382 THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAL. 



soft bread can be cut neatly, which could not be cut with a crush 

 ing cut. 



550. Sharpening razors is a job which every man ought to 

 understand. If a man's beard is very fine, and the serrature of 

 his razor almost as coarse as his beard, the serrature will jerk 

 from beard to beard, and "pull hair " intolerably hard. If a 

 razor is very dull, draw it fifty times or so on a very fine-gritted 

 oil-stone, from heel to point across the stone, with sweet oil on 

 it, (see Par. 565,) and then strap it on a razor-strap which has 

 three or four sides, each being a little finer gritted. There is 

 grit in wood and in leather. The idea is to make the serrature 

 as fine as possible. Then, as the beard is composed of the same 

 substance as our finger nails, by wetting it thoroughly, and by 

 having a thick lather to hold the ends of the beard from vibrating, 

 and by shaving with a drawing cut, any bachelor whose face is 

 tolerably plump, will be able to shave his beard so closely and 

 smoothly, that the fair, soft cheek of the belle of the town, when 

 cheek to jole, would not recoil on account of the " prickers." 

 It will not dull a razor half as much to cut wet beard as it does 

 to cut dry beard. 



GRINDING GRASS SCYTHES AND CRADLE SCYTHES. 

 " They sharp their blades with many a shrill che-whet." READ. 



551. "When scythes are handled most correctly, they make a 

 sliding cut ; therefore, in order to have them " take hold " of the 

 grass or straw, the serrature of the edge should stand towards 

 the point, or in an opposite direction from the serrature of a grain 

 sickle, which stand towards the handle. Now, in order to have 

 the serrature all standing at the proper angle, and hooked towards 

 the point, both sides of the blade must be ground and whet, so 

 that all the scratches will be diagonally across the basil of the 

 blade, from heel to point, as represented by Fig. 151, which 

 exhibits a microscopic view of a well-ground scythe. 



552. Now, with one hand holding the heel of the scythe 

 firmly, so that it cannot rock either way, and with the other 



