Minimum Scythe Set (grass blades)

£134.00£158.00

A basic scythe kit with a choice of  meadow / lawn / garden blades.

A Minimum Scythe Set (without peening equipment) may be what you need if:

  • you want to have a go before you invest in all the maintenance tools
  • you already have peening equipment
  • or you plan to use a blade peening service.
Scroll down for help deciding which options to select.

Sets come with a plastic stone holder as standard.
Note the metal holders are smaller and some stones may “stick” slightly when you are pulling them out for use.

SKU: N/A Categories: , Tag:

Description

Minimum Scythe Sets contain the basic necessities needed to get you mowing.

A snath, a blade, a sharpening stone and a stone holder.

We recommend the majority of people buy a standard scythe set with peening equipment included. However, there are some occasion when a more basic set may be adequate. For example:

  • When you already have peening equipment
  • When you are starting out and are planning to use our blade peening service to begin with; or intend to buy your own peening equipment at a later date.

FAQs

All these blades perform at their best with regular peening.

The Falci blades will generally keep a good grass edge for longer between peenings (when maintaining small areas, peening might be needed only once a year) but are lighter then the Styria/Profisense/Luxor blades so need more awareness in use.

The Styria blade is especially useful in thick, collapsed or overstood meadows.

More information about each blade can be found under their individual scythe blade listings

65cm and 75cm Profisense

 

Falci 128

50cm and 60cm Falci 128

 

60cm Falci 100

 

Luxor 75cm

 

Styria 75cm

  • One Scythe Blade
  • An adjustable wooden snath (inc movable hand grips, clamp and wedge)
  • A whetstone holder (for carrying the sharpening stone whilst out scything)
  • A natural Sharpening Stone (for regular sharpening of blade when scything)
  • A Quick Set up Guide.

Snaths are available in four lengths. The length needed depends on your height

Your Height———Snath Number

Less then 5ft ———Size 1 (small)
5ft – 5ft 10————-Size 2 (medium)
5ft 8 – 6ft 4————Size 3 (long)
6ft 2 – 6ft 5————Size 4 (extra-long)
6ft 5 and taller——–Size 5 (xx-long)

Each size of snath has adjustable handle positions so it can be fine tuned to suit your height and mowing style.

If you are at the edge of the height range you may not be sure which snath length to choose.

If your legs are long in proportion to your body length you should choose the longer snath. If they are short in proportion to your body length choose the shorter snath. This should give you the most useful range of adjustment of the handle positions.

 

We are often asked if two people can share a snath.

  • If your heights fit onto one size, it is relatively easy, though you may have to move grips between users.
  • If the difference in your heights is large you are likely to need different snath lengths and it will be hard to share.

If you really only want to buy one snath but don’t fit on the same size:

  • Buy the snath length for the person who will use the scythe most frequently.
  • Or buy the correct length for the taller person, if the shorter person is not far off fitting on the bottom of that size.

La Saurat

As standard, we recommend a La Saurat sharpening stone as we find this stone offers a good compromise – it is easy for a beginner to use, yet is fine enough that it does not wear away the peened edge too quickly.

Rozutec

As you gain experience with sharpening the finer Rozutec stone will enable you to achieve a good sharp edge whilst removing even less metal, increasing the length of time a peened edge will last.

Each set comes with a printed copy of our Quick Set Up Guide.

Additional instructional books you can add to your set:

Learn to Scythe by Steve Tomlin

We highly recommend adding this comprehensive instruction book to your scythe set. It is clear, informative and easy to read. It’s the next best thing to going on a scythe course! 

£10.50Add to basket

Managing Grass with a Scythe by Simon Fairlie.

Newly revised and extended edition, this excellent book contains guidance on how to manage grassland with a scythe, everything from hay making to mowing the lawn.

£8.00Add to basket

All new blades should have the lacquer cleaned off the cutting edge to prevent it clogging the sharpening stone. See this guide for further details.

With basic preparation as outlined in the FAQ “How do I prepare my new blade?”, you can mow with your blade from the box.

Peening is part of the subsequent maintenance of the blade.

Benefits of peening include:

  • work hardening of the edge, which allows it to hold a longer lasting sharp edge
  • the drawing out of new metal to replace that worn away by work and sharpening.
  • the ease and effectiveness of mowing with a really sharp blade

See this guide for more information on peening.