In article ,
says...



Reaping was still done with flint sickles in parts of scotland in the
start of the 30C.

Pardon? I can't even hazard a guess on that one.
--
David
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"David P" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...



Reaping was still done with flint sickles in parts of scotland in the
start of the 30C.

Pardon? I can't even hazard a guess on that one.

I didn't see the original post, perhaps it's just as well ...

Mary
--
David
Visit http://www.farm-direct.co.uk for your local farmgate food supplies.
FAQ's, Glossary, Farming Year and more!

David P wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...



Reaping was still done with flint sickles in parts of scotland in
the
start of the 30C.

Pardon? I can't even hazard a guess on that one.

that's the temperature you start working up a sweat at.


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'

--
David
Visit http://www.farm-direct.co.uk for your local farmgate food
supplies.
FAQ's, Glossary, Farming Year and more!

Mary Fisher writes

I'd like to know more about flint sickles.

It was a travellers journal I once read that stuck in my memory.
Apparently the locals preferred their flint sickles because:

1) They were much cheaper than steel ones.
2) They were lighter and easier to use.
3) They only needed 'sharpening' once every few days.
4) They cut better.

The date was about 1902.

--
Oz
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Oz wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher writes

Unfortunately I have no more information. I remembered it because the
reasons seemed plausible. Certainly I have seen skilled people use
flint
tools to butcher a carcass and the cutting ability and retention of
edge
of flint is quite extraordinary. Not crude tools at all.


certainly better than steel for cutting open big bales. Goes through
silage wrap a treat.


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'

--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
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accepted.

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...




certainly better than steel for cutting open big bales. Goes through
silage wrap a treat.

Thanks, Jim, that's going to be useful to know hereabouts ...

Mary

Xref: 127.0.0.1 sci.agricultu60460 uk.business.agricultu96156


"Gordon Couger" wrote in message
news:3e3e3d41_1@newsfeed...



There is a fellow in the US that makes obsidian knives for eye surgeons
using the same flaking methods as were used for flint knives. Laboratories
also use freshly broken glass knives to section specimens for examination
for microscopes. So the art is not completely lost.

There are still people flint knapping but I've never seen any piece of flint
big enough to compare with even a small sickle blade. I wondered if they
grew bigger in Oz's 30C (or whenever it was ... )

Mary

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...

Gilgamesh wrote in message
...
Yes, I know the sickle is still in use - although we had progressed
to
steel, I used one 2 or 3 times in the 1950's & 60's to open up the
cornfields for the self-binder - and Orwell notes the use of the
sickle in
North Africa between the wars (as well as plough teams of an ox & an
ass)
--

here in the NW of England the biggest use of the sickle in the 20th
century was actually cutting the grass etc on a dike cop (the bank a
hedge is grown on) as you were trimming the dike.
In this area In the 20th century, a ley or scythe was used for opening
out, not a sickle.


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'


I don't dispute that, although I was taught that the bagging hook was the
tool for the job. I'm sure either did at least as good a job as the big
petrol strimmer my cousin uses on the hedgebanks now - and we could use the
resulting hay for the rabbits. I would, however, have been 10/11/12 at the
time, not
big enough to handle a scythe, and not savvy enough to be trusted with one
anyway. I usually got roped in on the basis that David (my friend & the
farmer's son) couldn't come fishing until the job was done, so it was a
sickle each. These were smallish fields of oats - D's dad still used the
self-binder on those, although he combined the rest of the grain crops (he
fed the oats in the sheaf if my memory isn't playing tricks)

--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you

Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)

Mary Fisher wrote in message
t...

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...




certainly better than steel for cutting open big bales. Goes through
silage wrap a treat.

Thanks, Jim, that's going to be useful to know hereabouts ...

depends whether you are at daughters or in Leeds I suppose :-))


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'



Mary

Gilgamesh wrote in message
...
I would, however, have been 10/11/12 at the
time, not
big enough to handle a scythe, and not savvy enough to be trusted with
one
anyway. I usually got roped in on the basis that David (my friend &
the
farmer's son) couldn't come fishing until the job was done, so it was
a
sickle each. These were smallish fields of oats - D's dad still used
the
self-binder on those, although he combined the rest of the grain crops
(he
fed the oats in the sheaf if my memory isn't playing tricks)


Was it fed to sheep? or do any of our nutritionalists know if oats can
be fed to cattle un-rolled and still digested.

--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'

Jim Webster writes

Was it fed to sheep? or do any of our nutritionalists know if oats can
be fed to cattle un-rolled and still digested.

Barley certainly can be (and is), so I guess oats would be fine too.
Wheat is not so good as I understand it because the gluten makes it too
sticky, and stock don;t like it so much.

--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
Note: soon (maybe already) only posts via despammed.com will be accepted.

In article 3e3f4c42_4@newsfeed, Gordon Couger
writes

"Oz" wrote in message .

Swap you a flint arrowhead for a low denomination roman coin (rather
corroded due alkaline soil), or a musketball?

My brother got off with them all. I will look around and see if I can come
up with one.

A visiting American (from Idaho) gave me one:-)

Grey in colour and shaped like the apostle on a spoon. Not particularly
finely made but nicer as a gift than followed by 3' of wood and Turkey
feathers.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

Gilgamesh wrote in message
...
If my memory serves, it was fed to the bullocks he fattened. He cut it
still
slightly green which I understand raises the protein - and may mean
that
the corn is still in the milk. I don't know if that makes it more or
less
digestible.

makes it sound like 'whole crop' which would be


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'


--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you

Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)
"Oz" wrote in message
...
Jim Webster writes

Was it fed to sheep? or do any of our nutritionalists know if oats
can
be fed to cattle un-rolled and still digested.

Barley certainly can be (and is), so I guess oats would be fine too.
Wheat is not so good as I understand it because the gluten makes it
too
sticky, and stock don;t like it so much.

--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
Note: soon (maybe already) only posts via despammed.com will be
accepted.

If my memory serves, it was fed to the bullocks he fattened. He cut it still
slightly green which I understand raises the protein - and may mean that
the corn is still in the milk. I don't know if that makes it more or less
digestible.

--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you

Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)
"Oz" wrote in message
...
Jim Webster writes

Was it fed to sheep? or do any of our nutritionalists know if oats can
be fed to cattle un-rolled and still digested.

Barley certainly can be (and is), so I guess oats would be fine too.
Wheat is not so good as I understand it because the gluten makes it too
sticky, and stock don;t like it so much.

--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
Note: soon (maybe already) only posts via despammed.com will be accepted.

"Oz" wrote in message
...
Jim Webster writes

Was it fed to sheep? or do any of our nutritionalists know if oats can
be fed to cattle un-rolled and still digested.

Barley certainly can be (and is), so I guess oats would be fine too.
Wheat is not so good as I understand it because the gluten makes it too
sticky, and stock don;t like it so much.

I suspect that you might have miss read the question - I am unaware of any
cereal grains that can be fed to cattle whole successfully. Barley passes
straight through judging by the evidence I have seen from when they have
found the grains in straw and eaten them whole.

Dan

--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
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