First cut

[old'un]

13 hours ago, Minky said:

We Were only commenting the other day at the family Easter get together about how years ago no one had a lot of anything and how the wife's father used to cut the lawns by hand with a swap.  The son in laws all said what is a swap.?

I blame myself for allowing my daughters to marry them. 

I must be related to your son-in-laws, what’s a swap?

[marsh man]

46 minutes ago, old'un said:

I must be related to your son-in-laws, what’s a swap?

I am no wiser so you are not alone .

Our house I was born in had a grass front garden and my father used to cut the grass with an ole pair of wall paper scissors , then after a while when the funds allowed he invested in a second hand pair of garden shears , every so often an ole boy in the village came round on his bike that had a grinding wheel converted to run from the peddles , he would sharpen my dads shears up for a few pence and we were then back in service , we just didn't realise how posh we were in those days 

[Minky]

On 02/04/2024 at 19:01, TIGHTCHOKE said:

So then, what is a swap?

A swap is a sort of hand tool cross between a sickle and a scythe.   Years ago before the advent of the 2T strimmer the majority of people who had a  house or land owned one. People didn't generally have a petrol mower.  They had push mowers but when the grass got too long you had to get it under control somehow. One of the son in laws said that it was good that I had one but he would much rather use the electric mower.  Try that on grass that is up to your knees.  For larger areas such paddocks or orchards an Allen scythe was the tool. ...go on.. what's an Allen Scythe.  A bygone era. I've taken a few pictures of the SWAP, sharpening stone and swap stick... which is used to hold the grass back, sort of a comb. I'll see about posting the pictures later.

Edited April 3 by Minky

[wisdom]

42 minutes ago, Minky said:

A swap is a sort of hand tool cross between a sickle and a scythe.   Years ago before the advent of the 2T strimmer the majority of people who had a  house or land owned one. People didn't generally have a patrol mower.  They had push mowers but when the grass got too long you had to get it under control somehow. One of the son in laws said that it was good that I had one but he would much rather use the electric mower.  Try that on grass that is up to your knees.  For larger areas such paddocks or orchards an Allen scythe was the tool. ...go on.. what's an Allen Scythe.  A bygone era. I've taken a few pictures of the SWAP, sharpening stone and swap stick... which is used to hold the grass back, sort of a comb. I'll see about posting the pictures later.

An Allen sythe was a great bit of kit just had to keep the knives sharp and oiled.Would clear just about anything other than trees.

[Minky]

30 minutes ago, wisdom said:

An Allen sythe was a great bit of kit just had to keep the knives sharp and oiled.Would clear just about anything other than trees.

One of my brother in laws had an orchard and an older orchard that had various plums and gages some of which had died off and were old stumps out there.  Occasionally the Allen would encounter something SOLID and the DOGS just wouldn’t release and the Allen would morph into a bulldozer.  The operator had no choice other than to short the ignition and wrestle the scythe back a bit to disengage the dogs and drag the beast off of the obstacle hidden in the grass and reset.  A bygone era.

[Minky]

ell if it works here is a picture of a swap and sharpening stone along with a piece of crook stick to hold/ comb/swipe the grass into a position to cut and then to swipe the grass away.

[Miserableolgit]

9 hours ago, Minky said:

ell if it works here is a picture of a swap and sharpening stone along with a piece of crook stick to hold/ comb/swipe the grass into a position to cut and then to swipe the grass away.

I have several of those mostly from my parents and MIL’s place. We called them badging hooks but some would call them sickles. I have lost the two handed scythes but still have, and sometimes use, a couple of long handled slashers for hedging - in fact I found the rusty remains of one deep in one of the blackthorn bushes in one of the old hedges here, just the blade, the handle had long gone. I also have three or four old billhooks including a lovely well balanced double sided made Elwell, the others are mostly locally blacksmith made jobs.

[Minky]

Yes I have heard the term (bagging hook ) used.  The advent of two stroke machinery sort of consigned slashers, (bagging) hooks (swaps) ,scythes bilhooks and aĺ sorts of hand tools to rust away or auctions of stuff when grandads passed away. These old tools can still be bought but they aren't generally a patch on the old ones  made by a local black smith or in Sheffield.  Because they take time and hard work to use, people might have a go for ten minutes before they give up. If you watch videos of using a full size scythe it is an art to sharpen and effectively use one.

[wisdom]

We called them grass hooks.

there used to be lengthsmen doing the Dyke tops and sides every year.They kept the water flowing thus draining  the fields.They were brilliant with two handled scythes.Ally shafts with adjustable wooden handles.They cut it with certain precision all was really neat when they had done.They were council employees.

[Miserableolgit]

12 hours ago, Minky said:

Yes I have heard the term (bagging hook ) used.  The advent of two stroke machinery sort of consigned slashers, (bagging) hooks (swaps) ,scythes bilhooks and aĺ sorts of hand tools to rust away or auctions of stuff when grandads passed away. These old tools can still be bought but they aren't generally a patch on the old ones  made by a local black smith or in Sheffield.  Because they take time and hard work to use, people might have a go for ten minutes before they give up. If you watch videos of using a full size scythe it is an art to sharpen and effectively use one.

Definitely an art to keep them keen and likewise an art in using a steady, paced, action. I have used two handled scythes as did my old man and have the stones to keep an edge on them and the hooks. 

[Daz45]

Second cut today,

 

[old'un]

16 minutes ago, Daz45 said:

Second cut today,

 

Third cut today.

[JKD]

A little bit off topic, but is this looking familiar to anyone ?? 🤓😂

 

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Simon Templar going round the margins.

[JKD]

12 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Simon Templar going round the margins.

Well, we all know that it's important to keep the borders neat and tidy 😀