Phisherman wrote in message . ..
On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 22:30:08 GMT, Ron Hardin
wrote:

Does anyone have directions for sharpening a scythe? I take it there's
a technique as opposed to just winging it.

Mine's gotten noticeably duller, and I read it's common to sharpen them
in the field in fact. Not that they're common in the field, but given
that you have one there, odds are that it's being sharpened.

I sharpen all kinds of things (I have an active woodshop). I'd use a
wet Arkansas stone, maintaining the same original angle and using
equal number of strokes on both sides of the blade. It may help to
secure the scythe in a vise during the operation. For field
sharpening, I'd use a diamond file (these are more expensive than a $1
Arkansas stone). I don't use any special guides or tools for
sharpening garden tools. Sharpening with direct sunlight is best.

Actually a scythe is single edged like a chisel so you stone it on the
upper edge after beating out a little bit of metal with a cross pein
hammer and a small anvil (which can be made from a bolt).
You can stone it a few times between beating the metal out again but
after a while the edge becomes too thick and needs to be thinned out
by beating again.
A scythe stone is about 5$
The steel appears to be softer than you would think at first but
beating out the edge work hardens it a bit also.