Q&A: Left-handed scythes?

Mowing with ease at seven years young.

Q:  I'm planning to get a scythe, but I'm left-handed. I know there are left-handed blades out there but, in your experience, do southpaws simply adapt to scything with a right-handed bias (as with so many other things)?

A:  [from Peter Vido] The basic 'switch' to an opposite-handed scythe can -- in some cases -- be made before the morning's worth of mowing is over (after which the refinements will continue, of course). My daughters, one naturally left-handed and the other right-handed, would agree. They both started with right-handed blades at the age of 7 or so, and only tried a left-hand version several years later, 'just for fun'. But it was no big deal for either of them to make the 'wrongly-aimed' blades cut grass just fine.

However, my daughters (as well as their uncle Alexander Vido, who is a natural left-hander) continued to use primarily right-handed scythes. The chief reason is that they were interested to try out different blade patterns, and during any one season would end up 'fooling around' with many of them. And, although left-handed blades have long been produced, the diversity of available models was always FAR less. The privilege of our left-handed scythe collection notwithstanding, they can try out MANY more right (as opposed to left) handed models, and so they stuck with the 'right-hand bias' for the most part.

I have recently experimented 'somewhat' (meaning about 10-12 hrs of actual work) with left-handed scythes because my long ago right wrist injury more or less 'ordered' the trial. As a fringe benefit, it was an interesting way to gain insights about the learning process for a beginner -- something I now feel I ought to have done long ago...

We can speculate that it would be easier for a natural left-hander to begin with (or later switch to) a right-handed scythe than for a natural right-hander to meet the same challenge, simply because in our 'right-dominant' culture the left-handers grew up adapting to many 'right hand only' tools. (An example -- ever heard of a left-handed chainsaw? Yet thousands of natural left-handers have made professional careers of using them just the same; a statement to our potential ability to adapt.)

So let's speculate why would someone specially chose to use a left-handed scythe?

Some of the possibilities:

a) They're one of the 'committed left-handers' who prefer left-handed equipment whenever it's available.

b) They are a natural left-hander who initially learned to mow with a left-handed scythe and do not want to relearn (or override) the motions.

c) They are natural right-handers but as a result of an injury to the right shoulder/arm/wrist have more available strength in their 'unnatural' side and consequently can mow better with a left-handed scythe, especially in dense and/or tall grass when the strength factor comes more into play.

d) Some people simply desire to balance their body's muscle usage in general, and while scything they can occasionally switch between right-handed and left-handed scythes.
[Yes, we do know individuals actually doing this.] 

Team mowing with left-handed scythes

One of the most frequently offered reasons against obtaining/learning how to use a left-handed scythe has been "but then you can't mow in teams". Those making this argument may be 'under the influence' of the illustration on page 61 of David Tresemer's Scythe Book. They probably also haven't used the scythe enough themselves, and consequently fail as yet to grasp the range of individual expression that -- potentially -- the use of this tool can entail. That "round and round around the field" represents a 'boxed in' approach to forage harvesting, a must to most forage-harvesting machines. Yes, it may well have been the way the large, flat and evenly-standing areas of America were mown (even with scythes) in bygone days -- but is NOT how a group of mowers traditionally progressed most of the time, in most of the scythe-using world.

Whatever the definition of 'teams' may be and how frequently groups gather (in relation to solo scythe work) these days in the 'West', I do not really know. What I do know is that whether there is a 'team' of 2 mowers or 25 who wish to cut a respective area together, there are usually several ways to accommodate either-sided folks.

Regardless of the specific numbers of people involved, some can begin moving diagonally from opposite sides of a field. Also, the traditional Swiss 'double swath' approach can effectively be implemented by equal number of left and right-handed scythes -- by the leading person (it could be either right or left-hander) starting a strip which deposits the cut matter against the still-standing grass. A person with a blade pointing in the opposite direction can then follow in the leader's heels and deposit the grass against the already accumulating (leading person's) windrow. That is not exactly how the Swiss do it, but the end effect would be the same -- a swath twice the width of one cutting movement of a blade, with all grass accumulated within a 'double windrow' in the middle. (In Switzerland, this approach is still features in at least some of their national mowing competitions. It consists of a person mowing the given length first towards the standing grass, and then turning around and making a pass away from it. It takes more than the usual judgement and skill to assure that everything under that 'double windrow has been shaven clean -- an element, besides the time taken, that is taken into consideration. That is, before the judges announce the final score, all grass is raked away to see just how cleanly the mowing was performed.)

However, the majority of folks making up the Western eco-crowd do not usually mow large fields together as 'teams'. Most end up working in irregularly-shaped terrain where adhering to certain direction is not the issue, or at least shouldn't be. In fact, all seasoned mowers who have faced a wide variety of mowing conditions would likely tell you that there were times they wished their blades were pointing in the opposite direction. That is to say, there are situations where -- due to topography and/or the predominant lay of the plants to be cut -- having a left-handed scythe in hand (or a friend with one at your side) would be advantageous. An experienced leader of a group ought to be able to quickly access the site, and then place the right and left-handers (regardless how many of each the group consists of) in positions where their respective scythe be made best use of.

Availability of left-handed blades

All the above notwithstanding, it would be unreasonable to advocate 'equal rights' in this regard, simply because the present availability of left-handed blades is severely limited.
 

The Schroeckenfux company of Austria makes one standard (#201 pattern) model - but in 70cm/28" only. They also still, from time to time, make a wider model (#108 pattern) for an old customer in Portugal, where apparently in a few select regions everybody mowed 'left-handed' once upon a time. That (Portuguese) model has been made in lengths from 18" to 28", but is not listed in the company's regular catalogue. Any wholesale customer could, I assume, ask for it although it may not be laying on the shelf in their warehouse in all the lengths at any one time. The Falci enterprise in Italy makes one of their standard models in a left hand version, but only in one (65cm/26") length. That may be the extent of the options today. In Bob Dylan's old words -- "The times they are a'changin'..."

To buck the trend would require a large scale revolution (akin to the feminist, gay or 'black power' movements). Even then, anywhere near matching the right-hand blades' models and lengths availability? Forget it. And this, from my perspective, is the only justifiable reason for advising a natural left-hander against getting stuck on their 'natural right' of bucking the present norm. In the meantime, Scythe Works still offers an inexpensive option to experiment with -- a blade model made in Austria, 20-30 years ago, made for Argentina. It is not extra light (but neither are most scythe blades today), has a relatively steep tang (making it easy to fit the simplest-to-make straight one-grip snath) and comes in 20, 22 and 26 inches, at least for now.

We have in our collection still other left-handed models, but it would take more digging than we can presently take time for to get them all out whatever boxes they are hiding in just to pose for a picture. Hope this suffices as a statement that, yes, left-handed scythe blades have long existed.

-- Peter Vido

Sources:
Mirror images from Mowing with ease at ScytheConnection.com
Photos from Vido family collection.

Q&A: The Balance of a Scythe

A wildwood snath (made by Peter Vido from alder wood) is suspended 
by the right grip. Note the thicker upper section of the snath.

Dear Peter Vido,     I was hoping you would be able to elaborate on your suggestion that the scythe be balanced along the length of the whole tool, even going so far as to suggest adding extra weight near the upper (handle) end for some models !   An argument can be made the scythe should be bottom heavy (at the blade end). First, such a scythe would always weigh less, a good thing. Second, the tool would then be analogous to swinging a ball at the end of a rope, with great centripetal force.   Of course, such an unbalanced system would increase the friction between the ground and the blade making the mowing of hay (for example) harder. But some people suggest pressing the blade down on the ground when cutting a grass lawn, and a bottom heavy scythe would require less pressing. So, does it depend on what the terrain is? on what you are cutting? etc.? Best wishes and thank you.

Your question is logical; you are obviously considering the physics of it all. And perhaps many of the designers of the traditional snaths thought along the same lines. Were they "wrong"? Who is to say? But we all know that many traditional tools could have been designed better.

You also already know (by reading my take on the issue) that I would not want to use those heavy-nosed snaths. Not now, since I've stumbled upon what I consider a better design. And I do mean stumbled -- because I did not approach the matter as an engineer, but as a farmer guided by 'feel' rather than an understanding of physics. (I had once described the 'story' of how it happened, but perhaps it did not quite make it into electronic form...)

I presently can't take time for a long discussion on this topic, so let me get away with just jotting down a few points:

1.  Of all snath designs, the one which mostly benefits from some counterbalance for the weight of the blade, is the one with two grips pointing towards the mower. In addition, with the style of movement I advocate, the "light-at-the-bottom" unit will be most appreciated. By "light-at the bottom" I mean that a snath without the blade will more or less hang/lay horizontally if suspended upon a finger from the lower grip. Once the blade is mounted the unit will, of course, be heavier at the bottom.

2.  The downward pressure upon a blade during its cutting stroke is a good (sometimes even necessary) technique under many (though not all) conditions. I did not "invent" the idea, but yes, I was probably the first to present it in print -- at least in the English language. However, if you wanted to make a snath whose bottom end weight would "automatically" fulfill the function of the downward pressure, you'd end up with an awfully heavy and awkward tool overall. Keep in mind that at least half the time the scythe is used, it is not actually cutting (the backstroke already represents a half...) During all that time, a unit that feels like a well-balanced 'feather' in your hands is a pleasure to use, period. 

3.  I should also note here that for the single-grip snaths (which are held mostly at a more upright angle), there is NO advantage to have the upper end heavier; in fact it would be counterproductive (I've tried this as well).

To sum up:

Try your physics in the field; if you come up with anything revelatory, please get back to us.

With best regards,

Peter

Forge your own scythe blade

A question about a previous post (Brubaker scythe blade, Made in USA), followed by the response from Jack Brubaker:


Is there any chance you could provide me with a fuller description of how you went about making the scythe blade itself?  
I have been scouring old books and the internet to no avail for  information and instruction on this aspect of blacksmithing.  I am interested in the details of this as I have no machinery, such as a foot hammer, to pursue this project.  It is my hope that with more details I might be able to reproduce the same effects with simple hand tools. 
-- Carl

I want to write up my experiences with blade forging more completely after I have more practice myself. But, what follows are a few notes that might help. 

It is certainly true that scythes used to be forged without machinery. There is probably somewhere a shop on the fringe of world trade where this is still being practiced, perhaps many. My guess would be that the procedure would be similar to that used when forging with a power hammer, but I may be wrong. Look at the images on the Geyerhammer site to see the steps in forging. 

[link to Geyerhammer Scythe Museum, showing 23 steps to making a scythe blade]

The only part that really surprised me in watching the smiths at Schrockenfux was the way the blade held the preset curve while being hammered thin. My experience with knife making was that in forging a blade the greater hammering needed to thin the cutting edge to its slight thickness caused the blade as a whole to curve as that part of the blade grew in length more than the thick back of the blade. It is necessary to over compensate for this distortion by curving the blade into a C shape first so it will straighten out as it is thinned.  

The scythe smiths I watched did not have this problem at all. They started with the blank bent to the curve they wanted the final blade to have and kept that curve throughout the forging process.

Having done it once I now see that the difference between a knife and a scythe is that the knife blade has a wedge shaped cross section and a scythe has a thick back but is nearly even in thickness across the rest of the cross section.  I assumed that the thick back would constrain the back from growing in length as the rest of the blade is thinned and grew in length. Two things happen to prevent this from being a problem. First the thick back holds it's heat well because it is thick and just stretches some as the blade is forged. Second the blade is forged with a top die that is canoe shaped hammering on a flat bottom die. (The pointed end of the top die is needed to form the V shaped section between the back of the blade and the diagonal "deer's tongue" that reinforces the connection between the blade and the tang.) 

The long narrow shape of the top die acts as a fuller to move the metal primarily in one direction, to widen the blade as it is thinned. So far this is a lot like knife forging. The difference is that only a small square section is left to form the back while the rest of the blade is hammered very thin. The shape of the blade is watched by the smith and can be controlled by how much hammering is done near the back and how much is done near the edge. If they are balanced the blank will hold its pre-set curve. If the curve goes off it can be brought back with more hammering near one side or the other as if the back was not there.

To hand hammer a scythe blade there could be several approaches. One would be to try to use the cross pein to spread the blade taking care to not hit the back. Start by fullering a groove next to the back to define it's shape and use the cross pein to hammer the rest. This will be a very tedious process requiring many, many heats, unless you are a lot stronger than I am. In the act of taking so many heats on increasingly thinner metal some of the carbon may be burned out of the steel, so the result will be unpredictable.  Heating in a gas furnace rather than a coal fire will probably help limit the accumulated damage to the metal since the sulphur in the coal attacks the steel.

Another process would be to start with a very thin blank that could be cut to shape, and form the back by folding over the back edge once and then bending the doubled metal up at 90 degrees to the blade. There are blades being made this way in large forming dies. It can be done at the anvil with a V block in the hardy hole and working the fold down into the V with a cross pein hammer. Once the fold is formed, hammer it closed on the face of the anvil and form the next fold in the V block. This time just true up the fold at 90 degrees in the V block.

If there are still blades being hand forged somewhere they are most likely being hammered by a team of smiths. The master holding a top fuller and two or more strikers swinging sledges to drive the fuller as the master moves the blank under the blows. This can be a quite powerful process but requires experienced strikers and a lot of team work to really move the metal very much per heat. 

Walter Blumauer from the Geyerhammer Museum told me that in the old days in Austria, a scythe shop without power hammers with about 25 employees (smiths, polishers, finisher, packer, and foreman-owner) would make 25 blades a day. Using water hammers (since the 1500s), each smith could forge 200 to 250 blades a day. When he had met his quota he was done for the day and went home.

The V block seems to me to be the most important tool one would need to have to forge a blade by hand at the anvil, that and a strong arm. It is used to refine the form of the back in place of the double acting power hammer (that strikes both vertically and horizontally with alternating blows) used in the Austrian scythe shops.

One thing worth note is that in the modern practice the entire length of the blade (all but a short end that is hand held by the smith) is forged all over evenly so that the whole blade emerges from the blank at once. Working by hand this will be more problematic since only so much can be done at one heat. If one section of blade is hammered in one heat when the next section is forged there will be a problem of discontinuity where the two forged section merge and there will often be a spot where the blade is less wide where the two sessions of forging merge.

Over lapping hammer blows have a very interesting effect on the way the metal flows (what direction the metal moves under a series of blows). For the sake of example, if a square but flat hammer is used to make a series of heavy penetrating blows, each slightly to the right of the one before it, the metal will move to the right in growth. That is not to say that it won't move out in all directions as is expected from a hammer of this shape, just that there will be more spreading of the metal to the right than the other directions. This is caused by each successive blow landing on the right edge of the depression made by the previous blow. All the force of the hammer in concentrated on the small area where the next blow misses the last blow. 

The effect is the same as if a very narrow hammer face shaped like a straight pein hammer had been used. Scythe smiths use this effect to help control the movement of the metal. They also turn the blank at about 15 degrees to the top die and strike a line of blows down the area near the back or near the edge to both thin the metal and stretch those sides of the blade lengthwise. This can help control the shape of the blade. 

So for maximum widening of the blade, blows will be run in a pattern across the blank. For stretching the edge or back, blows may be struck in series that run up and down the blank along it's length (even though the die is still parallel to the blank). It is also possible to push out the back of the blade if it gets a little to straight (heaven forbid concave) by running a series of blows that start at the middle and move to the back, this will have the effect of pushing out the back. 

Don't worry too much about the exact width of the blade from the back to the edge. Keeping the shape and getting it thin is the main problem. If there is the right amount of metal to start with there should be enough width when the blade is well thinned. If there are excess bulges of metal on the cutting edge they can be trimmed off before final peining of the edge.

I hope to have time to make drawings of these hammering effects and tools that might help later this winter. Austrian blades are forged from 7 to 8 point plain carbon steel. Alloys would interfere with the cold hammering needed to set the tension in the blade in the Austrian method. I continue to use the blade I forged along side a new Austrian blade. I have had more tears in the edge of my blade. I don't know if that is a result of the blade not being hardened and tempered, or is because I used 10 point carbon steel, or because I use that blade for cutting tougher material since it is shorter and heavier. Because I often use it on heavier material I can't judge the blades one against the other effectively, but it remains a useful and effective tool.

-- Jack Brubaker

(Source:  Image "Sensenschmidt-1568" from Jost Amman and Hans Sachs, Frankfurt am Main, 
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sensenschmidt-1568.png)

Q&A: Mowing in Florida

Q:  I've been mowing my lawn this year with a scythe, and so far I'm very pleased.  I've run into one problem so far.  My lawn, like many in this area, is bahia grass. This grass likes to be mown high -- four or five inches or even higher.  It resents a close cut.  Sometimes while I'm mowing, the blade will ride along the top of the grass, clipping just the tips of the blades and especially the tall V-shaped seed heads this grass sends up, and the lawn looks good afterward.  But sometimes the blade wants to "dig in" and cut the grass close to the ground, and it takes the lawn a while to recover.  I've found that it helps to keep a loose grip and not press the blade downward. I keep experimenting with hafting angles. I was wondering if you have any additional tips for achieving a high but even cut.

A:  Here are some suggestions.  (Peter Vido may add some comments if I missed something): 


(1)  Adjust your snath (if possible) so that the blade will "hover" four inches above the ground when you are holding the snath with your right arm fully extended (assuming that you are right handed).  Otherwise, trying to consistently cut four or five inches above the ground will probably tire your arm muscles and give erratic results.  


(2)  Check the horizontal balance of the blade during the swing.  If the tip of the blade naturally tends to dip downward during the stroke (which would cut some grass too short), then make adjustments to the snath (if possible) according to the instructions here concerning horizontal balance.  If snath adjustments are not possible, then move the arms and wrists slightly during the swing to keep the blade level.


(3)  It may be useful to adjust the "lay" of the blade to increase the upward tilt of the sharp edge, especially if snath adjustments are not possible and you are relying on your arm and wrist muscles to modify your swing.  This is done by inserting a wedge between the snath and the tang of the blade, as shown in the instructions here concerning the lay.


(4)  Continue experimenting with the hafting angle to see what works best for you.


(5)  Keep the blade sharp, as a dull blade either bends the grass over or requires more swinging force, which can make the cuts more difficult to control.


(6)  For best results, try to mow in the mornings (or on cloudy days, even in the rain if it's not during a thunderstorm) before the sun dries out the grass.


Good luck, and feel free to give us an update.






(Sources:  Photo "Zoey lurks in the bahia grass" by j.s. clark, 
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/57366077@N00/21798599,
 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic 
 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en)

Q&A: Undocumented scything techniques

Q:  We love our new scythes!  We did a lot of scything this past week.  After a couple of days, we started to understand the required motion (or motions - which depends a lot on the conditions).   One thing that I did not see emphasized in any documents was the importance of the tip of the blade in cutting grass.  Peter did mention the importance of taking a shallow but wide swath.  But when I tried to work out the motion for cutting in between rows of plants, where the width is shorter than the scythe blade, if I led with the tip, it worked fine, but if I led with any other part of the blade, it did not cut well. Same with cutting grass in other situations: leading with the tip is more natural, and seems to be the key to cutting grass.  Not the same with thicker-woodier stems, which must be cut with the part of the blade between the middle and the snath.  Any comments?.


A:  You are learning from one of the best teachers of scything technique; namely, experience.  (To avoid picking up bad habits that are hard to unlearn, I suggest that beginners also pay attention to instructional readings and videos, if not live instructors.)


In most cases, leading with the tip of the blade is the best technique for cutting grass, since it assures a slicing motion using the full length of the blade.  And yes, woody stems generally are best cut with the back half of the blade (nearest the snath) to minimize the torquing of the blade resulting from the increased resistance to cutting.  Exceptions do exist, as you have found, especially when trimming in confined areas.


The following techniques were described by Peter Vido in response to your question: 
For "tight" trimming, the front half of the blade can be used, with the heel off the ground a bit to fit in the limited space.  For "very tight" trimming, without much forward distance available for the blade to travel, a back-and-forth "sawing" motion can be used, where the blade is cutting in both directions.  The scythe can cut backwards with a diagonal backstroke (back and to the right, for right-handed scythes).  This backward cutting stroke is useful for cutting behind trees when the mower is standing in front of the tree, as the blade edge can be brought very close to the tree trunk.  The back and forth technique, cutting on both forward and back strokes, is also good for cutting around other obstacles.  


The moral of the story is that scythe technique is not limited to what is found in written materials, so keep experimenting!


(Source:  "Tree trunks in the grass" painting by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tree_trunks_in_the_grass.jpg)

Q&A: Mowing clumps of grass on uneven ground

Q:  I would very much like to be able to "mow" my field with a scythe. But in all the videos and pictures I see of people using a scythe, the ground appears quite even. My ground is quite bumpy, and the grass (fescue, I think it is) grows in clumps.  Would a scythe work on such a field?  Would a shorter blade work better?


A:  Yes, you can use a scythe on uneven ground having clumps of grass.  (Most of my backyard could be described this way.)
However, the irregular surface will make it easier for the blade tip to dig into the ground, or for the heel of the blade to dip into a low spot, so more attention will have to be given to the horizontal control of the blade.  This usually translates to a firmer grip, less width of the swath, and occasionally some slight "hovering" of the blade above irregularities.


For such terrain, Peter Vido advises that the blade should not be longer than 70cm.  For a beginner, 60cm is probably sufficient.  If the mowing is mainly "trimming" of smaller areas, an even shorter blade can be used.


If you have a sizeable open grassy area (with uneven ground and clumps of grass) and you want to make hay, then a relatively stiff 70cm blade is recommended (like blade #9 in ScytheConnection's catalogue).  A shorter blade is easier for beginners, but will cut less grass with each stroke, requiring more time to do the job.


If you instead will be walking from clump to clump to cut them individually, then a blade as short as 40 or 45cm should be sufficient.




(Source:  Photo of "A field in Vesper, Oregon" copyright 2009 by Halvorsen brian, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)

Q&A: Tang angles for tall folks

Q: I have a pretty basic question. As an upright 6'-5" tall man, I should be considering blades with a tang steepness of 30 degrees plus?

-Mike

A: Peter Vido asked me to address your question, as I am 6'-8" tall and have faced the same issue.

In general, you could say that the taller you are, the steeper a tang you need, but the tang steepness you need depends mainly on the snath you will be using.

For example, the first scythe I got was from Johnny's Selected Seeds. The blade's tang angle was about 25 degrees. The snath was woefully too small for me. I modified it as shown in a photograph on this webpage:

http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/docs/retrofitting.html

The snath modification now allowed me to mow with a straight back. With this modified snath, 25 degrees was the right tang angle for someone of my height (but the ergonomics of the snath were far from ideal).

I later made a one-grip snath for the same 25 degree blade. I followed the instructions listed here:

http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/snathmaking/index.html

To make the one-grip snath work for me with a 25 degree blade, I had to use a piece of wildwood for the shaft (instead of sawn lumber) which was specially selected to have a curved bottom. (The wood was from the prunings of an ash tree in my backyard.) I sawed the curved bottom at just the right angle to accommodate my height and the 25 degree tang angle. With this snath, a 25 degree tang is the correct one for me, and it works remarkably better for me than the same blade with the modified Johnny's snath. (For example, with the Johnny's snath, I can't get a full swing with enough control to cut well at the end of the stroke.)

Without a curve at the bottom of the one-grip snath, in other words with a straight shaft, the tang angle would have to be much steeper. Exactly how steep can be calculated by the method quoted from the following webpage:

"To estimate the required tang angle [for a straight-shafted one-grip snath] for anyone, regardless of height, a scale drawing can be made on graph paper, or a bit of trigonometry can be applied. Assuming the person is right-handed, measure the the height of the right hand in the mowing stance (usually with the right arm almost completely straight), and divide this number by the theoretical distance between right grip and end of snath (following the instructions for making the one-grip snath), and find the arcsine (or "inverse sine") for this quotient. The result is the approximate tang angle required for both the one-grip snath and the Oregon snath."

-from http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/toolmaking/index.html#oregon

I wanted to make a straight one-grip snath and this method resulted a tang angle of about 50 degrees! Luckily for me, Peter happened to have some suitable blades in stock (he has many blades not listed in the catalogue).

I later wanted to try these same blades with a two-grip snath (homemade from straight lumber), so I designed the "Oregon Snath", as shown in the above link.

If I had a two-grip snath with curves in the right places, I could use a less-steep tang angle. How much less of an angle depends on the specific snath design (the location and amount of curvature, the grip arrangement, etc.)

The adjustable two-grip snaths that are available from various sources are only adjustable for a certain range of heights, and this doesn't really address the blade fit. Each adjustment of the snath might change the angle the snath makes with the ground, theoretically requiring a different tang angle.

For a given user/snath combination there is an optimal tang angle. (The desired use for the scythe can be reflected in the snath design and influence the optimal tang angle.) The available blades may not match this optimal tang angle. There is some leeway possible since the user can adjust his/her stance and arm positioning a bit to make a blade work, up to a certain limit. Beyond this, a wooden wedge can be used between the tang and the snath, to simulate a decrease in tang angle, up to about 5 degrees less than the actual tang angle. Modifications are sometimes made to the bottom of the snath, tapering (cutting a wedge off) the snath to simulate an increase in tang angle.

The use of wedges and tapering to affect the lay of the blade is explained in this webpage:

http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/snathmaking/snath2.html

A recap of the last couple points: A snath can be fitted to the user. The resulting snath will need a blade with a certain tang angle. The curvature of the snath affects the required tang angle of the blade. A blade with a tang angle that is too high for the user/snath combo (up to about 5 degrees too high) can still be used with a wedge. A blade with a tang angle that is too low (up to a couple degrees too low) can be used if the snath end is tapered.

With the Oregon snath, I took a different approach by starting with a given blade. The Oregon snath is then made to fit the user (and blade) without the use of wedges or tapers.

The blade/snath/user each have an influence on the other two factors. For example, you cannot determine the tang angle for a given height user without considering the specific snath.

The maker of the snath should have this all figured out, but this isn't always the case. I think that there may be some fudging done, such as one or two tang angles used for a range of users, instead of having a wider range of tang angles available to properly fit the range of users.

So I hope that you now understand how a 25-degree blade and a 50-degree blade can both fit the same tall person, and how the answer to your basic question depends on the specific snath.

-Steve