As promised, here are the photos of the FAO cradle from their ‘Small Farm Implements’ publication of 1953. In the introduction, the authors (our Mr Hopfen again along with Dr E. Biesalski) make an insightful point which, for me, is at the heart of why I promote the use of the scythe to smallholders, orchard owners, allotmenteers and anyone else with a small amount of vegetation to manage:
Such small implements have the great advantage of being suitable for use on any type of field, and of always being ready for work. Particularly on small fields, they can sometimes accomplish a task more quickly than larger machines which have to be put into working condition before the actual work begins and which need additional attention after the work has been accomplished.
Here then is the instruction manual for building your very own FAO grain cradle, I look forward to seeing them in the fields and at the various scythe events this summer.
ps. If you do build one, please get in touch – I’d love to see it.
On Sunday I met with other members of the Coppice Association NW (CANW) at Moss and Heights Spring Woods for a day of peeling oak bark.
I selected a good clean looking trunk and scored the bark with a knife to remove a small length of bark. Initially I could see it splitting inside and thought I was damaging the bark but this was actually the thicker cambium layer which came away from the wood too. It was then possible to peel the bark away from the cambium though a lot of care was needed at this stage not to damage the bark. We’re a curious bunch and my peeling soon attracted a lot of interest when people saw the sheets of bark and felt how soft but strong they felt, like thin leather. A couple more members had a go and we went away with bark promising to share our experiences of working with it.
By the end of the day we had a several bundles of bark for drying and piles of naked looking oak poles. These can be used for rustic garden furniture making, firewood or charcoal; the secret of making coppice work economical is to use every part of the tree, something that Bill Hogarth was a master of.
In one particularly pleasing section, Mr Hopfen travels to the mountain areas around Sidiken on the Iranian-Turkish border to demonstrate the scythe. Unfortunately, ‘the farmers were so eager to obtain the few implement samples which the expert had taken to the mountains, that demonstrations had to be discontinued after only a few days as he had no implements left’! Similar problems were encountered in supply in Kirkuk so Mr Hopfen instructed local carpenters in the making of snaths and cradles.
Mothersday in Austria – a weekend where I don’t need to do anything because the kids are doing the cooking, washing up and all. So what is better than to have all the time you want for what you enjoy to do in spring and summer – mowing with my scythes. I was excited that it is now the right time to start mowing the young grass. But first the difficult decision for me – what blades am I using this time. I decided on a short 65cm and my long 85cm blade with snaths made by Peter Vido. Happy and excited I went to mow and was surprised that just after a short while I had to pause and even sit down to catch my breath. What had happened – I had forgotten to get myself in contact with the soil, grass, snath, blade and my breath. Sitting there made me aware how important this is and I used the time to do so – never thought this could happen to me.
I mowed a smiley face but it is hard to see because the grass is not all the same hight and I couldn’t get myself in the right position to take a good photo. In a week or so I’ll mow the inside of it and I hope it will be more visible then 🙂
The marking guages will get converted into scratch stocks for cutting beads and the big screwdriver is for Charlie, who loves them. Most interesting is the expansion bit made by Ridgway which will supposedly cut up to a 3″ hole! Maybe the things I’m looking for are too specialised, I’m too fussy or all the old guys’ sheds have been cleared out already.
