The vital wedge

When you get your new scythe, it’s easy to overlook the small wooden wedge in amongst all the other parts and packaging. I’ve got used to having spare wedges for people who have mistakenly overlooked and thrown away this vital part so it’s brilliant to see that, following my suggestion, they are now unmistakeably stamped. Thanks to Richard Brown for the photo.
What’s so special about the wedge? Well, the scythe is an incredibly subtle tool. When set up correctly, it whispers effortlessly through the grass cutting it cleanly and neatly. Small changes to the various angles though will throw it off and leave you struggling to cut or, worse still, digging your scythe blade into the ground.
The wedge is used to adjust the height of the cutting edge of the blade from the ground which, when you’re stood holding your scythe, wants to be about 8mm. All of this is covered in detail in my Learn to Scythe book and on my courses where I’ll help you set up and adjust the scythe so all the angles are optimised for you.