Join the "One Scythe Revolution".

One good scythe per farm, and the knowledge of how to use it, could revolutionize small-scale farming.

Mow tall grass and weeds with ease! Harvest your own hay, bedding, and mulch from your own land without the use of expensive and polluting machines.

Our mission is to provide the best quality scythes available, and the know-how necessary for people to be able to utilize them to their fullest ecological potential.

We import the highest quality scythes available from Austria, and we have a complete scythe shop on our farm.

We teach mowing, peening, and haying workshops at our farm and in the surrounding area. See our "Current Events and Announcements" calendar below for information on up-coming workshops.

How to Mow with a Scythe How to Use a Whetstone How to Peen a Scythe Blade

To order by mail:

We also sell scythes by mail-order. We have special telescoping shipping boxes and can ship most any combination of snaths, blades, and rakes in one box. We ship by UPS. For your convenience we have basic scythe packages available in our PayPal Shopping Cart.

If you need anything else, contact us for a current price list. Let us know what you want to order and we will email you an invoice through PayPal. You can then pay us securily on-line with a credit card, or snail-mail us a check.

Basic Scythe Outfits for Easy Mail-ordering:

www.onescytherevolution.com

Accepting
Pay Pal

Or call 715-772-4642 or by eMail.

Testimonial

"The scythe is awesome. I knew I loved these scythes (I had one just like this in Austria), but after having used a somewhat crappy one for a while, the Schoeckenfuxes seem like Rolls Royces. Super light, perfectly fitted to my body, super sharp, great blade shape!"
I.M. - Iowa

Testimonial

"I ordered a scythe. I received a beautiful piece of art. Packaged with more loving care than anything I've ever gotten. And I can't believe how light and graceful the blade and snath are. I would like to think that the processes of forging and machining them was very satisfying for the persons who made them.

Thank you SO much!"
H.N. - Wisconsin

Testimonials

"The Austrian red bush scythe ... has been perfect for my prairie project! It did a wonderful job dispensing with tender weeds as well as the woodier brambles, young prickly ash and small poplar saplings. It has held up well to the abuse, ...and sharpens up very nicely." W.H. - Wisconsin

Testimonials

"I checked out your (YouTube) videos and did my first peening a week or two ago. The videos helped a ton, mainly for getting an idea of how hard to hit with the hammer. I envisioned something much more intense than it actually is. The peening went great, as I appear to have avoided any warping or weird shaping issues, and I got it at least as sharp as it was from the factory." I.M. - Iowa

We sell high quality "Austrian" scythes. These are the same scythes as sold by the Austrian Scythe Assoc. (see www.sensenverein.at ) The blades are triple-peened and hand finished by the factory. This means that they are super-sharp and truly "mähfertig" (ready-to-mow). The snaths are made in Switzerland and feature adjustable, ergonomic grips. The adjustment mechanism for the grips hold very securely, and is patented. These scythes are strong, light-weight, well-balanced and a pleasure to mow with.

The blades are hand-forged by the Schrockenfux factory of Austria. They have been making scythe blades since 1540. We have a 70cm and a 60cm grass blade (green), and a 50cm light bush blade (red). All three have the same tang angles and are interchangeable on the Swiss snath. The grass blades are triple peened and hand-finished. This means that they are super-sharp and ready-to-mow. The bush blade is also factory sharpened and is ideal for mowing thick stemmed weeds such as thistles, ragweed, brambles, golden rods, etc.

An 85cm field blade for mowing larger areas of hay and grain. 85cm (34in.) long, 65mm wide at midpoint, and weighs 618g. These were custom-made for us in Austria. Excellent workmanship! Perfect hafting angle. The tang angle is set for the snaths that we sell. Same high quality metal as our grass blades. Easy to hone and peen. The width enables the blade to have a pronounced "belly" and "rocker", which makes the blade very stable and easy to control, over rough ground, such as a formerly plowed field. It won't get hung up like a skinny blade. The simple and direct shape would make it easy to attune with a homemade grain cradle. This blade makes mowing even more fun! Triple peened and ready-to-mow.

Here are some close-up photos showing the high quality of the components of the snaths in detail. Notice the precision milling of the adjustment mechanisms, and the comfortable ergonomic shape of the grips. The end of the snath has a metal "snath-saver" and a plastic ring cushion to protect the wood of the snath. A welded "ring" and a large, metric Allen-wrench "key" are included.

A premium quality, traditional ,"short", narrow anvil, made by the Picard Company of Germany. It weighs 500 grams, has a hardness of 50-58 HRC. It has a medium-wide radius. The tapered spike is for mounting the anvil into a pre-drilled hole in a hardwood stump."

This may be the ultimate peening anvil. It's a new narrow scythe anvil designed by Ernst Schoiswohl for the Schroeckenfux Scythe Factory. It features an adjustable support platform, a guide for the edge of the blade, plus a precisely and expertly shaped radius on the anvil face. The anvil is made from extremely high quality steel, hardened to 58-60 Rockwell, and weighs 700g's. The attachable guide and support platform make it easy to keep the edge in the correct position on the anvil face. This anvil makes it much easier for a beginner to get good results when freehand peening. Experienced peeners may remove the guide and support platform, but they will still greatly appreciate the exceptional hardness of the anvil and the expertly shaped radius. Amazing consistency is possible with this anvil. See more photos in our photo gallery.

We sell the following whetstones:

The Styria artificial whetstone: Used for sharpening the bush blade
The Black-blue Bregenser (Austria): Good for honing bush blades and "ditch" blades in the field. Our most aggressive, natural whetstone. Good for honing bush blades in the field.
The "Green Dragon" Mailander (Italy): A very soft, medium grit, bench stone (too big for the metal whetstone holders. I use it for the intitial honing after peening.)
The White Bregenser (Austria): A general purpose whetstone with a softer, medium-fine grit. It's forgiving of beginners.
An antique "tipped" Bregenser (Austria): The best choice for people who only want to buy one whetstone, ever. It has an excellent hard, medium-fine grit. Good for all blades, and for beginners to experts. It does, however, have a straighter shape that requires a lot more wrist-action.
The Rozsutec (Slovakia): The beautifully finished, very fine and very hard Rozsutec stone. It's hand-quarried near Rozsutec Mtn. in Slovakia. It's the preferred stone of those who free-hand peen their blades. It's so fine and hard that beginner's often can't get it to do anything. Once you learn how to really use a whetstone, however, it creates a very fine edge.

We have an on-farm scythe shop and sell all the essential scythe accessories, including peening jigs, anvils, hammers, whetstones, etc. plus the Scythe Book.

With a good scythe, the mowing becomes the easy part! Dealing with the massive volume of cut grass (especially if you've been mowing tall grass!) becomes the bulk of the work. A good hay rake makes this job much easier. We sell traditional, split-head (Flex-frame), wooden hay rakes with 6' handles, made by the Cheesebrough Mfg. Co. of Michigan. They've been making these rakes since 1872 and still use much of the original manufacturing equipment. The wood is unfinished (bare wood) and needs to be sealed. Linseed oil and turpentine mixed 50/50 works well.

Current Events and Announcements

Our duck eggs are available at the Traditional Foods Warehouse in Mpls. at 302 W.61st Street, ph. 612-861-0097. See http://web.me.com/willwinter/traditionalfoodsmn.mac.com/Welcome.html for directions and more info about this exciting new method of food distribution. You have to be a member to shop there, but it's easy to join and it's a worthy cause; REAL FOOD!

Our scythe business has outgrown our farm website and is transitioning to www.onescytherevolution.com . You can order from either website.

May 1st & 2nd, 2010, 10-5pm - We will be in the Creative Drive at the Silver Bison Ranch in Baldwin, WI, selling framed farm photos and cards. I'll have some scythes with me also. For more info see www.thecreativedrive.com

May 16th, 2010 - Basic Scythe Workshop at Mystic Prairie Eco-Farm. Noon-5pm. Learn how to set up your scythe, and how to mow, and hone in the field. Peening will be demonstrated and de-mystified.

May 30th, 2010, 8-4pm - Adv. Scythe Workshop/ Scythe Instructor training.
There's a growing demand for scythe instructors, but very few people are knowledgeable enough to teach much about it. This workshop will give you more of the in-depth knowledge that you will need to manage a scythe-based farm, and to help "spread the word" and teach Beginner's Scythe Workshops. Prerequisites: My Basic Workshop and/or some accomplished mowing and peening experience. Study the www.onescytherevolution.com site and also my peeening manual before the workshop.

If you're surfing the web, check out our scythe and farm videos at our YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Scythesman8, especially my playlist on harvesting grains. Also our new website at www.onescytherevolution.com . If you're on Facebook, become a fan of Mystic Prairie Eco-Farm.