A resurge in scything

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gpstreet
gpstreet Posts: 184 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Here in the UK, the bbc are showing an adaptation of the books Poldark by Winston Graham. It is a brilliant series and I can only offer my commiserations for all those outside of the UK who are unable to view it.
Apparently Poldark may cause a resurge of scything, fuelled by a shirtless Aidan Turner cutting down a field of grass.Most critics point out that he is doing it all wrong. The amount of sweat he exudes does not equate to the amount of work involved with scything.

I was interested to learn more about scything. Apparently it is not so hard to learn. Requires no fuel like that of a petrol or eletric strimmer so better for the environment. Also it is quicker and neater than a trimmer proved by a race between a burly lad with a strimmer and a young lass with a scyth. Also for exercise an hour of scything can burn off 680 calories.

I wondered how long it would take for MFP to add scything to its exercise database :-)

Replies

  • gpstreet
    gpstreet Posts: 184 Member
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    Where can I buy scyth ? Or where can I find the plans for making one ?
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    We used to have a scythe, I can't say I ever gave it a proper go, though!
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
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    For exercise purposes, it reminds me of Shovelglove. This guy came up with a bunch of movements where you swing a sledgehammer around in different ways. It's sort of fun.

    Scything sounds cool ("reaping souls!") but I dunno where one would be scything. I guess if you are a maker of hay?
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    It sounds weird, but it is something I had the "pleasure" of trying as a teenager. We used to own a piece of land and my father bought a scythe. Have no idea why, there were much simpler ways to do the same thing, he probably was doing because it looked interested, but anyway. What I can say is that it is definitely very intense exercise, and you sweat like a pig.
  • gpstreet
    gpstreet Posts: 184 Member
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    I had a look on youtube and was given the impression that, with the right technique, it was not so intense.

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