Tool Tuesday; denglestock

[johan_steele]

How do you sharpen a scythe in the field? If you want to spend a lot of time and effort you can use a whet or oil stone. But the fastest way is to use a Denglestock. This one has an iron loop through it so you can carry it and a hammer in one compact package. Wedge the small spike of the denglestock into a fence post or stump and use the hammer to straighten out bends and burs in the blade of the scythe by peening them out. Then back to the field with the scythe to keep cutting hay or grain.

By the time of The War of Rebellion the scythe had largely been replaced by horse drawn mowers. If you don't have the coin for a mower or time to let horses or other livestock do the work the simple scythe is still the way for you. If you use a scythe you need a denglestock.

 

[A. Roy]

I had never heard of a denglestock, but I love the name! (I wonder where the name comes from linguistically...) So, during a day in the field, the blade could get beat up, but the denglestock would allow you to shape it back into fairly good working order, correct? I imagine you would want to sharpen it on a whetstone when you got home that night -- or maybe that would only be necessary every few days?

ARB

 

[johan_steele]

I had never heard of a denglestock, but I love the name! (I wonder where the name comes from linguistically...) So, during a day in the field, the blade could get beat up, but the denglestock would allow you to shape it back into fairly good working order, correct? I imagine you would want to sharpen it on a whetstone when you got home that night -- or maybe that would only be necessary every few days?

ARB

A whetstone was typically carried with. The object on the right in the bottom picture is one.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

Another old tool with a German name, I think.
I've never used one - we had a couple that looked like you top photo item (minus the hammer) around the farm. I understood them to be a small, portable anvil for use away from the shop, and my great uncle told me that crossbar was so when you pounded it into a stump, the crossbar would stop it from going too deep into the wood.
I've used a sythe, and carried a large stone in my back pocket to sharpen the blade - that blade was too thick to get bent by normal use, though, I would think.

 

[johan_steele]

Another old tool with a German name, I think.
I've never used one - we had a couple that looked like you top photo item (minus the hammer) around the farm. I understood them to be a small, portable anvil for use away from the shop, and my great uncle told me that crossbar was so when you pounded it into a stump, the crossbar would stop it from going too deep into the wood.
I've used a sythe, and carried a large stone in my back pocket to sharpen the blade - that blade was too thick to get bent by normal use, though, I would think.

It doesn't take much more than hitting a stump or sapling hidden in the wheat or thatch to give a scythe blade a good dent. A denglestock can quickly repair that. Working with a dull blade gets to be to much like work.

 

[John Winn]

Never hear of one of those, either. Very interesting.