Tool Talk

scythe wrenches?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Lot-4-Antique-Primative-SCYTHE-WRENCHES-Farming-Farm-Cutting-Hand-Tool-206-/110914327134?pt=Folk_Art&hash=item19d302525e (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Lot-4-Antique-Primative-SCYTHE-WRENCHES-Farming-Farm-Cutting-Hand-Tool-206-/110914327134?pt=Folk_Art&hash=item19d302525e)

i think they are scythe wrenches, but rare, not really. i got about 15 differnt ones.

Most every farm had at least one scythe so there had to be millions of wrenches made. Probably certain ones are rare.

These little wrenches retail for about 25 cents each around here.

Snath wrenches, not really rare.

Skylab,

Thanks for posting the ebay link.  I picked up one of these little guys at a yard sale last weekend and was about to post some pictures and ask what it was.  Saved some time.

Mike

Papaw, I get an "IP2 location advertisement" when I click on the link??? tried it several times.
Graeme

Works properly every time I click it.

I just tried it and it worked fine.

Mike

Quote from: anglesmith on July 17, 2012, 07:59:55 PM
Papaw, I get an "IP2 location advertisement" when I click on the link??? tried it several times.
Graeme

I wonder if it would work if you signed off ePay Australia?

 





I get the IP locator page also

I just realized you were talking about the link to Photobucket in my signature! It does seem to be a bad link. I'll see about it right away.

Quote from: wrenchguy on July 17, 2012, 10:36:28 AM
i think they are scythe wrenches, but rare, not really.

"Rare," in eBay-speak, of course means "First ones I've seen."

I posted these pics of my snath wrenches on the old site. Still have them on photobucket.
The first two are the wrenches I have with no two exactly alike, all eligible for the under 4" club. I think I have only added one since I took these pictures.

The last two photos are of my salesman sample scythe handle with the snath and the attached wrench.

Glad I wasn't the only one getting wrong page! Working fine now?
Graeme

Yes it is.

The wrench in the upper left hand corner of that listing looks like a tool post wrench.

This is one of those times, when reading Tooltalk, that I feel like I have been living on another planet all of these years. I have owned several sythes. I have successfully sythed twenty or thirty feet of hay in a field before my shoulders were yelling for mercy. I have owned several of the little wrenches and never knew their purpose. Still, after all these years of farm auctions, tractor shows, threshing bees and tool flea markets I had never heard of a snath. I suppose the next logical thing to happen will be Rusty casually informing us that it was patented in 1814 by Sir Reginald Snath in Stubblefield England. My ignorance never ceases to astound me.

The earliest patent I can find showing a scythe-snatch wrench is No. 144 issued on March 11, 1837. No. 7 in the patent drawing is the wrench.

http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?pn=144&id=44947 (http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?pn=144&id=44947)

A more conventional scythe-snatch wrench is shown in an "Improvement in Scythe-Snatchs" Jan 9, 1900 patent. I suppose there are numerous other snatch patents.


http://www.google.com/patents?id=YAN2AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=641122&source=bl&ots=g_TLOiDnYs&sig=l-a9Zy4SiCqGYje_o3LHsPDTrhw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ETsIUPPxLsGM2gW7woy2BA&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=641122&f=false (http://www.google.com/patents?id=YAN2AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=641122&source=bl&ots=g_TLOiDnYs&sig=l-a9Zy4SiCqGYje_o3LHsPDTrhw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ETsIUPPxLsGM2gW7woy2BA&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=641122&f=false)

Quote from: wvtools on July 19, 2012, 09:02:51 AM
The wrench in the upper left hand corner of that listing looks like a tool post wrench.

I am fairly confident that that wrench is snatch wrench. It looks like the wench attached to the salesmen sample in the bottom photo. There are a couple of the double box end wrenches in the second photo that I am not sure are snatch wrenches.

They all look like snath wrenches to me.  The smaller end on the double ended wrenches will fit the nut on the scythe handles.  I have seen them in smaller and larger sizes (although they are always smaller than the snath wrench end).  I have not seen any snath wrenches or handles with the square box end like some you have.  I guess it may be a regional or company difference.

The one wrench that looks like a tool post wrench is embossed with the number "206".  I have one of these, and it is definitely not a snath wrench.

Quote from: Wrenchmensch on July 19, 2012, 10:28:33 PM
The one wrench that looks like a tool post wrench is embossed with the number "206".  I have one of these, and it is definitely not a snath wrench.

Your probably right. I misunderstood wvtools I thought he meant my picture but I see that he meant the ebay listing picture.

I have about 25 of these wrenches I just found out what they are how do I find out how old they are

I think it would be a daunting task to determine age since most of them are unmarked and so many different ones came with scythes by many makers.

Incidently there is a small stump anvil that is used to sharpen sythes and sycles with a hammer. Using a file removes material and shortens the life while using a hammer and anvil doesnot remove material.   The olden days thrift.

Quote from: Bill Houghton on July 18, 2012, 08:31:14 PM

Quote from: wrenchguy on July 17, 2012, 10:36:28 AM
i think they are scythe wrenches, but rare, not really.

"Rare," in eBay-speak, of course means "First ones I've seen."

.....this week!