One Blade Scythe Set – Gardens and Allotments (paths and weeding)
£181.00 – £227.00
The blades in this set are aimed at people maintaining gardens and allotments, where most of the scything will be on paths or weeding around other plants / objects.
Scroll down for help deciding which options to select.
Description
The blades in this set are aimed at people maintaining gardens and allotments, where most of the scything will be on paths or weeding around other plants / objects.
This video shows some of the ways Phil uses a scythe in our garden.
There are two blade choices in this scythe set.
See the FAQs for help picking a blade, and for answers to other common questions.
This set contains peening equipment.
If you only do a small amount of mowing in a year, it is a viable option to use a peening service instead of having your own equipment. See this scythe set for more information.
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.
Each kit contains
- 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 Peening Jig (What is Peening?)
- A Garryflex block (for cleaning the blade prior to peening)
- An artificial Stone: Carborundum (for use after jig peening)
- 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.
We offer a choice of two jigs with our sets.
Standard Peening Jig
The standard jig is a cost effective way to begin peening. This jig is the better choice for peening blades used for coarser mowing.
If you end up doing a lot of peening you may, in the future, want to move onto a Fux deluxe jig or freehand peening with an anvil.
Fux Deluxe Peening Jig
The Fux Deluxe Peening Jig is more expensive but is a better quality jig.
It is a good choice if you expect to stick with jig peening over your scything career or you will do a lot of peening (multiple blades, many times a year).
It is best used to achieve a finer, grass-mowing edge. Blades need to be peened regularly for this jig to work most effectively.
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.