic scythes for another example) and so are very old, it is only recently that they have been adopted in Britain and America. This is probably due to how land was owned. In Britain we had large farms and then lots of workers to gather the harvest. Due to this you could have strong people dedicated to scything and others to clearing, turning, stacking and transporting the hay or crop. I could only find a date from a Guardian article, but I so far can not see a reference of it being quite new. If you have a different reference or just know more then would love to see/hear more :) Completely agree with your main point that the scythe would need to have angle of the blade changed and that it depends where you are for the strength of the blade. Thanks again :)

@@iboughtafield Before Bessemer inventing his steel making process the center of steel production in Europe was in Czechia (then belonging to Austria) and Silesia (changed hands a lot :-) ). Even England was importing iron and steel from Europe, even from as far as Russia: England had both iron and coal, but the iron had lots of phosphorus and was brittle. In US before Carnegie introduced the Bessemer process steel was expensive and most iron was produced from bog ore by part time blacksmiths who also farmed and were not terribly skilled, and who sold their iron as a side hustle. The best steel tools were imported from Europe (Sheffield in UK, but also from Germany and Austria), so in UK and US farmers made do with heavier scythes. Might want to look at H.G. Brack "Art of the edge tool" 2008, very interesting details about iron making in US (and UK too but not much) from 1600 to close to 1900. Steel was expensive and rare before like the 1860s, at best somebody would use a thin rod of steel to make the edge, and use wrought iron for the rest of the tool or weapon, and weld the two together. My understanding is US/UK style of scythes are the old way of doing it, the "Austrian" style is the way that was enabled by large availability of mild steel, which even in Austria did not happen until very late. Why the split ? I guess in US mechanization of agriculture happened a lot sooner than in Europe (started in 1835) while in UK after the corn laws were repealed farmers did not make much money and scythes were neglected, while in Europe (mechanization really started after 1900) they kept improving the scythes. As a side note, in US there was a large clock making industry which used wood gears instead of steel until the 1870s, reserving the expensive steel for springs exclusively.

Awesome! Thank you for watching and your kind comments :)

Thank you, it means a lot :)

Thank you. Cherries sound lovely. My cherries trees are very young and not had many at all. Thanks for the advice with the sorrel, although I think it may be too late. The field was covered in it when I got it in 2019. Don't mind sorrel too much - it tastes quite good at least and is easy to mow. I am more bothered with with docks, bracken and bolson that I get :( Also have quite a lot of nettle and thistle, but it does also mean I get a range of butterfly.

Haha, I have been tempted to ask the local farmer if they would like more grazing space for their sheep, but I've been a bit worried about them eating my young trees. :D Thanks for watching :)

Thank you :)

Yes, but only once. I was honing (sharpening) the scythe with the stone and was not concentrating. It wasn't too bad, but bled quite a bit. I find the stone can slip a bit if there is still grass on the blade and so try to clean that off (a clean blade also allows you to hone it properly and keep your stone clean). I tend to wear a glove on my right hand when honing now.

Thank you watching :)

Thank you. I really appreciate it, it keeps me motivated for making new videos :)

I hope you manage to get a field soon :)

Thanks :)

Thank you Mike :)

Thank you :)

Thank you. It was a couple of months ago in spring. I've been a bit behind with the editing.

Alright

Thank you and thanks for watching :)

Thanks for watching :)

Thank you for watching

Thanks for the question. On the equator the sun would come from directly East and go directly west, passing directly over your head at the highest point (at which point your shadow would be only underneath you)

Thanks for the comment. Completely agree. :)

These 2 videos from Spain (select ENG subtitles) are instructive and a delight to watch: Huesca ua-cam.com/video/OMFiwj97Cj4/v-deo.htmlsi=CCDqYr5-DwlGbTHN Cáceres ua-cam.com/video/LPz0P_OWb08/v-deo.htmlsi=rqf1UxcpsaDuEAwo

Haha :D Thank you for watching. I don't want to give the wrong impression, it is not common for people in Britain to have scythes :D Although saying that there was someone on the news just a few weeks ago because they were attacking people with a sword.

Haha thank you. I think the main style I wear is a fidler or breton style hat. I have seen some in the British heart foundation before, but have not looked on large online brands. Thank you for watching:)

Thank you :)

Thanks :)

Thank you :)

I think I need a bit more practise are judging the time and heat of the stack, but really enjoyed giving it a go. Thank you for watching :)

Thank you Mike. I also really enjoy your channel :)

Thank you :)

Thank you :) That's amazing... you must have a big garden! Sounds like a fun project.

Great suggestion! Thank you for the idea, that sounds like a really interesting topic. I'll put it in my list of future projects and have a think about what I could show :) Thank you!

Thank you, and thank you for your comment that I used :)