THE YOUNG FARMER^ MANUAL. 385 



useless by improper grinding and careless whetting, than by all 

 the grass and grain which they cut. Let a man who understands 

 well how to grind and to whet scythes, have a good scythe, and 

 he will wear it out by cutting grain or grass, and not by whetting 

 it. Good scythes, when properly ground, do not need to be whet 

 every ten rods. When I see laborers whetting their scythes at 

 every ten rods, the conclusion is a correct one, that they have 

 poor scythes, or that they do not know how to whet them correctly, 

 or that they prefer " to stop and whet " to using them. I have 

 often cut around a ten-acre field without whetting my scythe ; 

 and I always observed, even when I was in my teens, when 

 mowing or cradling with a lot of hands, that they could not cut 

 as far as I did without whetting, and cut it well. 



558. Different scythes require rifles and rubstones of different 

 grit. Sometimes a new rifle will produce too coarse a serrature 

 on the edge, and sometimes a new rifle will produce an edge 

 which a rubstone or old rifle will not. And sometimes an 

 old rifle which is about worn out, will give a scythe a keener 

 edge than anything else. If a scythe is rather soft, keep rub- 

 stones and coarse rifles off 7 it, and use some old rifle nearly worn 

 out. The grit of both rifles and rubstones should be very fine, 

 in order to form a keen edge. 



CLAMPS FOR HOLDING EDGE TOOLS WHILE GRINDING THEM. 



559. At edge-tool manufactories, different styles of clamps are 

 used for holding edge tools on the grindstone, so that a workman 

 can grind the basil of any tool very true at any desired angle, 

 by the application of a little strength. But common farmers do 

 not always feel willing to expend several dollars for a clamp 

 which they will not use but a few times in a year. Every one 

 who has ever ground many tools, knows that it is a very difficult 

 and laborious job to grind up some kinds of tools while holding 

 them with the hands alone. 



560. To facilitate the grinding of small edge tools, like knives 

 of straw-cutters, or any knives which are difficult to hold in the 

 hand, I have been accustomed to use a very cheap but efficient 



