Last week I was hired to teach Patrick Grant how to scythe at his home. The clothier, author and presenter of The Great British Sewing Bee is writing a new column for the Financial Times Weekend about managing his land using traditional techniques and skills. Scything fits perfectly with this as a traditional method for managing long grasses instead of a strimmer.
He’s a lovely guy and a great student, quickly picking up the skills and neatly scything the lawn.
RHS Bridgewater at Salford is a new RHS Garden close to where I live so it was terrific to be asked to teach their staff how to cut a meadow using scythes.
During the workshop we looked at how to set up an Austrian scythe, how to hone and sharpen the blade and, of course, how to scythe long meadow grass efficiently and easily. We had a brilliant time and I look forward to going back to see how their meadows develop over the years.
I’ve just been over near York, teaching the garden staff at Sledmere House how to cut the long grass in their meadows with a scythe.
The meadow is really well maintained and the team wanted to find a more sustainable method that is also still efficient – scything is the answer!
They all did an amazing job and I left 3 happy new scythers eager to carry on with their new skills.
If you want to learn how to carve fan birds, I teach fan carving workshops and also have an instruction pdf available in my etsy store.
The Fan bird carving pdf download takes you through the step by step method I teach during my fan bird courses and workshops. Learning in person is much better but, if you can’t get to a course, the instructions will get you carving on your own.
Although it is always best to learn practical skills in person, I recognise that not everyone is able to attend one of my Learn to Scythe courses.
The next best option is to learn from my Learn to Scythe book which I wrote back in 2014 and have since sold thousands of copies to happy scythers around the world. Here’s a great review:
This was given as a present for someone wanting to learn to scythe. It was easy to follow and he became fairly adept at scything quite quickly, to the extent that it became quicker to scythe awkward areas of longer grass than attempt to use any type of mower. So very successful, item also arrived quickly.
Hay Time at High Hirst
Sunday 21st July – Sunday 4th August 2024
Experienced and/or enthusiastic scythers – and especially SABI members! – are keenly invited to help us mow our whole meadow this year.
Join us for a day or more on the edge of the delightful West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge in our efforts to restore this ancient hay meadow. We’ll be mowing and haymaking from 9am into the evening each day, weather permitting*, over the two week period.
For further details or contact Neil Diment, High Hirst Woodmeadow Project Volunteer, e: neil@ndiment.co.uk or m: 07821 620680.
*N.B. If the weather forecast is poor, it would be advisable to call Neil – or check out the daily Hay Time post on the ‘High Hirst Woodmeadow Project’ Facebook page – before setting out for the day.
For those wanting to join us for more than one day, s/c hostel accommodation at £30/night is available just 5mins from High Hirst Woodmeadow on Sat 20th – Sun 21st or Fri 26th – Sun 28th July at the IOU Hebden Bridge Hostel. You can book via www.hebdenbridgehostel.org
In between teaching courses, I’ve been doing a little spoon carving with some gorgeous spalted silver birch. The patterning in the grain makes each spoon beautifully unique with natural decoration. On this teardrop shape eating spoon, I carved a ball finial to finish off the handle.
Find these new spoons in my etsy store
Lovely review from Caroline who was part of the group learning to scythe on my workshop in Cumbria.
Thanks for an absolutely brilliant course on Saturday – it’s one of the best things I’ve done in ages and having worked in training and teaching for many years I was so impressed by your teaching ( as well as scything) skills. Compared with a bicycle maintenance course I did a few years ago it was way off the scale in terms of being easy to follow and understand how the whole thing works. There was a lot to take in ( and a lot of practice now needed on my uneven and hilly little plot of so I’ll be interested in your refresher course when you sort a date.
Find out more about my scything courses on my website: Learn to Scythe
Whether it’s for controlling the nettles and other weeds around your allotment, clearing an overgrown patch of garden or larger-scale mowing in a meadow or orchard, the Austrian scythe is a wonderful tool to use.
I always sell scythes as a complete kit, with sharpening stones and equipment for peening the edge because the scythe, like any tool, will only work at it’s best when sharp. You can buy a directly from me during courses or from my home in Kendal, Cumbria. The biggest choice is which blade to go for. There are various models in the UK (many, many more on the continent) each in two or three sizes and their names (Grass, Profisense, Ditch and Bush blades) are somewhat unhelpful in making the choice.
For beginners I recommend the 65cm ditch blade which is what my students use on my ‘Learn to scythe’ courses.
Why pick the Ditch Blade? Here are the features of this blade which makes it the best scythe for beginners in my opinion:
1. It’s short. Most people starting out with a scythe are using it for smaller jobs around their land and the shorter length makes it easier to control and get between trees, around edges, into corners and so on. 65cm is still long enough to do a larger area or some meadow mowing. You can mow just as wide a swath, you’ll just take a smaller bite each time meaning the work will go a bit slower but you’ll be less tired.
2. The hooked shape of the blade means it’s tip is always pointing around the arc you’re cutting along so the scythe is helping you make right movement for a slicing cut.
3. It’s got a stone point. The last few centimeters of blade are replaced with a sacrificial metal point. Beginners are often using the scythe to control weeds or working in unchartered corners of the garden, home to stones, branches and rusting strimmers all hidden in the grass and waiting to be discovered by the end of your blade. With the stone point you have a bumper which takes the hit when you strike that rock (we’ve all been there).
4. It’s more dished along it’s length from tip to heel compared with some other models. You’ll not get such a neat finish on your lawn (though it will cut short grass) but it will ride more easily over any uneven ground. Sticking the scythe in the ground is no good for your rhythm or the blade and this will help you avoid it. If you do stick the end in then again it’s mostly the stone point rather than your carefully sharpened edge which takes the knock.
5. It’s tough. The design of the blade and it’s geometry make this a tough scythe capable of dealing with tough grasses and weeds including bracken and hogweed. You still need to treat it with respect and learn to slice the weeds rather than chopping but of all the blades, this is the most robust.
The Ditch blade name is nothing to do with it’s use and I’ve been trying to get it changed for a few years. When I bought my first blade I can remember thinking “Well, I’m not cutting in a ditch so I don’t need that one.” My own preference is to call it a ‘trimming blade’ since that’s what it’s most commonly used for. If you go on to mow bigger areas of meadow then you may want to get a longer scythe blade like the 75cm Profisense but you’ll never regret having the Ditch blade.
Summer is finally here and I enjoyed a sunny day with this group at Brigflatts Meeting House in Sedbergh, Cumbria. I’ve been teaching scything courses for beginners at this site for 10 years now and it’s always a treat to work in such a beautiful and peaceful location.
Great to have three professional gardeners on the course, learning to scythe so they can manage wildflower meadows and gardens for their clients.
If you’re interested in learning to scythe, visit my Learn to Scythe page for more info.
