Sod power tools - has anyone else used a scythe

[ARWadworth]

I used one for the first time today. No batteries, no extension leads and no petrol. And it did what it was supposed to do.

Adam

[George]

Now you caan change your sig to...

TheGrimReaper

[Bob Eager]

Using it on your neighbour, instead of a chainsaw? :-) :-)

[Peter Scott]

Doesn't half improve the 'core' muscles. See if you can move tomorrow! Once you get into the rhythm with a really sharp scythe you can't half get through an area.

Peter Scott

[mick]

...or Hopalong if his aim is poor!

[Roger]

The message from "ARWadworth" contains these words:

I have an old scythe but I find it rather tiring to cut very much with it. It was originally purchased by my father to clear our new garden back in 1953 but I have had it since the 70s. The original 3 foot blade wore out and I find the replacement 2 foot blade easier to control.

[Keith]

Definitely, I had a 700 sqm plot to clear here in Bulgaria, 4ft ryegrass,

6ft Lucerne and 8ft thistles, and bought a Stihl brushcutter to do the job. Within minutes of starting it up two neighbours appeared with scythes, chased me off the plot outraged at the noise, and cleared the plot before sundown. I'd planned to do it over a weekend. £200 quid wasted, all it cost was a couple of bottles of Rakia, and they even cleared the cuttings, taking it away for winter feed.

[woodglass]

Every tried drilling a hole with a scythe though ?...

[andrew]

From what I remember it was the twisting of the torso and the thigh muscles that did the work, you heard and felt the sharpness of the blade slicing through the grass.

AJH

[ARWadworth]

No, and I have never tried cutting grass with a drill:)

Adam

[Cicero]

================================== Boadicea did it quite routinely in the ranks of Roman legions.

Cic.

[Tim S]

ARWadworth coughed up some electrons that declared:

You jest Adam, but you've just reminded me of something my old man had 35 years ago: it was a lawnmower sans motor; it looked like a small lightweight rotary mower but there was shaft on top to which you affixed the chuck of a power drill, and some sort of clamp for holding the drill body. Have no idea who made it.

My father also has a circular saw blade on a 1/4" shaft for his drill, which he used on occasion. Could you imaging the safety officer seeing one of those these days - he'd blow a blood vessel.

As to the drill (a Stanley metal bodied 2-speed), that level of abuse probably explains why it kept blowing windings in its later years...

Cheers

Tim

[Mike Clarke]

It might have been one of the many accessories for Bridges (later Stanley-Bridges) power drills from the 1950's. In those days the electric motor was the expensive part of the tool so you bought 1 drill and lots of accessories. If you weren't careful you spent more time changing the fittings than you spent using the things.

Priorities change over the years, now it's the batteries for cordless tools that are expensive and shared between tools.

[Tim S]

Mike Clarke coughed up some electrons that declared:

Ah - given that the drill was a Stanley that seems quite likely...

It was a damn well made drill too. The sort of drill that was given new brushes, taken to bits and repaired when the windings blew (luckily it always seemed to fail on the bit of wire right next to the commutator).

[meow2222]

Yes. Long time since I used those, but ISTR that frequent use of some kind of sharpening rod (ie several times during the day) to keep it tip top sharp really makes a difference to ease and speed of work. I dont recall if it was an abrasive rod, but I think so. Just gentle strokes for a keen edge.

NT

[The Medway Handyman]

Alas not. Victorian urban myth of no military use.

[The Medway Handyman]

No, but I recall my old man having a Rawltool. Kind of bolster with changeable bits. To drill a wall you whacked it with a lump hammer then turned it, then whacked, then turned etc.

He passed it onto me & I used it for years, especially handy for one off fixings in pre cordless days & nothing stopped it. No batteries, no lead.

Don't know what happened to it. Wouldn't mind another one.

[Cerberus .]

I've got two of them & they've been a godsend in certain circumstances over the years.

One of the first houses we lived in had walls made of drop-poured concrete, well more like dropped pebbles & flint bound with some form of resin. Anyway, it was absolutely impossible to drill holes accurately using a standard masonry bit & drill on hammer action...the bit had a tendency to wander all over, yet using the hand rawtool it was a piece of p*ss :-)

Don.

[Cerberus .]

For anyone who hasn't seen one.....

[Mike Clarke]

Yes, the main choice among power drills for DIY use at the time was Wolf, B&D and Bridges. Of the three, Bridges seemed to be better quality and had better designed attachments but the brand didn't seem to survive in the marketplace. I think they may have also been more expensive than the other

2 which might have been the main reason.