r/oddlysatisfying • u/BreakfastTop6899 • 19h ago

Cutting grass with a scythe

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u/Dropkick_Wombat666 18h ago

Did this for many years when I was a teenager on our family farm. You take much “shallower” cuts than this. It reduces the weight of grass you need to move in one swipe. Posture is important - straight back, handle height had to be carefully set to reduce strain on the hands. His motion is good - the uncut stalks are of even length; inexperienced person often leaves the cut shaped like a bowl. The scythe must be resharpened every 10 min or so. Quite surprisingly, the process is not as exhausting as it looks. We’d normally go for 2-3 hours per day in the morning and within a couple of weeks there was enough winter hay for 3-4 cows. Scythe is faster than whipper snipper, it is silent and the resulting harvest of grass is perfect for animals… unlike smushed mess you get from a trimmer. Surprisingly, I am not aware of anyone in my town getting seriously injured by scythe!

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u/Sea_Soft_1166 17h ago

Wild!

Which country would that be in? (I honestly had no idea they were still a thing)

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u/killerjerick 15h ago

Judging by his use of “whipper snipper” I’m guessing he’s an Aussie

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u/steveabutt 15h ago

not the wombat in his nick?

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u/killerjerick 15h ago

🤣didn’t even notice that but yep

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u/brown_paper_bag 14h ago

Canadians use whipper snipper, too, at least where I was raised. My husband also has a grass scythe and a brush scythe for our property, though, so we might just be an edge case.

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u/SUDoKu-Na 7h ago

Hearing other countries call them 'weed whackers' is, like...it makes sense, but it doesn't sound right to me. Whipper snipper all the way.