Austrian Scythe Guide • • • Product List • • • Price List • • • How To Order • • • Order Form
Beginners' Courses • • • Picture Gallery • • • Scything Festivals & Competitions • • • Austrian Scythes Changed my Life
Welcome to The Scythe Shop
POSTAL ADDRESS: Simon Fairlie (Scythes), The Potato Store, Flaxdrayton Farm, South Petherton, Somerset, TA13 5LR
E-MAIL: chapter7@tlio.org.uk PHONE NUMBER: 01460 249204 .
AUSTRIAN SCYTHES FOR SALE
We import Schröckenfux hand-forged scythe blades into the UK, direct from the factory in Austria where they have been made since 1540. Austrian scythe blades are recognized around the world as being of the highest quality -- which is why we import them and not cheap imitations. They are lighter, nimbler, more elegantly formed and easier for the novice to sharpen -- yet no more expensive than traditional English scythes.
We also import other equipment you might need to make up a complete scythe kit: snaths (handles), sharpening stones and peening equipment. And we sell copies of The Scythe Book, by David Tresemer, with an addendum by Peter Vido. These products are described on other pages of this site.
We aim to revive the activity of scything in the UK. Scything summer growth by hand is usually quicker than using a strimmer, and there is no noise, vibration or pollution. Scything an acre of grass is probably less hassle than maintaining and using a motor scythe. Once you have learnt how to sharpen and use an Austrian scythe properly, mowing a meadow by hand becomes a joy, rather than a struggle.
Scything with a good tool relaxes the mind and attunes the body. As Levin says to his brother after a day's mowing, in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina : "You can't imagine what an effectual remedy it is for every sort of foolishness."
BUYING A SCYTHE
If you are interested in finding out more about our scythes, please go to Austrian Scythe Guide . If you want to find out what we have for sale please go to Product List and the Price List . If you want to order a scythe please go to How To Order and print out an Order Form
BULK ORDERS
We can supply bulk orders at a discount to retailers, people giving courses and other distributors. Orders will need to be made well in advance. We insist that our scythes are distributed with adequate instructions and back up information, which we can provide. Prices by arrangement, please telephone Simon on 01460 249204 or e-mail chapter7@tlio.org.uk
PROFESSIONAL LAND MANAGERS
If you require scythes and equipment for a team of workers or volunteers we can supply a package of goods together with a day long training programme. Please telephone Simon on 01460 249204 or e-mail chapter7@tlio.org.uk . Our scythes are used by land managers at The National Trust, RSPB, BTCV, London Zoo, and various Wildlife Trusts, County Councils and District Councils.
TUITION
Maintaining and using a scythe requires some skill. All our scythes are supplied with detailed instructions, and if you buy a scythe direct from our store, we will give you an hour's basic tuition. We run courses for beginners; please click on Beginners' Courses to see when the next courses will be held.
There are now some excellent videos available on YouTube, placed there by the Vido family (http://www.youtube.com/user/kaivido), Neil Dudman (http://www.youtube.com/user/ndudman8) and Botan Anderson of Mystic Prairie (http://www.youtube.com/user/Scythesman8). Many thanks to them for this service.
OUR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY
The art of scything has been lost in the British Isles and our aim is to revive it. We subscribe to Ivan Illich's aim of retooling society with convivial tools that "allow men to achieve purposes with energy fully under their own control".
We provide a range of goods, a level of expertise, and an advice service which could not be provided in a hardware shop. If you can get to our store in Somerset we will spend an hour explaining the most important elements of hand-mowing to you. We also run day courses for beginners (see above).
A proportion of profits from The Scythe Shop goes towards supporting Chapter 7 and The Land magazine. Chapter 7 is a voluntary organization providing free advice to smallholders and low income people in rural areas who have problems getting planning permission — see http://www.tlio.org.uk/chapter7/index.html The Land is an occasional magazine about land rights — see http://www.tlio.org.uk/TheLand/Issue_2.html
SCYTHE FESTIVAL AND OTHER EVENTS
The 2008 Scythe Festival was held at Thorney Lakes, Muchelney, Somerset on 15 June. Over a thousand people attended. The overall winner of the competition was Simon Damant, from Cambridgeshire. A report is posted on our Scything Festivals & Competitions page.The 2009 festival will be about the same time in June: information will be posted on the same page.
There are an increasing number of scything events occurring throughout the UK. We send out an e-mail three or four times a year informing people about festivals, courses and other scythe events and developments throughout the UK. If you want to be on this list, please e-mail chapter7@tlio.org.uk
GM CROPS
Scythes are an ideal tool for making it clear to sowers of experimental GM crops that 90 per cent of UK residents do not want them in this country. We are happy to loan scythes for anti-GM protests.
PETER VIDO
We wish to acknowledge our debt to Peter Vido, who has provided an incalculable amount of help and advice. Peter, with the help of his family, has done more than anybody to revive scythe use in the English-speaking world, and to unveil the subtleties of this tool. His website goes deeper than ours into mowing and sharpening techniques, and acts as an international information point. www.scytheconnection.com. If you want to see mowing as it should be done, watch Peter and his family on this video.http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/video/index.html.
OUR FAVOURITE TESTIMONIAL
Octagenarian Walter Lloyd writes: "I got back from Appleby Fair at the weekend and found the scythe waiting for me. A beautiful tool. Doing half an hour to an hour a day I have already mown a fifth of an acre. Just waiting for the sun to turn it into hay. I find mowing less effort than walking down the field."
ANGLO-AMERICAN SCYTHES
We buy good condition old British scythes when we come across them, and usually have a few secondhand blades and snaths for sale.
OUR CONTACT DETAILS
PHONE NUMBER: 01460 249204
E-MAIL: chapter7@tlio.org.uk
POSTAL ADDRESS: Simon Fairlie (Scythes), The Potato Store, Flaxdrayton Farm, South Petherton, Somerset, TA13 5LR, UK.
FRANÇAIS
Ici on parle français. Si vous cherchez une faux légère fabriquée en Autriche, envoyez un mail å chapter7@tlio.org.uk
PICTURE CREDIT
The illustration at the top of the page is by Gill Barron. Feast your eyes at http://www.ipaint.org.uk/