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Your neighbors will stare, but a scythe is a beautiful, meditative tool—and if used correctly, it’s very effective at cutting grass or knocking down an overgrown area.

If you’re constantly looking for “a different way” and don’t mind being seen as a little odd, we recommend the Lee Valley Traditional Austrian Scythe Set. This choice may sound unconventional, but a scythe is an excellent grass cutter for larger areas that are hard to access with a mower. It takes time to get the hang of a scythe, and the blade needs regular sharpening and peening (which may be a dealbreaker for some people), but for the more adventurous and those dedicated to learning an ancient craft, scything is a unique and meditative experience that offers both physical and mental benefits.

The Lee Valley kit comes with everything you need to get started, including the blade, the handle (called a snath), a sharpening stone, and a holster for the stone. If the kit is not available, note that Lee Valley also sells the pieces individually for roughly the same total price as the kit. We also recommend Ian Miller’s The Scything Handbook for those who are just beginning their scything life.

A scythe excels in those larger, slightly overgrown areas where a mower has trouble. Unlike a string trimmer, a scythe isn’t ideal for cleaning up the long grass around a mailbox or along garden beds. It just doesn’t offer that kind of precision. But it does excel in larger areas that a mower can’t handle, either where you have too much of a slope or the ground is uneven. With proper technique, a scythe can cut the grass and leave it in a neat and orderly fashion, making it easy to clean up once you’re done.

As for mowing your lawn with a scythe, “you’d be the weirdo, obviously, but it is certainly possible,” Miller told us. Miller explained that the grass should be left to grow a little long so that the scythe blade doesn’t slide right over it. He also said to mow early in the morning when the grass has dew, which helps the blade gain purchase. This video shows someone mowing their lawn with proper technique and a sharp blade.

I use a scythe to take down a weedy area that once housed pigs so the ground is too lumpy and bumpy for any kind of wheeled mower. I used to try a string trimmer in that area, and it would blow the grass, weeds, and stalks all over the place; the cut stalks would then dry out, turn brown, and look awful. Using a scythe leaves me with orderly rows of cut vegetation, which I can quickly scoop up and dispose of. The result looks way better, and the work actually goes a little faster (as this scythe versus string trimmer video demonstrates). I can also do the cutting in the early morning, whereas I would never dare take out a string trimmer at that time of day.

Using a scythe is physical work, but with proper technique, it might not be as vigorous as you think. If you can handle a string trimmer, you can probably handle a scythe. It involves a twisting motion back and forth, with the arms acting as stabilizers. “In general the power is coming from your torso. If you’re doing it really well, it’s not super physically demanding,” Miller told us. This video presents proper technique.

It offers mental benefits, as well. “It’s absolutely a meditative, repetitive thing,” Miller said. Our own experience is in line with that. The combination of the back and forth movement—which creates a natural alignment with the breath—and the quiet swishing of the grass encourages a thoughtful and contemplative mindset.

You need to learn how to sharpen it. With an Austrian scythe such as the one we recommend, sharpening is a two-part process, consisting of honing and peening. To keep the blade sharp during use, you must continually hone the edge with a whetstone, which users often hold in a watertight hip holster (included in the Lee Valley kit). This touching up of the blade, usually required every 10 minutes or so, maintains the edge while you’re using it. Eventually, though, the edge will wear to a point that honing stops being effective, which is where peening—the light hammering of the blade’s edge, which tapers and hardens it—comes in. “The peening aspect is probably the thing that makes it the least accessible for regular people,” said Miller. Peening jigs, which make the process a lot simpler, are available. Scythe Supply has information on peening and how the jigs work.

Yes, it’s kinda weird. “I think you just need to be honest about that. It’s just an unusual thing,” Miller told us. He recommended being open about your newfound scything hobby. “If you’re willing to be a pioneer type of a person, and if you’re willing to talk to your neighbors about what’s going on, the more comfortable you might feel doing it.” Miller added that solace—and increased productivity—may also be found in a scything community. “Scything was never done by a lone individual. Historically, this is lots of people with lots of scythes mowing in the same place.” Miller recommends replicating this philosophy if you can: “If you get several people, you can just do so much more. If you get maybe a group of three people who are into it together, you can mow a whole area one day, then someone else has their area you can mow the next day.”

The Lee Valley set offers the best all-inclusive way to get started with scything. This is an Austrian-style scythe, which is marked by light weight and a straight handle. American scythes are heavier and have a curved handle—we weighed each and found a 2-pound difference. The Lee Valley snath (the name for a scythe’s handle) is made of aluminum. Miller prefers wood for its overall feel but also told us that “some kind of a kit is the way to go when you start out.” Miller continued: “You get the blade, the snath, and a whetstone, that’s the way to go.”

When it comes to scythes, you don’t have a whole lot of other options. They’re typically sold piecemeal; all-in-one kits like the Lee Valley set are rare. Wooden models such as those from Scythe Supply look excellent but are considerably more expensive, as are the pieces and kits available at Lehman’s and the sets at One Scythe Revolution. If scything is completely new to you and you’re not sure whether it will “take” or not, we like the idea of starting with the less expensive Lee Valley set. If you really get into it, you can then start looking into a more polished wooden model.

American scythes are also available, and they have their fans, as well. They’re heavier, but their blades tolerate sharpening with a grinder, which allows you to skip the peening process. Sharpening a long scythe blade with a grinder isn’t necessarily easier than peening, but if you’d rather go that route and don’t mind adding a few pounds to your load, an American scythe is worth looking into.