Following the news of Viktor-basci’s death, this video has been uploaded to Youtube. It captures his craft and personality brilliantly, showing the tools and methods he used to make wooden hay rakes and scythe snaths by hand.
I received some sad news from Transylvania this week that Victor-basci (Uncle Viktor), the rake and scythe snath maker for the area around Gyimes, has died.
I visited the area in 2011 to take part in a Haymaking Festival organised by Attila Sárig and the Pogány-havas Microregional Association to promote the region and it’s wonderful landscape, traditions and biodiversity.
During the week of scything and hay making, the visit to Viktor-basci was a real highlight, visiting another woodworker and seeing his methods of working. Despite the language barrier, he entertained and informed and clearly enjoyed having visitors come and see how he worked. As the festival has gained attention, more people from the UK scythe scene have taken part and there are now rakes and scythes made by Viktor-basci around the country.
Read more about our visit on my blog here and the rest of the hay making festival here.
One element of the festival is to highlight how fragile these landscapes and cultures are as farming methods change and people leave the land to pursue opportunities in the towns. For me, Viktor’s passing is a clear reminder just how fragile some of those elements are and that skills and crafts can be lost almost overnight. I know Attila had been learning some of the rake and snath making from Viktor ad hope that he or someone else in the community will be able to carry on the craft and provide these beautiful and important tools for the future.
This years Haymaking Festival will run from 7-14 August 2016 and is highly recommended. Find out more at http://www.treasuresoftransylvania.org/haymeadow-biodiversity/hay-making-festival
I’ve just got back from a fantastic trip to the far north of the mainland, teaching a Learn to Scythe course in Scotland for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at two sites in Caithness. The Trust has been establishing wildflower meadows to encourage the bees and wanted to learn how to manage the meadow through scything. During our work at Newtonhill near Wick we found an old nest of the moss carder bee.
I was a little bit nervous that there would be little grass to cut or terrible weather to contend with but the wildflower bee meadows were excellent, the sun shone beautifully and I had a great time teaching mowing and how to sharpen and peen a scythe to some lovely volunteers from the area.
Thanks to everyone who took part and made me feel so welcome.
Today I did the aftermath cut on the garden wildflower bank which I cut. This year the grass was really short but this cut will help make the sward is clean next year and reduces the soil fertility to encourage wild flowers.
I took my friend Sue with me who I taught to scythe a few weeks ago and wanted to learn how to scythe on a slope. This isn’t a very steep slope but it’s enough to learn on and the garden situation meant there was the extra challenge of producing a neat cut on short grass.
What a fantastic weekend to be teaching people how to scythe, the weather felt like summer at last and I had two lovely groups who’d come to Cumbria from across England and Scotland for my Learn to Scythe courses at Sprint Mill.
With most of the fields cut for hay several weeks ago, we were using the scythes to mow some of the headlands and edges that the tractor had left in order to tidy the fields and make those areas into hay by hand. This is a great use for the scythe and mean the students were contributing to the running of the smallholding as well as learning new skills.
The session on sharpening the scythe was slightly upstaged by the goats who insisted on hanging out with us!
The orchard grass we mowed on friday was being turned and Edward gave us a demonstration of the hand hay baler so we got to see the complete process of making hay.
A terrific couple of days mowing in good company and a huge sense of satisfaction at 15 new mowers heading out to manage their land quietly and efficiently with the scythe.
In a couple of weeks I’ll be at the Beamish Show of Agriculture, making and selling wooden hay rakes. Here’s a lovely video on the making of wooden hay rakes, from the Sam Hanna Collection, look out for the oak swill basket being used to hold the tines.
Film No. 5250
Title: OLD ENGLISH CRAFTS; MAKING HAY RAKES LANCASHIRE TYPE
Producer: Sam Hanna
Date: *1966-67/70
colour , sound (sep), 10 min. 20 sec:
Filmed in 1966 the film is for me as much about the shift to mechanisation as about hay rake making. The commentator explains that “as a hand craft, rake making belongs to the past” and “the machine takes out the laborious task of using hand tools.” I’m sure they did make a lot more rakes per day but it’s surely ironic that “hay rake making as a hand craft was killed by mechanisation and revived by the use of mechanised tools.” I wonder how many other men were put out of an income and how the few now running that machinery felt in the day to day work. It’s summed up in another classic line:
“..the hand brace and bit has been substituted by a boring machine.”
I make similar rakes, as well as the southern split-stail version. They’re terrible to send through the post so I sell them on my Learn to Scythe courses and at fairs around the country. As a result I don’t sell many but I’m glad to be keeping some of the craft alive and making a few by hand, rainy days.
alive and making a few by hand, rainy days.
“You come away from the great factory saddened, as if the chief end of man were to make pails; but, in the case of the country man who makes a few by hand, rainy days, the relative importance of human life and of pails is preserved.”
–Thoreau: The Journal October 19th, 1858
You can barely look in the media these days without seeing a scythe somewhere. On BBC1 Countryfile last night my mate John Letts of Lammas Fayre Flour was talking about his ancient wheat crop while Simon Fairlie, Gill Barron and Rafael harvested the crop by scythe. Watch it here on iPlayer
If you’ve never understood the staggered formation of a scythe team or the beauty of working together in this way, check out this screenshot.
I’m really pleased that my ‘Learn to Scythe’ book has already been getting lots of positive feedback this summer.
The book is now included as part of my scythe kit, meaning you’re equipped with simple, clear instructions if you’re learning to use an Austrian scythe on your own. For students of my Learn to Scythe courses the book makes a brilliant practical reference to support what you learn during the workshop.
Buy your copy from my website here
We text White text White text White text White text White text White text White
Very satisfying is the great response I’ve had from scythe teachers around the world:
“The best book out there to help you use a scythe, whether you are starting from scratch or looking for a refresher after a course”
Phil Batten – scythe teacher, Wales
“A fantastic mower’s field guide. Thanks for writing a simple, get-up-and-mow manual”
Tony Robbie – Bladerunners, Australia
My trip to Edale for Spoonfest 2015 was extended to a whole fortnight this year. I spent the actual weekend busy with teaching spoon carving to beginners and improvers with not much time for photos. Here are some of my highlights, which you may have missed.
The reason for my long stay was a course on ash splint basketry which I organised with April Stone Dahl from Wisconsin. On saturday afternoon April gave a talk and demonstration of pounding, splitting and weaving ash splint to a packed hall. There’ll be more on ash splint and the course in upcoming blog posts.
The Spoonfest scything is gradually becoming a regular event. Jarrod & April from the US and Jan Harm ter Brugge from the Netherlands wanted to learn to scythe using my Continental scythes. English leather worker Ruth Pullan came to try out some longer blades while Fritiof Runhall from Sweden mowed with a Swedish-style foraged scythe which he simply cut from the hedge on the way to Edale Orchard. A great way to relax after the festival and pass on the skills.
Finally, it’s always a treat to catch up with Nigel Leach to discuss ideas and see his latest designs. This year I managed to convince him to give a talk and demonstration of the beautiful spoon drawings he uses to design his distinctive work.
The Poldark circus was brilliant for promoting the idea of scything to a huge audience and I’m glad that ‘Poldark’ is now the refrence I most often hear when people see me with my scythe rather than ‘Death’ but I have had a few emails from potential students asking if they will be fit or strong enough to learn to scythe. After all, Poldark is a big man and was out of breath so surely it must be hard work?
The answer is, of course you are strong enough. Using a scythe is work and can feel difficult at the start since you’re learning new skills but the scythe is very light and the weight of the blade is carried on the ground while you work. If the grass gets heavier, you simply cut less with each slice, keeping the work easy so that you can carry on.
Here’s a few photos from recent courses; I have taught people of all shapes, sizes and ages; with dodgy knees or bad backs and even a blind man – all of them found the scythe to be relaxing, gentle and addictive!
Technique is actually far more important than strength and on my courses I’ll show you how to use your leg muscles and a movement with tai-chi elements to move the scythe for more efficient mowing as well as how to set up the scythe correctly so it’s all comfortable, meaning you can relax while you work. The nicest mowers I know seem to dance through the meadow while the grass falls out of their way and I often tell students that I’m training them to still be scything when they’re in their 80’s, I hope I will be.
