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Snaths

If compared with our blade selection, the choice we presently offer in ready-made snaths is very much smaller. (However, for the creative/adventurous individuals -- guided by our hints on snath-making, the range of snath models that can be self-made are literally infinite!)

Here are the purchase-ready options in a nutshell: (More details below)

1. A single-grip (Slovak style) snath available as:

a) A "kit" of the key components, minus the shaft -- $20.00
b) The complete snath (including hardware), customized to your size and purpose -- $40.00
c) same as b) plus fitted with a blade of your choice from our blade selection -- $45.00 plus price of the blade.
d) as a "custom unit" fitted by us with a blade of our choice, customized to size -- $45.00 plus price of the blade.

2. A two grip snath -- either with adjustable grips or (in the case of wildwood snaths) with fixed grips. Both available only as one of the "Custom units"; all fit with blades of our choice. -- Prices vary
The upper and/or lower grip of our ergonomic design can be purchased separately -- so you can either supply the shaft or retrofit the poorly-designed snath you already have. (see Improving snath ergonomics on how to go about it) -- $12 to $28

(Please Note: The snath model with two adjustable grips developed by ScytheConnection (i.e. the "New Canadian snath") -- are available from ScytheWorks -- sold separately or fitted with a blade of your choice).



Now the details:

1. The single grip snath

On the North American scythe scene a snath with only one grip is unorthodox. There are, however, several reasons why presenting the design here may be of merit. Read More

Now, we can sell you one of these, but would prefer if instead you'd make your own. (Here's how) Failing at our efforts to inspire you to try to do so completely from scratch, here are your other options:

1. Purchase only the grip (with a hanger bolt already inserted), the snath saver and a ring of your choice for $20.

Considering this option you should know that:

  • At wholesale lumber prices the blank for the shaft (1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 6') costs approximately $2.00; at retail level it may be $10.

  • Finding a suitable sapling as a substitute for the milled lumber is even better. In a way, it is a net gain -- because time in the wild outdoors ought to be considered a re-creation rather than "cost". Once you are out there, finding a piece of wood for the grip is natural; then all you need from us is the ring.
  • shipping a long stick of wood involves needless out of pocket costs; besides (given the availability of wood where you live) it is a kind of ecological "crime"...

2. Purchase the whole snath for $40. (It will come with two alternate grip positions -- one for trimming and the other for field mowing.)

3. Purchase a snath already sized for your specific height and fit with a blade of our choice for $40 plus the price of the blade. (See Matched Units)

4. Purchase a snath and blade of your choice (from specified models listed, see note below) and we will size the snath, fit the blade and charge you $45 plus the listed price of the blade.

A note: a straight one-grip snath will relatively easily accommodate blades with tangs between 30-40 degree in steepness. Hence the blades we recommend you order along with this snath are #3, #11, #13, #20, etc... We also have many models, in numbers too small to list, which readily fit this snath; it is from amongst these that the "our choice" is selected.


Some of you will probably not "buy" any of the above single-grip snath "promo" if you have your mind set on the two-grip "European" snath. (It is, as stated above, also the snath we prefer to use because it lends itself to the Tai-Chi-like body shift movement we've long advocated. However, if the whole unit is not fittingly fine-tuned (snath/blade/mower), the potential of this snath design diminishes, sometimes very considerably so.

This is one reason we've been reluctant to sell only the snath of the model we've referred to as the "New Canadian". Are we guilty of not trusting you enough to attach just any blade to it and have the unit perform to its potential? Perhaps. Be it as it may, we've mostly wanted to do the fitting (on your behalf) ourselves. But, if you are determined to buy only the snath, ScytheWorks can sell you one. So will Lehman's Hardware in Ohio (whom for now, is the only US distributor of them). They obtain them direct from the people we've commissioned to make them -- and, by the way, at the same price as we pay minus the 13% GST (also referred as Government's Stealing Tax) that we as Atlantic Canadians are subjected to.

As another note of interest: because we always tend to put most of our money into the basket of blades (the most crucial component of the scythe) we can't presently keep a supply of this creation of ours (the Canadian snath) on hand for ready sales. What we do have is a dozen or so leftovers from a production of about a year ago when they were still being made of hickory wood. These are being used to put together the matched units listed.





Separate Handgrips, "ScytheConnection design", for retrofitting or making your own snath

Good grips, in a way, are the heart of ergonomic snath design. We can (finally!) offer the New Canadian grips as individual components for the purpose of retrofitting or self-making new snaths. They are now shaped to fit the hand of a connoisseur; we simply know of no better ones.

     

Left Hand Grip, square "lap joint" tenon: $12
Right Hand Grip, 3/4" round tenon: $14
Stem for right hand grip: $10
Right-hand set, epoxied and riveted: $26



"A man whose mind is enlightened with a knowledge of mechanical principles, will never bend nor break a spade; his keen perception will tell him, even if he were blindfolded, when the strength of the spade is unequal to the force applied to the handle".
S.E.Todd, The Young Farmer's Manual, 1860

Of course, this timeless observation applies to women as well as men, and to all other tools besides spades.



Ordering:


Sorry folks, we aren't accepting any more orders , though we will fill any orders pending to date.
See here for other sources. Thanks for understanding.


17 Apr. 2012
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