An informational pamphlet on sharpening stones, produced at an interesting point in history when both natural and synthetic stones were in common usage, and the sources of internationally traded natural stones were well known with active quarries. While one must bear in mind that as a promotional document the information within will hold certain biases, yet this provides a fascinating and seemingly often frank look into what went into the production of natural and synthetic sharpening stones during a major transitional period of history.
A full .PDF file of this document may be found here.
An original photograph by Fotograms of New York City. The back contains the pasted typewriter text:
PLEASE CREDIT FOTOGRAMS, N.Y.
CHAMPION GIRL SCYTHE SLINGER CUTS WIDE SWATH.
HELEN BERNABY, CHAMPION GIRL SCYTHE SLINGER. 19 YEARS OLD, WAS UNTIL A DAY OR TWO AGO, WAS CHAMPION MOWER OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, EVEN OVER ALL THE MEN, THIS YEAR, A 65-YEAR OLD VETERAN WITH GNARLED HANDS, THAT HAVE BEEN TRAINED IN THE SHUFFLING SWING OF A SCYTHE THREE TIMES AS LONG AS HELEN’S REDEEMED THE RPIDE [sic] OF MASCULINE NEW HAMPSHIRE, BY DEFEATING HELEN, HELEN IS AN ALL-ROUND ATHLETE, AND SHE HOPES TO TURN THE TABLES NEXT YEAR.
The year prior to when this photo was taken, a New York Times article was written celebrating her victory. Be forewarned that the article is “of its time” and contains remarks that reflect the then-present biases against her Italian heritage. This original photo appears to have received some artistic enhancement to compensate for the brightness and contrast of the negative, having outlines painted in to enhance the edges of the collar, her arm, and folds of her garments, as well as the top of her head.
A lovely vintage catalog by the organization that would later become Falci Tools of Italy. Falci themselves consulted with the oldest still-living man who worked for them and based on some of the patterns named after towns, which are now mere villages, and concluded that this catalog dates from the very early 1900’s.
An illustrated brochure from scythe manufacturer Hervey Waters of Northbridge, Massachusetts, circa 1861, demonstrating his offered range of curvatures and describing their regional popularity for what kinds of terrain and growth. Mr. Waters has been credited with a number of manufacturing innovations, including the use of roll-forging as opposed to the typical use of trip hammers. A PDF form of this incredible document can be found HERE.
Also shown is an order slip dated 186_ of the same firm.
Up until the mid 19th century, American scythes had used the English method of affixing their nibs: an iron loop was fastened to the shaft of the snath by means of a wedge driven between the loop and the snath itself. While this allowed the nibs to be positioned at will along the snath, the wedges were prone to working their way loose at inconvenient moments, and in the industrial boom of the mid-1800’s a number of innovations were made in the means of fastening nibs. The most notable of these is the method that eventually became the standard: the so-called “Clapp’s Patent” nib. Patented in 1838 by Joseph and Erasmus S. Clapp of Montague, Massachusetts, it was the first nib known to bear the form that we see so commonly today on almost all snaths, both new and vintage. The nibs made currently by Seymour Midwest Tools are effectively of the same fundamental design.
We were fortunate enough to come into possession of an original example of one of Clapp’s Patent nibs, as well as a contemporary clone by Lamson Co. This company was particularly notable, for its owner and founder, Silas Lamson, is commonly credited with having inventing the steam bent curved snath as we know it today. This innovation is often cited as having been in 1834, though we have documentation that places it as much as 6 years earlier. An 1830 document declaring his letters patent include, among other innovations, “the mode of fastening the nibs without wedges” although we do not know the specific mechanism used. As can be seen in the following photos, our Lamson nib is nearly identical to the Clapp one. The Clapp patent seems to have been at the center of a court case regarding patent infringement in 1840.
A traditional style of farm knife made from a broken American scythe blade, usually used for topping root crops.
The blade below crack was cut back to the spine, which was forged out into a tang. Normally this would have been simply wrapped with rags to form the grip (which is why they were called rag knives) but we used a reshaped billhook handle instead.
The tang is peened on the end and the grip tightly wedged from the top inside the ferrule for an extremely tight and secure fit.
The French Douk-Douk knife is arguably much more famous than the Duk-Duk secret society of the South-Pacific Tolai people from which it derives its name. Photographs and drawings of actual Duk-Duk members (who acted as enforcers of tribal spiritual and civil order sometimes quite brutally) are scarce and difficult to track down amongst the throngs of images to be found of the knives that bear the name. We’ve gathered a number of images and arranged them here for those curious in knowing more about the figure behind the iconic tool.
We do not own any of these pictures. If you are the copyright holder of any of them and wish them to be removed, please let us know.
A fascinating ca. 1911 account of the manufacture of wooden scythe snaths at the Fenn Manufacturing Co. of Charlotte, MI. Interestingly, the wood used for the grips of their nibs are described as being made from maple, while birch was the most commonly used wood for the task.
Young, C. (1911). Manufacturing Scythe Snaths. In The Wood-Worker (Vol. 30, pp. 30-31). S. H. Smith Company.
A collection of writings on edged tools from the folks at Baryonyx Knife Co.
