Here's my toolbox....

Don't feel bad.... I jinx myself all the time. I really do know how to do this. Where are you.... you must be somewhere in the Chicago land area.... I'll help but.... my girlfriend wants to come too and I'm hoping your toilet is newer and not as heavy as the older ones. An older toilet might be a struggle for me to lift on my own.
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I went shopping at Sears with my "personal shoppers". Every tool I picked up from my "list" one of them would make me put down telling me to "hold my horses" or be patient. It was rather comical since patience isn't and never has been one of my virtues. I'd pick up a tool and they'd "discuss" whether I needed it or not in front of me. I'd interject.... "but it's on my list".... they'd give me the "look" and tell me we were just "window" shopping. They took my list and left me talking to the kid who had asked if there was something he could help us find. Nope.... evidently not. I just wanted to get it over with and walk out with some useful tools but I ended up walking out with NOTHING because we were just "window" shopping that day. I shouldn't say nothing... I did walk off leaving them to their own devices and picked up a new hand spade. Men. I don't think they even noticed I'd walked off. My guess is one of them saw a card or something on a bulletin board about an up and coming estate sale or something where there's going to be a lot of tools.

 

Bring your toolbox..I'm over in the SE corner of Tennessee,you should be able to get here in a day or so.I'll take the tank off so you don't have so much to lift.I'll even furnish your lunch..oth47

 

Not Yet

I wouldn't worry until she/they get their concealed carry permit for the iron skillet.

 

On second thought, did you ever pick up your wife/GF's purse, they hit you with that, you might wish it was the skillet.

 

I'm sure my husband has every one of those tools you listed out for mechanics.... not so sure about the others though. You mention a scythe and that is one I've been looking for. I guess in this economy I should forget about ever finding one at a garage sale. That seems like such a useful tool that my bet is most folk who know what it is and what it's capable of doing aren't going to give it up. Could you recommend a few for me please? I'm mostly interested in getting rid of phragmites. Phragmites australis is the common reed you can see taking over the entire midwest. I've been meaning to buy a scythe for a while so any links to affordable scythes that are decent quality would be greatly appreciated.

 

You might find the scythes at farm auctions, wood or aluminum handles, for the reeds you will want a shorter blade 16" to 20". I am not familiar with the reed you are talking about a brush hook might be in order. You may also want a scythe to mow/cut your yard with then you will want a grass blade 22" to 26" blade.
Try either older hardware stores, or larger hardware stores in your area.
Lehmans hardware, in Ohio ( Lehmans.com ). ACE hardware stores ( Ace Hardware Store Locator | Click Here To Find Your Local Ace Hardware Store and Services )should be able to order it if they don't have it. Try other national brand hardware. I haven't priced any lately but they were expensive as I remember $45 to $60 for the handle and $15 to $30 for the blade and they are sold separately, this was several years ago??? Hope this helps.

 

You've probably seen it and just didn't put a name to it.... lots of people think it's an ornamental grass. It grows about 12' tall and it's allelopathic so it wipes out all vegetation growing near it as it spreads, PCA Alien Plant Working Group - Common Reed (Phragmites australis). It secretes phytotoxins like garlic mustard does so if you've got any growing near you.... you might want to beat it back before it beats you back. It got into one of my vegetable beds and I had to use black plastic tarps to solarize the bed which meant I couldn't use it to grow what I wanted to grow for a whole season. Bummer. It's why I need a scythe.... I want to get to the plants before they set seed so thank you very much for this, "for the reeds you will want a shorter blade 16" to 20"." The canes are hollow but rigid. They're sorta like bamboo.

 

Southern States Coop ( Southern States Cooperative - Farmer owned since 1923. ) and probably the farmers coops in your area also have them. Prices have went up $63 to $78 for the handle "snath" and $60 to $75 dollars for the blades.

 

Before buying from Lehmans or the local hardware store, you might want to check out:

Scythe Works | Catalogue
Scytheconnection: Welcome

These people are a little religious about scythes, but they seem to know their stuff. Kind of like a crosscut saw, you need special tools to sharpen it. Unlike a crosscut saw, there does seem to be some fitting of the snath (handle) to the user.

While I like Lehmans, they are almost always higher then other sources.

 

It sure looks like an excellent site with lots of excellent info.
Thanks

 

Awfully lot of bending over or down on knees and I am toooo old for that anymore. Don't get me wrong a scythe or "idiot stick" is a lot of hard work too and untill you figure out the right position and rhythm hard on the back also.

 

ghrit> A sickle is more for grain harvesting. We mostly used them for straw but now I use them for plants like Amaranth. I have 2 and I totally love them. One's a harvesting sickle that I brought back the last time we went to Japan along with another gardening tool called a Hishiki that's sorta like a saw you'd take camping with you. The Hishiki would work on the Phragmites for sure but boy oh boy would it take a while one plant at a time. The other sickle I have is a standard sickle you can see for sale here in the US like what they have at Lehmans. They are really handy tools for sure even though they can be a little hard on the back like gejoat mentioned.
Country boy> I LOVE those sites!!! I found a Grecia Hoe I'd love to get my hands on!! What do you think of this scythe, Scythe 1920's- 1930's "Grim Reaper" - eBay (item 330502129516 end time Mar-28-11 22:11:17 PDT). I contacted the seller and I'm waiting to see if he'd accept a money order instead of PayPal.

 

With shipping, it's the cost of new one. Before buying I'd want to see closeups of the blade to make sure there are no gouges out of the blade (something more than a nick) Otherwise, it looks good. It would be a great deal for someone local do DIA. Unless you are far more skilled than me, you will want s peining jig. It's also a bit hard to believe the handle still has the original lable from 80-90 years ago

 

Ohhhh.... good catch on the shipping. I totally missed that looking to see if he'd accept payment other than PayPal. I'm not paying $80 for shipping when other sellers are offering shipping for $30. Really glad you spotted that. That's almost the cost of another whole scythe. I have a hand ax that has gouges in it and I can't sharpen that so no way could I sharpen one of these. BTW.... I don't even know what an s peining jig is soooo.... place me in the lower than the belly of an earthworm category in that skillset.

 

You sharpen them with a whetstone, but after a bunch of sharpening, you need to hammer the very edge of the blade back to a paper thin edge. You can do this freehand with a hammer, or the peining jig is just two pieces of metal you hit that "squishes" the steel in between them to get a paper thin edge, which is easy to cut with and can be touched up with a stone.

Peining jig:

The blade fits on the flat surface, the bottom piece is slipped over the stud and hit with a hammer to pein the very edge of the blade.

 

Thanks Country Boy, I really like that site. I have an old scythe I bought for around $15 at a farm auction back in the late 70's or might have been 1980, but not much later. Even before that I did own my grandfathers old worn out scythe. So, yes, I do know how to swing one and had been shown by grandpa how to do it and keep up the pace for, well, until the job was done or the grass got too dry. Best time to mow is while the dew is still on. Also, worked best if the grass hadn't got old, tough, and dry, (that would also describe what grandpa was and I have become).

Anyway, the blade on my scythe is a bit short for grass, better for weeds and probably needs peened. I would like to look into getting a longer blade designed for grass and wheat straw.