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scything;euro vs us
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Booshway
posted
hello the fire ! i picked up a new hobby this year cause i ran out of wood to cut,i aquirred myself a american sycthe with a "bush" blade,then i picked up a grass blade too,i've been cleaning up alot of ditches lately,and been studing too,most references love the euro style,lightweight straighter snath vs the s-shaped heavy american style,my question is,has anybody out there tried the euro style and how did it work for you ? i have some wood to make a euro snath but would like some feedback,Thanks
 
Posts: 334 | Location: s central pa just about nowhere | Registered: 21 January 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Unless we have folks who have been mowing for a while with a scythe, and tried both styles, on this forum, you may be hard pressed to get an educated opinion. Here is a video comparing the two styles..., English Vs. European Scythe

Now the fellow clearly likes the English style better. From the video he is using his full weight with the English style, while with the Continental or European style, he uses his arms and hips alone. Is he correctly using the second scythe???

Yet there is also a question of which scythe he trained with first, when you speak of hand tools. Because he may not be using the European scythe in a proper technique, or he simply may be less accustomed to the technique so likes one style over another.

Case in point...., When studying anthropology for my BA, I came across an account of some European missionaries on the West Coast of Africa, who saw the Africans working their fields with what we would call a "short handled" hoe. They had to bend at least 90 degrees at the waist, and most had to bend a bit farther, to use their tool. Well..., the missionaries gave the Africans a "proper" handled hoe..., and the Africans had to stoop only slightly if at all to use them. The day after the Africans tried the "proper" hoe for the first time, they were back to their old tools..., for the new tools kicked their arses instead of making it "easier" for them. Their bodies had become well adjusted, and strengthened, to use the local tool after many months and years, and when they switched to the new hoe, and whole different set of muscles were involved, which of course caused a lot of pain and stiffness on day-two..., so they went back to what they had been using.

So..., perhaps a better video would be to compare two fellows well versed in scythe mowing, each using his preferred scythe, then have them switch, and see what happens??

It might be simply apples and oranges.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
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haven't seen the video but...

My dad taught me two ways to use the American style, as it is being called here.

His mom rotated at the hip and swung it in a arc. Used more mid and lower body muscles.

His dad used it in a hooking motion. This used more upper body strength... but he was a gillnetter and those were the muscles he used most often.

I have used both methods, switching back and forth as muscles got tired.

And as LD implys, it is all about using the muscles you are used to using.

I guess there are ways within ways.


anything worth shooting is worth shooting once.
 
Posts: 126 | Location: Demokratik Republik of Washington | Registered: 29 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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thanks Guys,i also use the hook and swing method when scything,depending on what i'm mowing,am making a euro style snath right now in my shop outta black walnut,if nothing else it will look nice,need to find some wood to cut,my saws are getting lonely
 
Posts: 334 | Location: s central pa just about nowhere | Registered: 21 January 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
Picture of Hanshi
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No experience with either, here, but have lots of experience with the sling blade; kaiser blade, I call it. Big Grin


*Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.*
 
Posts: 3559 | Location: Maine (by way of Georgia then Va.) | Registered: 26 January 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
Picture of volatpluvia
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I only have experience with the American style with the curved handle, and that with the briar cutter blade. I never got the knack of swinging from the hips in a curve. I always projected it out from my right and set it low in the foliage to be cut and drew it rapidly in a straight line directly past me. Hard work but it seemed to do the job.
Hombre del Bosque


pistuo deo lalo
 
Posts: 3714 | Location: Acatlan de Juarez, Jalisco, Mexico | Registered: 22 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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I can't remember if I have spent much time behind a sythe, but I have spent a good deal of time behind a video camera. The cinema work in the first segment has low angled light, which emphasizes the grass. The camera is also low angled, emphasizing the broad sweeping strokes of the blade and the muscle work involved.

In the second segment the lighting and camera angle is such that you cannot see the detail of grass, the movement of the blade through the grass, the arc made by the blade or the cutter's body movement. The sound man did catch the grunts, and the editor included them into the piece to convey how much more difficult it is for this particular cutter to use the tool.

Sparks


"I thought when you said you chased tornadoes, it was just a metaphor."
--soon to be ex-fiance in Twister
 
Posts: 247 | Location: Boise | Registered: 12 November 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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After watching this video al that I can say is god bless lawn tractors.
 
Posts: 353 | Location: Pocono Mts. in PA | Registered: 12 June 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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The video and others that were on like topics were very interesting.

BC


"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."
Thomas Paine
 
Posts: 649 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 June 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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got the euro style snath done,defintly a whole new experiance,goona take some getting used to,but people do slow down driving past when you are swinging these things
 
Posts: 334 | Location: s central pa just about nowhere | Registered: 21 January 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
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quote:
Originally posted by chuckles:
got the euro style snath done,defintly a whole new experiance,goona take some getting used to,but people do slow down driving past when you are swinging these things


Put on a long black hooded cowl and I bet they speed up and go the other way...


anything worth shooting is worth shooting once.
 
Posts: 126 | Location: Demokratik Republik of Washington | Registered: 29 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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around here they would offer you a light beer and give you a list,and offer to let you use their weedwhacker !
 
Posts: 334 | Location: s central pa just about nowhere | Registered: 21 January 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
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after redesinging my austrian(straight)sycthe and signing on to mow 2 acres of really high grass,i have come to the conclusion that a european(s shaped) scythe is good for heavy and blown down grass and brush,and the austrian scythe is better suited for lighter work,14 hrs logged on site and still have 1/4 acre to do.The austrian does seem to go faster and eaiser on the body.
 
Posts: 49 | Registered: 08 June 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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I had occasion to use both types when I was young and fit.....The curved snath seemed better for cutting grass and making a smooth job of cutting low-resistance plants,the straight snath was fitted with a brush blade and I used it for cutting rougher materiel,using that hooking motion mentioned earlier.Nobody taught me any particular technique,My Dad just handed it to me and let me figure out the most efficient way to cut with each,and under which conditions to use them.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
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hey Boartooth,i think different areas require different tools and techniques,i have a book on scything,and i really had to redo the way the book says,so i'm learning as i mow,which is the same way i go about just about everything
 
Posts: 49 | Registered: 08 June 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Chuckles have you considered going into cutting grain with the scythe and cradle? I bought one at a sale when I was in high school and over the years I don't know what happened to it.


I never have been much for drinking the kool-aid.It's not in my nature.
 
Posts: 336 | Location: Central Pennsyltucky | Registered: 12 January 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Prolly dropped into the same black hole mine did.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
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i would like to try it sometime but it's hard to find people with a good enough sense of humor to let me try it,usally their in a big hurry or can't understand why anybody would want to work themselves that hard.i have one of those black holes in my shop,it encases my entire workbench including the floor,i thought i had a deal with the wee people but they welched on me
 
Posts: 49 | Registered: 08 June 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I use an "American" sycthe with the curved handle & blade around my corrals & paddock areas so I can see rattle snakes. The weeds are mostly wild mustard & they are not too hard to cut while they are green, but they are a booger when dry!
 
Posts: 302 | Location: Az. | Registered: 17 February 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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