Mowing with a scythe is a skilled task that takes time to learn fully. Many cultures have used a variety of 'cradles' to catch cut different kinds of grain stems, keeping the seed heads aligned and laying them down in an orderly fashion to make them easier to sheaf and winnow. Skilled mowers using long-bladed scythes honed very sharp were used to maintain short lawn grass until the invention of the lawnmower. A long, thin blade 90 to 100 centimetres (35 to 39 in) is most efficient for mowing grass or wheat, while a shorter, more robust scythe 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) is more appropriate for clearing weeds, cutting reed or sedge and can be used with the blade under water for clearing ditches and waterways. Scythes are designed for different tasks. Mowing grass is easier when it is damp, and so hay-making historically began at dawn and often stopped early, the heat of the day being spent raking and carting the hay cut on previous days or peening the blades. Mowing may be done by a team of mowers, usually starting at the edges of a meadow then proceeding clockwise and finishing in the middle. Each strip of ground mown by a scythe is called a swathe (pronounced / s w eɪ ð/ rhymes with 'bathe') or swath ( / s w ɒ θ/ rhymes with 'cloth'). The mower moves along the mowing-edge with the uncut grass to the right and the cut grass laid in a neat row to the left, on the previously mown land. Men working in a field near Fort Frances, between 1900-1909. Scythes almost always have the blade projecting from the left side of the snaith when in use, with the edge towards the mower left-handed scythes are made but cannot be used together with right-handed scythes as the left-handed mower would be mowing in the opposite direction and could not mow in a team. A curved, steel blade between 60 to 90 centimetres (24 to 35 in) long is mounted at the lower end at 90°, or less, to the snaith. The handles are usually adjustable to suit the user. The snaith has either one or two short handles at right angles to it, usually one near the upper end and always another roughly in the middle. Simple snaiths are straight with offset handles, others have an 'S' curve or are steam bent in three dimensions to place the handles in an ergonomic configuration but close to the shaft.

A modern scythe of a pattern common in parts of EuropeĪ scythe consists of a shaft about 170 centimetres (67 in) long called a snaith, snath, snathe or sned, traditionally made of wood but now sometimes metal.

Grim reaper scythe pronunciation