THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 383 



hand towards the point, hold the scythe on the grindstone, with 

 the edge towards you, so that the scratches of the grindstone 

 will be at about an angle of forty -five degrees with the cutting 

 edge, as shown in the figure. Move the scythe gradually from 

 heel to point when grinding, and grind clear to the point at just 



FIG. 151. 



A MICROSCOPIC VIEW OF THE EDGE OF A SCYTHE IN GOOD ORDER. 



such an angle. After grinding one side in part, remain in the 

 same position, and turn the scythe over, taking the heel of it in 

 the other hand, and grind that side at the same angle clear to the 

 point. Grind no more on one side of a scythe than on the other. 



553. Always hold a scythe so that the stone will revolve 

 towards the edge, and never from it ; because, when a stone re 

 volves towards the edge, it cuts the steel smooth and clean 

 entirely to the edge, and a workman can see distinctly when a 

 tool is ground up to a good edge. But when a stone revolves 

 from the edge, if a tool is not very hard, the steel will not be 

 swept clean from the edge, but a very thin stratum of it will 

 hang to the edge, sometimes more than a sixteenth of an inch 

 wide, which will all come off when the tool is whet. And 

 besides, when grinding a very wide cradle-scythe, it is almost 

 impossible to grind it in a proper manner, if the grindstone 

 revolves in the direction from the lack to 'the cutting edge. Let 

 a workman of but little experience grind up a new cradle-scythe 

 by grinding from the edge, and if he does not grind it so thin 

 as to spoil it, he will be an exception to the general rule. 



554. I once had a young man in my employ who knew far 

 more than I about grinding up new scythes, who ground from 

 the edge, and reduced the basil of the scythe so thin for half an 

 inch back of the cutting edge, that it would not retain an edge 



