Minimum Scythe Set (for paths and weeding)
£134.00 – £144.00
A basic scythe set for scything gardens and allotments, where most of the scything will be on paths or weeding around other plants / objects.
A Minimum Scythe Set (without peening equipment) may be what you need if:
- the area you are mowing is small, so your blade will need infrequent peening
- 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.
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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, if you are only mowing a small area like a garden, your blade will not need peening very often. It can be harder to learn to peen well when you only get to practice once a year (or less)!
Instead of investing in your own peening equipment you can:
- Use our blade peening service
- Find a local experienced scyther to peen your blade (try The Scythe Association if you don’t know anyone).
If you are not sure if this set will suit your garden, get in touch for advice.
FAQs
Luxor 40cm or 50cm
The Luxor is a good choice if your scything is a mix of grass and rougher weeds.
The Luxor blades don’t have a stone point so it’s easier to get the tip of the blade close in to mow vegetation growing next to obstacles. So this makes them useful for mowing along a raised edge or around posts and trees.
In general we find the 50cm blade a good length in our large garden The longer length will help you mow more with each stroke whilst still being nimble enough for confined areas and trimming work.
The 40cm blade allows you to scythe with a shorter stroke, so is a good choice if you are mowing narrow paths or around closely spaced plants / objects (approx. 2ft of space).
Both of these blades are relatively sturdy and therefore versatile in use. Whilst primarily built for grass and weeds, they manage rougher plants like dock happily and can manage the odd young bramble.
With care, they can be used on occasional woodier weeds eg raspberry canes and young tree suckers (<6 months).
Falci 128 (50cm)
The 50cm Falci 128 blade is a good choice if most of your scything is fine grasses and weeds, eg “pocket handkerchief” lawns, grassed paths 3ft wide or less. The light blade needs less frequent peening to keep a good grass cutting edge.
Like any blade it needs frequent honing to keep a keen edge, but when used to manage a small area may only need peening once a year (or less).
It’s deep belly makes it forgiving of uneven ground and easy for the beginner to set up and mow. When used on the lawn the deep belly gives a slightly longer cut, which can be desirable as it leaves the lawn greener then with a very close cut.
It is a lighter blade then the Luxor so is less suitable for tougher weeds or areas where you might accidently hit hard objects eg concrete path edging.
- 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 and taller——–Size 4 (extra-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.
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. This prolongs the life of the blade.
- the ease and effectiveness of mowing with a really sharp blade (particularly when mowing soft weeds and grass).