Out, Standing In Our Field: The ScytheSupply Blog

Scythe Supply Holiday Gift Guide

Upgrade your greens harvest with a Grain Sickle

Use a Scythe Supply grain sickle to neatly cut greens in less time.

Orchard grower resources

Michael Phillips' online Holistic Orchard Network provides articles, resources and community!

Making a Sharpening Apron

When you're peening and sharpening, a work apron is like gloves for your thighs.

Tired whetstones

After years of use whetstones adopt unique character.

Scythe Supply Gift Guide

A quick guide of gift ideas for the mowing enthusiast in your life.

Seize the Jig

Time to Peen Your Blade for the First Time?... You Can Do It!

We have joined 1% for the Planet!

Scythe Supply recently became a member of 1% for the Planet!

Springtime equipment check

Spring is in the air. Time to prepare for a successful mowing season!

Video: Stop motion mowing

This sweet animated short from Sensenkurs.Wordpress demonstrates their mission to spread the scythe love!

2018 Scythe Supply events

You can catch Scythe Supply at a few events this year for face-to-face time.

New Book: Weeds and Wildflowers in Winter

Lauren Brown, author of Grasses: An Identification Guide, wrote this lovingly illustrated guide to identifying the weeds around you, during a time of year when you actually have the time to do it.

The Salt Marsh and Salt Haying

A salt marsh farmer must work more closely with the elements than any other type of farmer.

A Short Guide to Choosing Your Scythe

For persons new to using a scythe wading through the various choices can be daunting. This guide will help you through the process of selecting a scythe that is right for you and the work you plan to do.

Video: Jim Kovaleski's mowing pointers

Jim Kovaleski shares his pointers on how to mow with a scythe at this year's Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine.

Video: How to Scythe and Stop Weeding, Watering and Fertilizing

Youtube sensation Justin Rhodes visits nomadic farmer Jim Kovaleski at his Maine farm to see how Jim uses a scythe in his farming practice.

Tips on mowing the lawn with a scythe

To pair with our recently posted lawn mowing video, here are some written tips on how to mow your lawn with a scythe.

Video: Lawn mowing with a European scythe

In this 10-minute video Richard Scott demonstrates how to mow a lawn using a European scythe. Includes tips on: blade orientation, mowing around plantings/flowers, and other specifics to make your lawn mowing efficient and effective.

Video: Sharpening a bush blade

Here's a quick video on the basics of sharpening a bush blade, which requires a slightly different technique than a grass or ditch blade.

Video: Modern traditional Swiss haymaking on a steep grade

Great modern footage of traditional mowing, hay collecting and transporting on a steep slope in Switzerland.

Whetstone repair?

Thoughts on cleaning stones, and ruminations on stone repairs.

Mowing with a bush scythe

The Scythe Supply crew shares their experiences mowing with a bush scythe.

Description of The Scything Handbook

The Scything Handbook is the newest guide to mowing and haymaking by hand. Experienced as well as new mowers will benefit from this contemporary guide to a classic tool.

Snath fit

How to quickly check your snath fit.

DIY Grain Cradle

Whether you're growing a "pancake patch" of wheat in your backyard, acres of ancient grains for market, or barley for malting, a homemade grain cradle attached to your scythe will streamline harvesting. Here are instructions on how to make one.

How to measure a scythe blade

From heel to toe!

Monhegan Hay Day 2016

Monhegan Hay Day will be held Saturday, June 25, 2016 on a lovely island in Maine. Mowers will cut and collect hay for mulching the island's gardens as part of a community farming project. All scythers welcome!

Video: Handmade Romanian rakes and scythes

In Gyimes, Romania, lived Viktor, who made rakes and scythes by hand. This video by Jenny Parsons documents his fascinating process.

Baby rabbits in the cover crop

You never know what you'll come across while you're mowing with your scythe.

Grain cradle - history, use, and how to make one

The invention of the grain cradle, a wooden-finger scythe extension, simplified grain harvesting in the 1800s.

New Gardener's blade

Our newest blade, the Gardener's blade, is perfect for trimming in vineyards, garden beds, and around berry bushes.

How to avoid a broken blade

Focusing on technique, surveying an area prior to mowing, and keeping the blade sharp are key steps toward avoiding a broken blade.

Winter blade care

The garden's put to bed and the ground is hardening over: Winter is a great time for blade reconditioning.

The Bregenzer is not broken

If you're confused when you unwrap your whetstone and find an oblong, uneven slice of gray or gray-blue stone, read on.

Heading to Common Ground Fair 2015

Scythe Supply will be holding down its annual fort (er... tent) in the Homesteading area of the MOFGA fair, Friday through Sunday, September 25-27.

Set screws: How not to lose them

Set screws hold the ring clamp in place, which in turn holds the blade in place. The screws are essential and, unfortunately, easily lost. Here are a few tips on how NOT to lose them.

Mowing gloves

Scythe Supply's new soft, durable leather gloves are perfect for mowing, raking, and other work.

Collector's blades

The ScytheSupply.com photo gallery is eye candy for blade enthusiasts, and we have two collector's blades for sale: Tops and Vindobona Sense in a couple lengths for each and one lefty option.

Schröckenfux - Our blade forgers

Scythe Supply imports scythe blades from the Schroeckenfux factory in Austria. The factory has been in business for nearly 500 years. Read on for a brief history of the scythe works.

Video: Stacking hay and grains

This historic video, taken in Germany circa 1942, shows a few different approaches to field drying hay and grains.

Video: The Man With the Scythe

Manufacturing scythe blades in Austria, circa 1936.

Before and After: Extreme blade repair

File a gnarled tear into a smooth edge to return a badly damaged blade to functional use.

Group mowing with lefty and righty mowers

Visualizing a group mowing experience with both left and right handed mowers.

Group mowing

Group mowing is an excellent way to introduce beginners to the mowing experience and generate a mowing community.

The whetstones

We carry three different whetstones of varying coarseness for sharpening blades, tools or even knives.

Back from NOFA NY

Reconnecting with customers in New York and reviewing peening and sharpening.

Back from Augusta and off to New York

Notes from the road: Trading in an American scythe for a European scythe could make all the difference.

Catching up with the tool collector

Catching up with Oakland, Maine's, scythe and hand tool collector at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show this week.

January trades shows

Scythe Supply will be in the flesh at upcoming trades shows in Augusta, Maine, and Saratoga Springs, New York. We hope you'll stop by our booth!

Does a scythe cut it?

Hanging up the string trimmer in favor of a scythe.

A book for woodsmen/women

Read your way to better felling, chopping, stacking and sharpening with The Axe Book, a comprehensive illustrated guide to axmanship.

Scythe collection

One area in Maine was once populated by axe and scythe factories. A man from Oakland, Maine, preserves that history with his collection.

Forging to felling: Oakland, Maine, axe making

This 1965 short film by Peter Vogt documents axe making at the Emerson Stevens factory in Oakland, Maine.

Wild and wise book choice

Wild Wisdom of Weeds by Katrina Blair was listed on the New York Times book review this month. It's also a new book we have on hand for sale!

The mini scythe

For those who like things mini, we're now offering our mini scythes for sale. They make adorable ornaments or stocking stuffers.

Multiple uses for one tool

In this article a new mower tackles lawn mowing with her scythe, and finds other uses for the tool along the way.

First slice

Welcome to The Scythe Supply Blog! With this blog we aim to provide our customers and new mowers with a stock pile of helpful scythe related information and peaks at our products.