Thread: whatsit

Not bone is it. It may be a burnisher?

definitely not bone. if it's a burnisher, I cant imagine for what.

Could it be for weaving rug making ?

Scythe stone.

stuffy has it.
I remember watching my dad sharpen a scythe. A skill I never got any good at. There are also scythe stones with a wood handle.
Regards
John

I'm with Stuffy. Takes me back more than a bit.

it's awfully fine and soft for sharpening farm implements, but I suppose....
I'm thinking to reshape it a bit for gouges.

Originally Posted by bridger

it's awfully fine and soft for sharpening farm implements, but I suppose....
I'm thinking to reshape it a bit for gouges.

You havn't indicated the size of the stone, but to me it looks like a kitchen knife sharpening stone which my parents had pre-WW2. It was approx 200mm in length and 12mm thick, being about 30mm wide at the centre. It was much smaller and finer than a scythe sharpening stone, which is also relatively thicker, more like 50mm, and 300mm long. If that is what you have, try not to drop it, as they were prone to breakage.

Chas.

Originally Posted by stuffy

Scythe stone.

Once again Stuffy takes a swing at it and cuts a swathe through the thickets of ignorance and obscurity, leaving no stone unturned to hone our knowledge so we can reap the benefit.

Doggie (The Grin Reaper)

Originally Posted by Chas

You havn't indicated the size of the stone, but to me it looks like a kitchen knife sharpening stone which my parents had pre-WW2. It was approx 200mm in length and 12mm thick, being about 30mm wide at the centre. It was much smaller and finer than a scythe sharpening stone, which is also relatively thicker, more like 50mm, and 300mm long. If that is what you have, try not to drop it, as they were prone to breakage.

Chas.

I reckon you could be on the money, Chas. The scythe stone my old pot used was fairly hard, not soft. I don't remember it as being as big as you describe, though. It was oval in cross-section, and the same dimensions from end to end, not tapered like the stone above. My memory of it was 35mm or so max diameter by 25mm minimum diameter, & about 300m long, originally. (It had an accident at some stage & lost about 100mm from one end, which made it more interesting to use!). However, there were probably lots of different brands available back when every farm in our district seemed to have at least one scythe hanging in the shed, so no doubt they varied.

Scything is a skill that has all but died, hasn't it?. I used to watch my father cutting oats for the cows, or cleaning up long grass around the homestead. He would make one fluid sweep with the scythe, leaving a great fan of grass lying neatly on the ground, then step forward and repeat, making an identical fan a foot or so in front of the last one. I reckon he was quicker than any motorised line trimmer, with no noise or smoke. I tried to copy his technique, but never mastered the damn thing. I usually knocked over more grass than I cut off, & frequently dug the point firmly into the ground! I've long since switched to one of the smoky, noisy things to tackle the weeds on the property..

Cheers,

I've got some of these ... longest at roughly 1ft ... and the grit varies.

Some are very coarse, but at least one is a yellowish stone that looks a lot like the Washita oilstones.

It's a diamond shape, but it is all lumps and bumps from use, unlike a ww oilstone.

Cheers,
Paul

Originally Posted by IanW

I reckon he was quicker than any motorised line trimmer, with no noise or smoke. Cheers,

I prefer to mount the slasher on the tractor (eight foot deck preferably) not a lot of skill required and a bit faster.