Scything Books

[David Crook]

Some good reading material on scything:

‘Learn to Scythe’ by Steve Tomlin – informative text and lots of photos, including how to peen your scythe blade.

‘Notes on the Use of the Austrian Scythe’ and ‘Managing Grass in Britain with the Scythe’ by Simon Fairlie. Simon teaches scything and can sell you all of the equipment that you might need. He is based at Monkton Wyld Court, near Charmouth, and runs regular courses (Tel: 01297 561359).

It is important to learn the skill of Peening and buy the necessary anvil in order to maintain a really sharp scythe blade. I would recommend free-hand peening to the use of a jig. Free-hand is a little bit more difficult to learn but gives superior results. Once you can peen a blade, it really is like a ‘hot knife in butter’ – so rewarding and relatively easy to mow a sizable plot. If your blade isn’t sufficiently sharp, it becomes much harder work and much less enjoyable. There’s no point in learning to scythe if you don’t also know how to sharpen your scythe correctly.