A lot has been written about sharpening stones and their classifications depending on quality, mostly based on the grit count. As with everything, the more deeply you go into a subject, the more complicated it gets—even though at the beginning, it looks quite simple and straightforward.

For those who would like to know more details about sharpening stones, I recommend this article. For those of you who want a shortcut to the basic differences among sharpening stones, it is fairly simple and requires the sense of sight and touch.

There are two ways to quickly verify qualities of a particular sharpening stone: close visual observation of the grit, and the “touch,” that is, how it feels when you rub your fingers across the stone. Together, they will tell us if it is coarse, medium or fine.

The coarse ones are rough, their composition is based on larger particles that will eat the bevel of the scythe blade more quickly, and, as a result, we will have to peen the blade more frequently since the previously peened bevel will be worn away sooner. These stones also will wear out fast, especially on those areas of initial contact with the blade. While the stone is pulling an edge from the blade, the blade also does its own damage to the stone—wearing the large particles away, despite their hardness.

The medium coarse, usually 300–500 grit, is in my opinion the one-size-fits-all stone, and usually by applying more or less pressure against the blade, the medium stones can substitute either the coarse or the fine ones.

The fine ones are also very easy to recognize. We almost don’t see the single particles that form them, so smooth is their surface. Upon examination, they feel almost like a polished ceramic surface. This fine ones last far longer since they are very compact and hard.

Ideally we should pass these stones along the blade in order, coarse, medium then fine. But no one does it. The coarse does the harder job of removing material from the bevel, the medium smoothes it off and this fine one will give it a nice clean finish to the bevel—resulting in a quick, easy and clean cut.

Some stones are extracted from a quarry and shaped. These are natural stones. The others are manipulated into their final form. Personally I like the natural ones, even if their look can give the impression that they are poorly made or even unfinished. If you live in the country, chances are that you might pass through a place where you can get natural sharpening stones by the side of the road. If not of the best quality, they will at least be good enough to sharpen most of your tools.

If you take a closer look at the bunny photo, above, you will see coarse, medium and fine stones. Can you see the difference?

Before the Easter Bunny got into my house…

And after…

Stay sharp, my friends.

The snath requires as much care as the blade, though it is much less discussed. Instead of sharpening, repairing and adjusting the angle of the tang,  a mower must also be able to maintain and fix a damaged snath–and even better, avoid the damage. Imagine the area where you are going to mow is far from the barn or house and, because of the bad condition of the snath or because of lack of attention and maintenance, it breaks at the beginning of the journey.Not the best way to start the day!

The previous photo illustrates perfectly what happens when you don’t dedicate the time and attention necessary to something as simple as making a proper-sized hole in the snath to insert the nipple of the tang and affixing the blade to the snath.

In that photo, it is clear that no drill or chisel was used to make that hole. I am sure it was made using a regular pocketknife: The hole is not big enough and probably was not measured at all. The nipple doesn’t quite fit and was forced in by either hammering or over-tightening the ring… or most probably both. The result is that the snath cracked.

Luckily enough the crack did not reached the end of the snath and that is why it could be totally repaired (by enlarging the hole first with a drill and then with a chisel) and put back to work again.

It is quite simple, to make a hole with the proper dimensions, however there are a few small details to keep in mind.

First put the tang on top of the snath and mark where the hole is going to be. Most tangs are between 3 and 4 inches long and that should be the distance between the end of the snath and the hole.

Take a ¼ inch drill bit. You can mark it with a piece of tape at ½ inch from the tip of the bit to make sure you are not going to go deeper than that (since most nipples are about ½ inch long).

Sometimes you can even add a new hole, to better hold the blade. For that, just drill two holes next to each other, ½ inch deep, and then use a chisel to square, joining the two holes into one clean cut. That’s all it takes.

After that, it is very important to attach a metal snath saver or protector.

Once the snath saver was in place, and as a double safety measure, I put one screw on each side to prevent the crack from growing further. And finally (it is not done yet) will be filling the crack with a wood glue.

Also the other part of the snath that needs regular monitoring is the grip. Just to make sure they are still tight. If not, take action to make sure they don’t get more loose.

Yes, cows also have twins.