Thread: Blade angle & the scything motion

I use the scything stroke on almost all cuts too, usually toe-leading.

Another nice pic of it in the 1961 Barbering Text - Shaving.pdf here on pg. 34. fig. 27.

The picture shows ≈35 degrees; I don't use more than about 20 degrees max, often less.

OK, I'm struggling to find a definitive answer of what a scything stroke is.

Watching how a real scythe works doesn't entirely narrow it down:

• The movement of the handle is a sweeping rotation, with the person's body being the pivot point.
• The movement of the blade is slicing sideways as you move forward, though to be honest it is nearly entirely sideways (often with the only forward motion being done by taking a step in between the swings.)

This quote from nassrasur.com

push the razor forwards, without pressure, and with a slight scything movement. The latter takes advantage of the microserrations on the edge

implies that scything is a diagonal movement. This is described in the 1967 Standard Barbering text as

Direct the stroke towards the point of the razor in a forward sawing movement.

I don't think we want to use the phrase "sawing movement" when trying to explain what to do!

nassrasur.com also says:

Scything means that the direction of cutting changes a little, and the whole edge is used successively during one cutting movement.

At first I thought that referred to a rotation around the razor's pivot pin, but the more I read it the more I'm convinced that it too means a diagonal movement.

You've got it right. The handle moves in a rotary motion. The contact of the blade with the grass is a diagonal sawing approach. This is what causes the taking "advantage of the microserrations of the edge." The orientation of the blade on the handle is such that when the sweeping movement occurs, the blades approaches the grass at a sharp angle. That is why a scythe is so much more efficient at cutting when compared to a machete.

Nun2Sharp had me thinking because I also sometimes do what he mentions:

To me the scything motion is more like the stroke of a windsheild wiper. Somewhat of an arc.

Well in reading all of the replies and in watching the video I would say that I have used a scything stroke after a fashion on either side of my wind pipe. It is an awkward spot for me and the whiskers lay at a weird angle. I will have to check out the toe leading diagonal stroke in other areas of my physiognomy and see if I come back with my shield or on it.

I dunno... I'd call Sticky's figure 27 the perfect example of what I call a slice, maybe a progressive slice because the blade is moving down while it moves across, but a slice nevertheless. Were the tip of the razor to move in a greater arc than the heel, it would be a scything motion; I'll concede a progressive scything motion as the blade can also advancing as it is arcing.

doncha just love a fine discussion?

I've been using this technique for a few days since I saw it in a youtube video. I mostly use it for the final pass on my neck to get those stubborn hairs. I have not cut myself doing it more than a very little nick, but am very careful.

I did nick myself pretty good in an ATG pass coming across the jawline coming up from the neck over the jaw this morning. Don't think I'll try that one again, too many angles to ocntend with.

the way i do it is while going wtg i am also pulling the blade forward so that by the end of the pass the toe of my blade is where the heel would be if i did a pass straight down its kind of like the way you saw through wood while pulling on the saw it cuts down into the wood

(if that makes sense)

Originally Posted by jszabo

the way i do it is while going wtg i am also pulling the blade forward so that by the end of the pass the toe of my blade is where the heel would be if i did a pass straight down its kind of like the way you saw through wood while pulling on the saw it cuts down into the wood

(if that makes sense)

Understood completely,

But I do it the other direction -- push towards the toe. This is how it is recommended in at least one place. Here it is from the "Standardized Textbook of Barbering".

Here's an example of a scything motion. It's uploaded in the Help Files too.

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