Re: Grass Cutting with Scythe & Moisture

jimp_at_specsol-spam-sux.com
Date: 07/26/04 

Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 23:00:19 +0000 (UTC)

In sci.physics Ron Hardin <rhhardin@mindspring.com> wrote:
> For some reason mowing your lawn with a scythe is spectacularly
> efficient only when the grass is wet (talking about cutting the
> grass down to essentially ground level, a regular short mowing).

> The cutting is done with a razor-sharp edge that advances mostly
> along its length but somewhat across the grass as well, so it's a
> slicing like slicing bread.

> Two things make it not work very well. 1, the grass simply bends
> out of the way and so is not cut. 2, the grass cuts partly but
> sticks on the edge, forming a clump of grass, which stops the
> slicing action and the blade goes unstable (if it's a long one),
> generally burying its point very quickly.

> When the grass is wet, what happens instead?

> One possibility is that wet grass has more momentum and so doesn't
> bend out of the way when it encounters the blade.

> Another is that wet grass is softer or somehow more sliceable.

> A third, which I suspect is true, is that the grass is slippery
> when wet, and doesn't clump on the edge, so the whole length of the
> edge works on all the blades without their being torn out by the root
> first.

> Various blade styles work differently but all seem to work best
> when it's wet. http://www.scythesupply.com

> I'm using the 36" grass blade, mostly. It's unuseable when the
> grass is dry owing to going unstable, but it turns you into a regular
> John Henry cutting out 7' swaths of lawn in the wet, shovelling huge
> heaps of grass clippings into a pile at one side with each stroke.

> Shorter grass blades don't go unstable in the dry, so are useable,
> but don't cut very quickly.

> This is all talking about regular lawn grass, not standing wheat
> or anything. Tall grass is another hobby.
> --
> Ron Hardin
> rhhardin@mindspring.com

> On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Wet grass is more rigid. Rigid things slice easier.

Ever try to slice a marshmallow? 

-- 
Jim Pennino
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