harvester scythe (artifact #4)

Item #4 in the inventory list has a correct name that escapes me.  This is a different and larger tool than the normal scythe.  The blade is wider, slightly heavier and a bit longer.  It is a serious tool for hand harvesting, and the cradle would gather the grain as you made the swath cut.  It takes a man to handle such a tool .  I am quite sure that multiple passes would be taken and then probably tied with a straw from among those just felled into sheaves and stacked as the harvest progressed.

It is very old, and yes, the wooden pieces have been bent into the curved shapes and are deeper than wide, giving them rigidity and durability.  (see the warping and bending methods discussed with artifact #2)  The hand work of these pieces, tines, or whatever name belong to them, most certainly were made by my grandfather, C.A. Doyle.  He had patience to work on projects like this.

Charles Dean Doyle  3/4/03