# Making hand tools



## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

My dad has been making hand mowing tools for about 50 years (he's 70) and I began learning yesterday to make them myself so I don't have to keep bugging him to make me new ones. He makes them out of scrap metal piece he finds and old handles or sometimes just makes handles out of stuff he picks up out of the forest. It really is an art, and dad's a genius at shaping and cutting blades so they cut weeds and grass exactly how he wants them to. If anybody would be interested, I'd love to do a little article type thing with pictures as I learn this process and post it here, provided I can figure out how to put photos on here.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

We'd love to see your progress! They sound fascinating  

As to photos...there is a sticky at the top of the forum with a link to a good photo essay about posting pictures.


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## Countrystyle (Aug 24, 2003)

Yes, please do!


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

This is my newest toy and I am proud of it, or as my dad would say, I'm tickle plum to death. I love this pedal grinder because it will fit smaller stones that you can buy anywhere without any modifications, which also makes it much lighter and easier to carry and move.










Anyway, back to the story- my dad is 70 and although displaced from the hills for about 28 years now he is a valuable resource on so many respects, not least of which is his tool making. I sat down with him yesterday to focus in on the specific step he goes through in making his mowing blades. He now mostly does the work with electric equipment because he's older and to save time, but since my goal is to do everything by hand and have a non-electric homestead, he showed me the old-timey way. I'll be going through the process several more times with him so I can learn how to make them for myself, and taking pictures as I go to add here. I'm really excited!


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

This evening I'm going to break ground, or in this case, break metal on my first hand tools and taking the pictures of me in the middle of the work. These pictures are of 2 of my dad's mowers. The one on the left is not a handmade blade, but is one that somebody threw away. The piece on the right was totally handmade by dad- handle straight out of the woods, piece of scrap metal thrown away and then shaped and cut- even the bolts holding it are bolts he either found or took off of something that was thrown away.


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## mainehomestead (May 8, 2009)

rs38bj, enjoying your work so far. Your pictures are a little hard to see, maybe a different background for the tools? Just a suggestion. Looking forward to seeing more. We are also interested in handmade tools (and going non electric, also for woodworking tools) We are off the grid, but use solar and if we can cut back on anything that uses power, the better for us. We wish we could spend some time with your dad!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Cool pedal grinder. Where did you get ahold of that?

Do you wear safety glasses when grinding metal with that? It looks like the sparks could really fly!

I have a hand sickle that was clearly hand forged. I really like it because it is made for a lefty. I have cut a lot of alfalfa for various animals with it through the years and replaced the handle with a 'repurposed' one.

It is a booger to sharpen it with a file though...I bet that grinder would do the job lickety split. 

I am enjoying your learning story too. I bet your dad is happy to be teaching this craft. 

Keep up the story and pics!


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

gone-a-milkin said:


> Cool pedal grinder. Where did you get ahold of that?
> 
> Do you wear safety glasses when grinding metal with that? It looks like the sparks could really fly!
> 
> ...


the pedal grinder came from ebay after 2 failed attempts to get one, I LOVE it
It's funny that you mention your sickle being left handed- I am left handed so my dad made that one you see above for me as a left handed one, only thing is ,the way I swing the mowers, I use them backwards, the left handed one in the right hand and vice versa. 


Oh and yes the picture doesn't look the best but it's because I have this curse, I can't for the life of me take good pictures of things that I want to


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

Ok here's the official "article" 

"Making the blade or "A cut above the rest"








Although displaced from the hills for nearly 30 years, my dad has continued to do many things that he did back in the "good ole days." When he finds time he still hunts, roams through the woods, and watches the birds and other animals. But the most unique characteristic about this man of the hills, is his ability to design, build, and use his own set of hand mowing tools. Dad first began making his own blades in his early twenties, and for nearly 50 years he has used them to clear everything from simple yards to acres of pasture. In the rural area of eastern Kentucky where he is from, his work ethic as well as his amazing ability to wield these tools are spoken of to this day in legendary terms. While that may be so, few people have actually stopped to realize the genuine skill that he has developed over the years which has taken a sort of artistic quality. For me, just watching the man who is my personal hero doing one of the things he loves, and doing it with the mastery that only he could, truly is art in motion. 
continued...


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

When my dad sets out to make a blade, he begins by selecting a piece of metal that fits the blade's intended purpose. Heavier pieces would naturally geared toward mowers that will be for thick grass and brush, while thinner, more flexible metal is for light grass and so on. For the purpose of my lesson, this scrap metal was used, which he actually found on the side of the road next to a landfill, where it had fallen off a garbage truck. 








The majority of the scrap he uses, most people wouldn't give a second thought to and, they would throw it out, but my dad was born in the late 1930's, in a time when you had no choice but to see anything and everything around you as a resource, and not as something you could toss out and forget about. So to him, every piece of metal is a potential new hand mower.

After selecting the piece of metal to be used, the next step is to sketch the shape of the blade. Often he simply traces an original sample, because he makes extra copies in case one would get lost or break. The original blades, however, were made after months and sometimes years of trial and error of getting a shape to be just right, and balanced out on the handle so that it does what he wants it to. In the picture below, he demonstrated by tracing around the outside of the old blade with a file. 









continued ...


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

With this out of the way, the real fun begins, which I quickly discovered is the real work! I sat at the pedal grinder and, following dad's instructions, began pedaling and making headway at cutting into the metal. 









It is necessary at intervals to alternate the cutting from one end to the other, as the metal heats up extremely quickly- in about 45 seconds in fact. Dad explained that after cutting so far into the design, you need to start getting rid of the excess metal, so that the cutting wheel does not get choked up. He would usually do by placing the piece on an anvil and alternating between pounding at it with a hammer while bending the unwanted parts until it eventually comes off. This could also be done with a vice to hold it in place while you work it back and forth with a bending motion to achieve the same result. For this project, we actually stopped here with this sample, because it was quickly discovered that the pedal grinder needs some modification for the precision cutting required in making these blades. As you pedal with any force, the whole device has a slight rocking motion, which would require it to be mounted to a worktable so it is stabilized. 








Thus the finished product seen here is one that has been cut at a previous time, but still demonstrates the general idea of what is left after all the hard work is complete.


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

I'll get back to the blade momentarily, because the next step actually comes with the handle. For a blade like this, any decent, sturdy handle will do the job, but the piece that is mounted to the handle is one of the most important parts to making it all work. 








This piece actually happens to have come from material bought at Lowe's, but as dad was quick to point out, a lot of them have also come from scrap that he's found thrown away or on the side of the road. What is most interesting is that he has never measured any length of metal before he cut it to mount on a handle. They are marked by sight, and then cut with a grinder. As seen here, four holes are typically drilled into it- two for attaching to the handle and two for attaching to the blade. 









Here the mounting piece, which dad refers to as a "sneed" is on the handle, and the next step is to bend it, so that once the blade is attached, the mower will cut at the right angle and not hit the ground. Again, this is quite astonishing, because the task is completed by sight, and not with any formal measurements. Dad demonstrates bending the "sneed" using a space in a dumpster He explained that a vise could be used, and on many occasions he has used a small space located on the railroad tracks where the tracks "switch over."


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

With all that bending out of the way, handle and blade can now be introduced to one another.








At this point it, the placement of the blade on the handle is a matter of preference, depending on the mowing pattern of the user, also taking into consideration making sure it doesn't hit the ground of course. Once it is where he wants it to be, a nail, drill bit etc., is used to mark the places where holes will be drilled in the blade itself. 
This is naturally followed by drilling holes into the blade as seen below. My dad usually uses an electric drill, but as I am striving toward a handpowered non-electric lifestyle, the drill pictured here is my weapon of choice. Of course, we were only demonstrating this for the photo, so no blades were harmed by hand drills in the making of this article.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

ah! Thanks for posting this  I hope you don't mind, but I put a sort of advertisement for this thread up in Homesteading Questions. I think a number of the folks who regularly post there will want to take a look at your article.


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

Only a few formalities remain, attaching the blade to the handle with the bolts and making sure it is tight and secure. There is nothing more unpleasant than a well-sharpened mowing blade flying through the air, possibly coming right toward the head of a bystander. I've never seen anyone more at home than the man in that picture. 










And now the killing begins! The grass killing that is. 
































As I mentioned before, different blades are made for different purposes. Smaller thinner ones are for cutting fine grass, and the wider and thicker the blades become, the heavier the job they are prepared to take on.


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

We stopped cutting after we were running out of grass, but before we headed inside, I asked him to lay out his extra blades like he had them the other day, so I could show them all in their glory. As I zoomed the camera out to fit all of them, he was quick to point out that "that ain't the half of them." Every one of the blades he makes is designed intentionally, and every last one of them matches up with one of the handles he has stored away or the back of his car. I loved seeing the blades sprawled out like that, as if it were a street artist displaying his work for passersby. 










We retired inside, and I sat down with my brilliant father to elaborate a bit further on why I was taking all the pictures. In his 70 years of life he has never used a computer, and the concept of the internet is to this day, still foreign to him as well. Thus when I described this "place" on the internet, as being a like a club where people all over the world with the same interests can talk and help each other, dad was somewhat put off. I was puzzled, and as I questioned why he seemed apprehensive about the idea, I quickly understood his concern. You see, my dad is one who is very particular about his tools, because he is use to mockery and feeling bespectabled by those around him, as I have come to feel more each day as well. But in addition to this, even people who have asked him to make hand mowers for them, and even paid him well for the mowers, have eventually left them to lay in a corner of the garage. When they become disgusted because of the actual hand labor involved, and because they don't want to practice using them effectively, he often tries to get the mowers back, so they can be put to use. I reassured him "Dad, these are not the people who drive by and stare, or holler at you to "Go buy a weedeater." The people who read this are people who are like us. They are interested in living off the land, making their own soap, appreciating hard work, all the things we do now or will be doing when we get on the farm."

He replied, "You mean somebody as far off as Pittsburg, Pennsylvania might see this on the internet?"

"Yes dad, and they won't think we're crazy either." 

"Well ain't that something. I might be known all over for my mowers." 

BJ Wurts...


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

He seems a very sensible fellow. If your dad wants to take a Hawaiian vacation, I've got a couple acres of shoulder high grass he can use his "mowers" on. 

I've found that a scythe with a grass blade is about the quickest thing (other than a bulldozer) to take down guinea grass when it gets over four feet tall. A tractor with a brush hog might work (if I had one) but the hillside is a bit steep. The weedeater works but it is much slower than the scythe so in this instance "old school" is the best way to go. The guinea grass grows in clumps so the scythe can cut the clump and lay it over to the side. The weed eater mostly gets it's string tangled up or when it has the chainsaw blade on it, it works for awhile then gets covered with the grass when the clumps fall on it. It isn't that much more physical work to mow with the scythe than to use the weedeater, at least with the chainsaw blade on it. And as long as the operator is up for it, the scythe starts each and every time, too. Much better than a gas engine.

The scythe has the blade sharpened on the inside of the curved blade (technically the blade is the scythe part) and his mowers seem to be sharpened on the outer edge? That might be less likely to get caught in the grass. Hmm, I may have to try making a new scythe to fit on the snath (the handle part of a scythe) and see if a "backwards" sharpened scythe would work better.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I love those! What a great skill. I think the sythes are very practical. 

I would love to have a hand weeder about 18 inches long with an traingular blade at +/- 90 degee angle on the end. I have often thought a triangluar mowing scycle bar blade bolted on the end of a handle would work just fine. Maybe I could skip the finding an old cutter and just make one from metal myself!


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## anette (Jun 20, 2008)

What a great story, and your dad is certainly someone to be proud of. Im glad his skills are being handed down.

anette


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

The gas powered trimmers are so heavy and NOISEY. And you have to have fuel for them...I have trouble starting ours...but I CAN use one of those swing cutter things...don't know the name. But it's kind of like swinging a golf club. Anyway....This thread got me to thinking about those again. 

My Artificer can make about anything, so I think I'm going to get him reading this thread and then make me a trimmer specifically for the area around the farm that I can't get to with the big mower. (mowing 2 acres of former hayfield with a scythe is beyond my stamina!)

I've got 2 hand scythes for hacking out trails in the woods (tons of raspberries and grape vines clogging the way) but I'm thinking a different blade shape...and using what your Dad has done there...Artificer could make me something to work...

Woohooo!! thanks for the article


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## Sujae (May 14, 2008)

You bet someone from Pennsylvania saw this!

What a sweet story and what a fine man!


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

Wisconsin Ann said:


> The gas powered trimmers are so heavy and NOISEY. And you have to have fuel for them...I have trouble starting ours...but I CAN use one of those swing cutter things...don't know the name. But it's kind of like swinging a golf club. Anyway....This thread got me to thinking about those again.
> 
> My Artificer can make about anything, so I think I'm going to get him reading this thread and then make me a trimmer specifically for the area around the farm that I can't get to with the big mower. (mowing 2 acres of former hayfield with a scythe is beyond my stamina!)
> 
> ...



if you do you should post a picture of it on here, i know my dad would love to see it


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## Farmerwilly2 (Oct 14, 2006)

Does he temper any of them blades or just grind em cool?


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## rs38bj (May 24, 2009)

Farmerwilly2 said:


> Does he temper any of them blades or just grind em cool?



Just cuts it out straight from the metal


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## mduncn52 (Sep 8, 2007)

RS38BJ Son, you need to video your father doing what he does and put it on you tube- or offer it for sale. He has a skill that has become a lost art. Every one of these 'ole timey' skills that dies with its practitioner is lost forever. This is what the Foxfire books were all about. Your father has, in spite of his 'aw shucks' attitude, a rare and useful skill. My dad was born in 1928 and has a wealth of little skills. He passed on to me the desire to invent. Why pay when you can make!!!. Capture his skills now on video before they're gone. The world will be a little bit better for it. Thanks for sharing.


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