Here are the parts of a scythe we just learned about:
As you can see, the width of the scythe blade is measured at its midpoint. This is often the widest part (in our opinion now).
For the length, they measure it from the pointy tip to the neck. You might also see different naming somewhere else. Like they call the point the toe or the back the chine. In any case, it should be fairly easy to recognize.
Now, here is the snath:
The snath is the handle where we hold onto. They make this out of wood. Some more modern ones are made from aluminum. Some snaths are straight while others are slightly curved like an S.
The benefit of a curved snath is to reduce wrist strain. It's more ergonomic in some sense. The straighter snath reaches a wider diameter when you "sweep" the grass.
The Scythe Book
We grabbed the scythe book from the Scythe Works. This was created by the guy who started the Scythe Project in 2016.
He made big scythes with big fingers to help farmers harvest wheat & grains without hunching or bending down too much. The tool doesn't break the wheat either. Now one folk with a scythe can do the work of 10 people.
It was fascinating to some people that a thousand-year-old tool like this was new to folks in Nepal or India. People seemed to like it a lot as they don't need to buy gas to keep this thing running.