Peening an Austrian Scythe Blade with a Narrow Scythe Anvil

By Botan Anderson

Introduction:
A sharp blade is the key to success in using a scythe. A sharp blade cuts through grass with
amazing ease. It enables you to peacefully, and effectively harvest your own hay, control weeds,
clear pathways, etc. Mowing with a well-designed scythe with a sharp blade, is an enjoyable,
aerobic form of exercise. Mowing with a dull blade results in the all-too-common phenomenon of
compensating for the lack of sharpness, with sheer force and velocity. Violently hacking down the
vegetation like this, while invigorating at first, quickly leads to exhaustion. The erroneous
conclusion then is that mowing with a scythe is just too much work, and the tool is put away to
rust in the garden shed, and the bright idea of mowing by hand is abandoned.
In order to effectively utilize the Austrian scythe to it's fullest potential, one must learn how to
maintain the sharpness of the blade.

What is peening?
An Austrian (tensioned) scythe blade is sharpened by hammering the cutting edge thin on a
scythe anvil, and then honing it with a whetstone. If you could see a cross-section of the
miniscule cutting edge of a sharp scythe blade, you would see that it forms a very sharp, slightly
curved, chisel-shaped point. As you mow with it, that sharp point gradually gets rounded off. You
restore the sharpness of the point every 5 minutes or so in the field, by honing the rounded-off
edge with a wet, natural whetstone to re-form the acute angle of that sharp point. This cycle is
repeated until the metal of the chisel-shaped point has been worn back (by the repetition of
mowing and honing) to where the metal is so thick, that the whetstone can no longer effectively
re-form the sharp, acute angle of the original cutting edge. At this time the edge must be drawn
and thinned back out, with a hammer and anvil, until its thin enough for the whetstone to be
effective again. The process of hammering the edge of the scythe blade to draw and thin it out, is
called peening.

Background:
I first learned to peen with a peening jig, and I was quite satisfied with the results from my limited
perspective at the time. Then in 2006, I attended the International Scythe Symposium in Canada,
and there I was amazed at how much sharper the free-hand peened blades were. The extra
sharpness made mowing delightfully easier! Many different methods of peening were represented
at this Symposium, by instructors that had mastered their techniques, and us students had an
opportunity to try whatever method interested us. All of them, quite frankly, seemed rather difficult
to learn, and that it would take a long time to develop the skill.
The next eye-opening experience that I had was getting to try out Instructor Neils Johansson of
Denmarks, large 500g Peddinghaus narrow anvil. I was amazed at how this high quality anvil,
made free-hand peening actually seem rather easy. Especially as compared to peening with the
small (250g), unhardened, Czech anvils that are commonly available here in the USA. I marveled
at this, and discussed with Neils what qualities the Peddinghaus anvil had that made it so much
easier to peen with. It came down to the overall size, the hardness of the steel, and the shape of
the anvil face. I, of course, immediately wanted one of these anvils! Neils informed me that he
had searched high and low for more of them, but Peddinghaus no longer made them. When Peter

Vido heard that we were looking for a source for these higher quality anvils, he informed us that
the Picard Company of Germany, makes a similar one. Our interest in these anvils quickly spread
to all of the Scythe Network retailers, and now we are all carrying the Picard anvils. (Fig.1)
Another person who was impressed by Niels Peddinghaus anvil, at the 2006 Symposium, was
Ernst Schoiswohl, the technician for the Schroeckenfux scythe factory. Hes the designer of the
adjustable Swiss snath, with the interchangeable 3 blades, that I sell. An absolute master at
peening with a cross-peen hammer and a wide anvil, Ernst had never tried peening with a narrow
anvil before. He tried Niels anvil at the Symposium, and he too was very impressed with how
easy it was too peen with. This eventually inspired Ernst to design a new type of narrow anvil
(see Fig. 11) for Schroeckenfux (SFX or Fux) that would make it even easier for a beginner to get
good results with. Its an anvil with a support platform upon which you can rest the rib of the
blade, and a guide to keep the edge in the correct position on the anvil. Experienced peeners can
remove both these attachments, but they will still appreciate the exceptional hardness of the
steel, and the expertly shaped anvil face.

Peening Methods:
When I returned from the Symposium, I decided to review what I had learned about peening (and
brush-up on my German while I was at it), by reading Bernhard Lehnerts book on peening
entitled Dengeln. Much to my surprise, Bernhard Lehnert described yet another method of
peening with a narrow anvil in his book. This method was my next revelation in regard to peening.
The more I thought about, and experimented with all the peening methods that I had been
exposed to, the more I realized that the method that Bernhard Lehnert presented in his book
would be the easiest for beginners to learn, and quickly get good results with, especially when
starting out with a new blade that has a truly ready to mow factory sharpened edge. However, it
was obvious to me that his method could be much improved and updated, by the techniques I
had learned at the Symposium, and also from my own experiments. This culminated into the
peening method that I use, and present here. It is a synthesis of what I've learned.
I believe that with good instruction, and good peening equipment, this method is easy to learn,
very effective, and is the least likely to cause damage to your scythe blade.
Since using this method, my blades have been wonderfully sharp, and the sharpness lasts a long
time, and I have never gotten a wavy or cracked edge from over-peening. This method, however,
is best suited to either a brand-new blade, or a well maintained blade that still has a good primary
bevel. It is not well suited for a blade that has been heavily used, and worn down by the
overzealous use of a whetstone (instead of being peened), so that the original factory bevel has
been worn back to a very thick, rounded edge. A more aggressive peening technique, such as
the one at http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/docs/freehandPeening.html , would most likely
be more suitable for re-creating the primary bevel (a.k.a. peening zone or Vordangel). These
methods would be challenging for a beginner, however. If youre a beginner you can still use my
method with a very dull blade, but it will take many, many more passes to bring out the edge, and
you have to hit quite a bit harder, or use a heavier hammer. A more aggressive technique would
bring out the metal much quicker. An anvil with a wider radius (9mm), would make it easier draw
the metal out smoothly with the more aggressive method, without creating deep grooves.
The peening method that I use is a very precise technique, and a high-quality hammer and anvil
are essential. An anvil without the proper radius, and/or one that is too soft, will give you poor
results and much frustration, as will a cheap, or inappropriate hammer.

Hammering Skill:

Even though I claim that my peening method is almost as easy as using a peening jig, you do
have to have some basic hammering skill. If you can't hit a nail, neither method will be easy. A
peening jig requires much less accuracy, but it requires that you to hit with a lot more force than
you do when free-hand peening. You need to hit with a consistent force with either method. With
a peening jig you also have to move the blade through the jig very evenly, which with some jigs is
difficult to do. And because you are striking the cap, which is then in turn, striking the blade, you
are removed from feeling/seeing the direct result of your actions. By contrast, free-hand peening
on a narrow anvil requires less force, but a lot more sensitivity and consistency with the hammer,
but you can see and feel the direct result of your action. All things considered, I do not consider
the peening jig that much of an advantage for a beginner, unless you really don't have any
hammering skills.
If you have not used a hammer much before, in order to develop the coordination and feel for
hammering, I suggest getting a scrap piece of 2x4 and a box of small nails [1"- 1 1/4" finishing
nails are a good size] and practice hammering the nails into it. (Use a carpenters hammer for
that, not your peening hammer. Your peening hammer should only be used for peening!) When
you can smoothly hammer the nails into the wood, without bending the nail or dinging up the
wood, you will be ready to try peening your scythe blade. Assembling new bee-hive frames is
also good hammering practice (and more productive!).

Choosing a Scythe Anvil:

The very precise peening method that I recommend, is for whats known as a narrow or bar
anvil. The anvil must be made of very high quality steel, and be very hard. Harder than the scythe
blade. The face of the anvil must be slightly rounded from left-to-right (as when it is mounted in
your peening stump and facing you), and very rounded back-and-forth. How rounded should it
be? It should have at least the radius of an American dime (10mm), but ideally a little smaller. If
the radius is too small, though, the edge of the blade will curl dramatically, when you peen with it.
The Picard anvils (see Fig.1) are a premium quality scythe anvil. They have a very nice normal
radius and excellent hardness. The new SFX (see Fig. 11) anvil has come in a variety of radii,
over the years, from normal to wide, and is even harder than the Picard.
I have not had good success with the commonly available, unhardened, 250g, narrow anvils
produced in the Czech Republic. The small size makes them awkward to use. The softer steel
makes the blade bounce around a lot, making it difficult to keep the blade in place (a cheap
hammer does not help either!), and the flatness of the narrow anvil face quickly results in an
unevenly, and over-peened edge. Rounding off the anvil face with a mill file will help, but the fact
they are still too small, in my opinion, and not hard enough.
The new SFX anvil is also available in a tall (16cm) version. The advantage of a tall anvil is that
the anvil can be mounted in the same stump that you are sitting on. This creates an extremely
stable base for the anvil. The disadvantage is that you need to have a very large stump to do that
(especially if you are 6'5 tall like me!). You can also mount a tall anvil on a separate stump from
your seat, like with the short anvil, but with a much shorter stump.

Choosing a Hammer:
You may have read on other websites, that you can use any common carpenters hammer with a
narrow anvil. This may be true, but in my experience, it is very difficult to get good results, unless
you have the tools to reshape and polish the face. I have not been able to find a suitable hammer
in any store in my area. It is difficult to determine their hardness, but they all have a face that is
too convex. If you have the equipment, you might be able to regrind and polish, the face of the
hammer to a more conducive shape (just slightly convex), and finish. The Picard scythe hammer
(see Fig.1) was recommended to me by Peter Vido and is the best that Ive used so far. Its a

nicely balanced hammer, with excellent hardness, and a very effective shape to the hammer face,
and is available pre-polished to a mirror finish. This hammer makes good results much easier to
achieve. Other brands of scythe peening hammers may have tiny striations on the hammer face.
These should be polished off with 350 grit wet/dry sandpaper (the black kind), followed by 400,
and then polish it with 600 grit. Use it wet. The Picard hammers that I now sell are polished to a
mirror finish.

Setting up your Peening Block or Stump:

The anvil has a tapered spike at the bottom which needs to be set into a stump or block of wood.
Hardwood is best. If you are using a short anvil (see Fig. 1), the block or stump that your anvil sits
in (see Fig.6) needs to be at a height that enables you to support the blade with the top of your
thighs, while seated (see Fig.7). When peening either end of the blade on the anvil, you support
the opposite end of the long blade with the top of your thigh. This keeps the blade level and
supported. Ideally this stump needs to be about 10 - 12 inches in diameter, and anchored in the
ground several inches. Otherwise they have a tendency to wiggle. Your seat needs to be at a
height that enables your feet to be flat on the ground, so that you can raise and lower the level of
your thigh by raising or lowering your heels. Another stump can serve as your seat. My lightweight traveling peening stump and seat, that I use for demonstrations, is pictured in Fig. 2. A
home set-up should look like that, but should be more heavy-duty as in Fig.6. Since the blade is
peened upside down, on a narrow anvil, you may need to notch out the top of the log that your
anvil is in, on the left side of the anvil, to accommodate scythe blades with a higher tang angle.
To mount your anvil into the wood, you need to pre-drill a slightly under-sized hole for the anvil
spike. Then insert the spike and pound the top of the anvil with a piece of firewood until it is firmly
in place. NEVER USE A HAMMER FOR THIS as you might damage the anvil surface.
If you are using a tall anvil, or Dengelstock (Fig.3), all you need is a stump big enough to sit on
and tall enough for your feet to just reach the ground (Fig. 4). The anvil goes into the same stump
that you are sitting on. The advantage of this is that you add your own mass, to the mass of the
stump, creating an extremely solid base for the anvil, which will result in more accuracy and
consistency when peening. The spike at the bottom of the dengelstock is wedge shaped and
doesnt need a pre-drilled hole. Just pound it into the stump, where you want it, with a piece of
firewood. Never use a hammer to pound an anvil in place.
The tall version of the SFX anvil does need a pre-drilled hole. I usually ship both sizes of SFX
anvils, fully assembled with the support anvil and guide plate attached. To mount these anvils in
your stump, first pre-drill a hole. Then set the spike in the hole, and push it down firmly. Then
instead of pounding it in place with a piece of firewood (which might damage the wings of the
peening guide), place a scrap piece of 1x2 lumber on top of the anvil face, and pound the piece
of scrapwood with your peening hammer.

Cleaning the edge:

Cleaning the blade is the next step. Remove the blade from the snath. If it is really dirty with plant
sap and dirt, I prefer to wash it first. Use a sponge with a scrubbing pad and some dish soap. Dry
carefully. A clean blade will slide smoothly over the anvil surface, and which will make it easier to
guide and peen the blade evenly. Keep the anvil surface clean as well. Use the rust-eraser and/or
the maroon colored scrubbing pad to clean the anvil face. Next, further clean the edge of your

blade by rubbing both sides of the edge, with a medium-grit, rust-eraser type, rubber sanding
block. Sandflex is a good brand. This removes any remaining sap, dirt, and rust, but more
importantly, it creates a matte finish on the metal. This matte finish is highly desirable, because
then, when you strike the edge of the blade with the hammer, the hammer strikes are visible as
shiny marks on a matte background (see Fig.9). This makes it very easy to tell where you have
been hitting, and if you have skipped any areas. The hammer marks should join together in a
solid, continuous line, as you incrementally peen the entire edge of the scythe blade, mm by mm.
Clean the edge on both sides, and then wipe the edge with a rag, to remove all the grit and
eraser crumbs.

PeeningOriginally all scythe blades were probably peened from the top, on a wide anvil, and with a crosspeen hammer. This required tremendous accuracy with a hammer. Later, it was discovered that it
was much easier to peen a scythe blade laying upside-down on a bar-peen (a.k.a. narrow) anvil,
and to hit it on the back with a wide-faced hammer. The accuracy then comes from positioning
the edge in the correct place on the anvil, and holding it still. So when peening with a narrow
anvil, the blade is placed upside down on the anvil, and the edge is placed at the top of the radius
(the back-and-forth curve of the anvil face), just a hair past center, towards you. Peening is a
matter of methodically tapping the very thin, actual cutting edge of the blade (0.5 - 2mm) with the
hammer. It is not a hard hammer blow, because the metal is very thin here. You develop a feel for
it after some practice. You firmly tap the edge, and move the blade slowly, and incrementally, mm
by mm, until you have peened the entire edge of the scythe blade. Subsequent passes are then
often needed, to smoothly and evenly draw out the metal, to form a thin, and extremely sharp
cutting edge. Rub the edge with the rubber sandblock before each pass so that you can see your
new hammer marks.

1. The Drawing Hammer Strike

The first hammering technique that I use is the "drawing" or pulling hammer strike (Ziehender
Dengelschlag p.38- Bernhard Lehnert, Dengeln, also called the Glancing Blow in the U.K.). You
strike the edge of the blade while pulling the hammer toward you. This draws out and thins the
metal at the edge of the blade. This will take several passes with a dull blade. One pass will do, if
you are just touching-up a recently sharpened blade. Otherwise, you repeat until the metal edge
is the desired thinness.
Good form with your hammering motion is very important in order to achieve precise results. For
the Drawing hammer strike, you keep your upper and lower arm at a nearly right (80-90
degree) angle, wrist and elbow joints held fixed (but responsive. Not exactly rigid or locked.), and
you swing from the shoulder joint. Imagine that your shoulder joint (the glenohumeral joint to be
precise) is a ball-joint from which your L-shaped mechanical arm swings. By isolating the motion
to just one joint, much greater precision is possible with your hammer strikes. ( see my YouTube
video: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=wP9t2rjxhEE ).
Traditionally this "pulling" strike is done straight on, and from beard to tip. You hold the blade on
the anvil with your left hand, and guide the blade, incrementally, mm by mm, along it's length,
until you've peened the entire edge. The blade edge is kept at the very center of the top of the
radius or slightly (just a hair!) past the top, toward you (Fig. 5,7,& 8). If you go too far forward
though, you end up with too much of a "hollow ground" shape on your edge, and it will curve up
too much, and be very weak. Avoid that. A beginner's edge or the edge of an all-purpose blade
should be kept very narrow, no more than 1.5- 2mm wide (see Fig.10) . Hold the edge solidly in
place by curling your fingers up and under the blade, and grip the blade firmly, and press your

fingertips against the back of the anvil (see Fig.8). I also like to rest my left forearm on the blade
(whenever there is room), to keep the blade in solid contact with the anvil face. Since with the
Drawing strike, you are gradually drawing out the metal at the edge by only hitting the very edge
with the hammer, you have to gradually draw the metal out with successive passes. The thicker
that the metal at the edge is to start with, the more passes you will need to do. Therefore, it is
much less work, both in terms of mowing performance, and in terms of peening, to touch up your
blade often, rather than waiting until it is really dull. There is a German saying, Gut gedengelt ist
halb gemht! (Well peened is half-mowed!)
I prefer to do the pulling strike at a slight diagonal. The diagonal aspect is something I heard
Peter Vido bring up at the 2006 Symposium. He said that it brings the metal out faster and more
in harmony with the construction of the blade. How true that is, Im not sure, but one definite
advantage to striking at a diagonal, is that it makes it much easier to have a more comfortable
posture, especially when peening with a tall anvil.
My own variation is to start at the tip of the blade, and work my way back to the beard. The
advantage of this is that it's easier to smoothly guide the edge of the blade over the anvil face,
incrementally, mm by mm, from left to right, in (almost) the same direction that the hammer is
slightly pulling the blade with each stoke. If you look at my videos, I'm slowly moving the blade
from left to right, but this is enhanced by the diagonal hammer strikes. This makes it much easier
to peen a smooth and even line.
When working from beard to tip with a diagonal stroke, you get a slight back-and-forth" (ruckzuck) motion of the blade on the anvil. The hammer is slightly pulling the blade to the right, while
you are moving it back to the left. You have to keep moving the blade back in the opposite
direction that the hammer is slightly pulling the blade. This makes it harder to keep the blade in
position, and to advance the blade smoothly. I say, "go with the flow". Your other option is to
rotate the anvil to be perpendicular to your hammer, when swiging on the diagonal. The
disadvantages are that you lose the self-feeding effect, and it also makes it awkward to support
longer blades with your right knee, when peening the beard end of the blade.

My Diagonal Drawing Hammer Strike Technique - Start at the tip of the blade, and
work your way back to the beard. You strike the edge of the blade, drawing the metal of the edge
toward you and slightly to the right. Your arm is held so that your forearm and upper arm form a
80-90 degree angle, and you swing it from the shoulder joint in a direction that is at an
approximately 50-55 degree angle to the blade. See my YouTube videos:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=wP9t2rjxhEE & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPXdn6nnzT0
If your blade only needs a touch-up peening, one or two passes with the Drawing hammer strike
may suffice. For a duller blade, you may need to repeat it a few more times. If your blade was
sharpened by the factory (Mhfertig) it will have been peened from the top with a bar-peen
hammer (a machine actually). When switching to peening it upside-down on a narrow anvil you
create a somewhat different edge. Therefore it will take at least a 2-3 passes with the diagonal
pulling strike to sharpen the edge with the new shape. If you have a vintage blade that was
peened by Peter Vido, it will have been peened on a narrow anvil, and a touch-up peening would
probably require just one or two passes with the Diagonal Drawing Strike. It depends on how
much youve mowed with it, and how skilled you are at honing, of course. The nice thing about
having a blade that was initially peened by myself, is that the edge will fit the curve (radius) at the
top of your anvil, like a glove (because it was originally peened on a similar anvil), and will be
very easy to keep in position.

2. The Packing Hammer Strike

The next hammering technique that I use is the Packing Hammer Strike, (a.k.a. the Topping
Blow in the U.K., or the Klopfender Dengelschlag in Germany.) Traditionally the intention of this
hammer strike was to make the metal more dense, and the sharpness last longer. Blacksmiths
used to call this packing the metal. In actuality, it just thins and work hardens the metal further.
Once the metal at the edge is the desired thinness/sharpness with the pulling hammer strike, you
make the final finishing pass or passes, with a straight-on, and straight downward (no pulling)
hammer strike, (Klopfender Dengelschlag p.39- Berhard Lehnert, Dengeln). This sharpens and
work hardens the edge further. It gives the blade a very sharp, hard, and durable cutting edge
(see "Schnitthaltigkeit", p.39- Berhard Lehnert, Dengeln).
Before you do the final passes, rub the side of the edge that you will be peening, with the sanding
sponge each time, so that you can see the new hammer marks that you make. Wipe the edge
clean with a rag. Then start peening at the tip, and work your way incrementally, mm by mm, to
the beard. You hit the edge in exactly the same place as before, but this time with a straight on,
and straight down hammer strike, instead of a pulling hammer strike. For this hammer strike, your
wrist and shoulder joints remain fixed (but responsive), and the motion is isolated to your elbow
joint. Imagine that your forearm is the rigid arm of a mechanical trip hammer and your elbow is
the hinge it operates from. Great accuracy and consistency are possible this way. (see my
YouTube videos: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=LpL8hvZ-1hQ and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Gfm96yX9Y )
A more advanced technique would be to pull the edge of the blade, back a hair, so that it is in line
with the very center of the top of the radius. Focusing the peening to an even smaller area like
this (right at the point), will result in a sharper point, and enable you to start the final honing with a
finer whetstone. It can be very tiring for your left hand, to hold the edge of the blade in such a
precise placement, for the entire time it takes to peen. The guide plate on the SFX anvil, or a
guide roller (Fhrungsrolle) can be helpful with keeping the edge in the right position. This
increases the accuracy and uniformity of your peening, and is more restful for the hand holding
the blade.

Final honing Finish the blade by gently honing it with a wet, natural whetstone. This technique is described
very well on page 146 of The Scythe Book . If you dont have the book, you can look it up on-line
at http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/docs/peening.html . You can also see my video
demonstrating this technique on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlvMxYbwxiw . .
The Scythe Book , however, describes how to hone a blade after peening with a peening jig.
Because the metal of the edge is drawn out against the center post of the peening jig, the edge
doesnt fully taper out into a sharp chisel shaped point. The center-post of the jig actually
squares off what is supposed to be your cutting edge. Therefore when honing after peening with
a peening jig, you first use an artificial whetstone to more aggressively remove the squared
edge, and to create a tapered edge. Then you use a medium grit natural whetstone to smooth out
the metal, and to create the final cutting edge.
A free-hand peened blade needs much less honing, than one peened with a peening jig. The
artificial whetstone would remove so much metal that it would ruin your peening. So skip that
step, and move on to a soft and medium-fine grit natural whetstone, such as a White (SchwarzWeiss) Bregenser, a Gasau, or the Bergamo whetstone.

Hold the blade by the tang, and place the tip in a stump. Brace the hand holding the tang against
your body, with the cutting edge facing away from you. Hone from beard to tip, with a wet
whetstone. If you are a beginner start with a soft stone, then follow with the Rozsutec stone.
Remove the burr only with the finest stone you are using. Use the shape of the whetstone to feel
for the correct angle that you need to hone the edge at. Too steep, and you will dull the edge; too
shallow, and you will not be doing much of anything. Use a light but firm touch, and let the stone
do the work.
I prefer to gently use the softer whetstone stone, like the La Saurat, followed by a very hard and
fine-grained whetstone. Using a soft stone followed by a harder, finer stone is a common
technique used to sharpen woodworking tools to a fine edge. The La Saurat stone, for example,
is so soft that it leaves a kind of clay-like slurry on the blade, which needs to be wiped off with a
rag, before honing the blade with a very fine and hard stone, like the Rozsutec or Doppelbock.
Experienced peeners can skip the the more medium gritted stones, and go straight to doing the
final honing with a very fine stone. Expert peeners can even skip this step, and just quickly hone
the blade like they do in the field. I still like to use a fine and soft stone (such as the La Saurat), at
first after peening. Then I use the flat side to remove the burr. I then use the Rozsutec or a
Doppelbock, on both the cutting edge, and to remove the burr, to finish.

Bush BladesBush blades are not sharpened by peening, usually. They are sharpened by first honing them
with an artificial (corundum) whetstone, followed by a natural whetstone. I like the natural blue
Bregenzer or Angelo stone for this. The edge of the bush blade has a steeper bevel than the
grass blades, so you hone them at a slightly steeper angle. Eventually, after much use, the metal
gets worn back to where it is too thick, and then you have to peen out the primary bevel, or
peening zone, like with a worn back grass blade edge, or grind the edge like an American scythe
blade.

For Further Study To learn how to repair small cracks, see Repairing the Damaged Edge on page 156 of the 2 nd
Edition of The Scythe Book, or go to
http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/docs/bladeRepair.html .
To learn about more advanced peening techniques required to restore the primary bevel of a very
worn down blade see http://www.scytheconnection.com/adp/docs/freehandPeening.html . This
technique would be very challenging for a beginner however.
For updated videos of the above techniques, and listings of upcoming scythe workshops see
www.OneScytheRevolution.com.

Botan Anderson 2008

www.OneScytheRevolution.com

FAQ:
Where do you aim with the hammer?
You press the edge down on the anvil, and strike the area of the edge that is in solid contact with
the anvil face at the top of the radius.

The cutting edge has a blunt area near the tip. Should I peen that too?
No, leave it the way it is. The metal is left a little thicker at the tip to make it stronger, so that it will
not get damaged if you hit a rock.

How can you tell if the cutting edge is thin enough?

Traditionally, a scythe blade's edge for cutting grass, was peened until the edge was thin enough
to "run over the thumbnail". That is the edge would deflect when you pressed your thumbnail to it,
and rocked it back and forth. This is kind of hard on your thumbnail, however, so I prefer to use
the cross-peen end of my peening hammer for that. I press the hammer up against the edge, and
slide it back and forth, instead of rocking it. See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=gPKGnqykmxk . For advanced peening, there are many shades of gray, when it comes to
run over the nail thinness. It depends on how hard you press, and how much of the edge is
peened out. A very tapered out edge, from peening 3-5 lines in, will be very sharp and the
sharpness will last a long time, but it is very vulnerable to major cracks and tears, if you hit a
stone or a woody stem. The triple-peened blades that I sell have a more sturdy, hollow-ground
taper, and when peening just the edge, as outlined in this manual, it will result in a good
combination of sharpness and durability. I recommend using the Diagonal Drawing Hammer
Strike, until the edge is thin enough to deflect over the sliding cross-peen end of the hammer.
Then you can work-harden the edge, with the Packing Hammer Strike, while simultaneously
sharpening the edge even further.
Botan

Anderson 2008 2015

www.OneScytheRevolution.com

Step by Step Review

1. Clean blade and anvil - Remove blade from snath, and clean it. If it is sticky and gritty with
plant saps and dirt, wash it with dish soap and a scrubbing pad. Dry carefully, and thoroughly. A
clean blade will slide smoothly over the anvil surface, which will make it easier to guide and peen
evenly. Keep the anvil surface clean as well. Use the rust-eraser and/or one of those maroon or
green colored pot scrubbing pads, to clean anvil face.

2. Create a matte finish - Create a matte finish on the edge that you are going to peen, by
rubbing it with the rust-eraser, Sandflex rubber sanding block, before each new pass.

3. Diagonal Pulling Hammer Strike - Do 2-3 passes from tip to beard. Place edge of blade,
a hair past (towards you) the very center of the top of the radius. Hold your arm so that upper and
lower arm, together form an 80 degree angle. Isolate motion to the shoulder joint. The hammer
strike draws and tapers the metal out toward you. Work your way mm by mm, down the entire
length of the blade, from tip to beard. The hammer marks should join together in a continuous
line.

4. Straight Down Hammer Strikes - Do 1-2 passes from tip to beard. Isolate motion to just
the elbow joint. Imagine that your forearm is the arm of a mechanical trip hammer. The hammer
strike is straight down, and it further sharpens and work hardens the cutting edge. Work your way
mm by mm, down the entire length of the blade. More advanced peeners can place edge at the
very top of the center of the radius of the anvil. The hammer marks should join together in a
continuous line.

5. Final honing - Hold the blade by the tang, and place the tip in a stump. Brace the hand
holding the tang against your body, with the cutting edge facing away from you. Hone from beard
to tip, with a wet whetstone. If you are a beginner start with a softer medium grit stone, then follow
with the Rozsutec or other fine and hard stone. Remove the burr only with the fine stone. Use the
shape of the whetstone to feel for the correct angle that you need to hone the edge. Too steep,
and you will dull the edge; too shallow, and you will not be doing much of anything. Use a fairly
light touch, but with solid contact, and let the stone do the work. Experienced peeners can skip
this step, and just quickly hone the blade like they do in the field.

Botan Anderson 2008 2014

www.OneScytheRevolution.com