Sharpening the scythe blade

The thing I like to imagine when contemplating the use of a whetstone like this to sharpen a scythe is the sound coming out from the anguished blade as the stone smoothes the rough edges.

For me, that shriek feels very apposite in the context of the War to End All Wars. A soldier returning to his fields, if they’d survived the incessant bombing, might feel that the shrieks reflected his awful tour of duty in the trenches, and then up and over into No Man’s Land.

I’ve watched videos of scythe sharpening on YouTube, and there’s definitely a technique of holding the blade while the handle turns the stone. It’s not something one could do without having put in some earnest practise.

As they say, a good workman takes care of their tools, and when the only way to harvest a field of wheat is to cut by hand, you’d want to be sure your scythe was sharp.