Parts of a Scythe – Snath, Blade, Grips, Tang and Ring

All 11 parts on the diagram

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Whole scythe 6

Blade A long curved steel blade, fixed across the lower end.
Snath The long shaft: wood, or sometimes metal.
Upper grip (upper nib) The mower holds it in the left hand.
Lower grip (lower nib) The mower holds it in the right hand.
Edge (cutting edge) The sharp inner side, which faces the mower.
Toe (point) The pointed tip of the blade.

Where the blade joins 5

Heel The end of the blade nearest the snath.
Tang A strong arm from the blade that lies against the snath.
Ring A metal band that clamps the tang to the snath.
Beard The end of the edge nearest the snath.
Grass nail A stiff wire that keeps cut grass out of the angle.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. Wikipedia, Scythe, text and the key to its parts picture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe); David Tresemer, The Scythe Book (1981), the chapter The Parts of the Scythe and its figure 1 (https://archive.org/details/scythebookmowing0000tres); Thomas Hennell, The Old Farm (first published 1934 as Change in the Farm), the chapter on mowing with scythes (https://archive.org/details/the-old-farm-1984-thomas-hennell). Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; a schematic of no maker's product, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a scythe are few: a long shaft, two grips and a blade, plus the fittings that hold the blade on. The first drawing shows the whole tool for mowing grass, and the second enlarges the joint.

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Shaft, grips and blade

The shaft is the snath. It is wood or sometimes metal, and often curved. Two short grips, also called nibs, stand out from it: the mower holds the upper one in the left hand and the lower one in the right. The curved steel blade is fixed across the lower end, with its sharp edge on the inner side and its toe at the tip.

Where the blade joins

The wide end of the blade has two corners: the heel at the back and the beard on the edge. The tang rises from the heel and lies along the snath, and the ring clamps it there. On some English scythes a grass nail runs from the beard to the snath.

Typed answers take snaith and sned for snath, and nib for grip.

Questions and answers

What is the handle of a scythe called?

The long shaft is the snath, also spelled snaith, snathe or sned. The two short handles that stand out from it are the grips, or nibs.

What are the parts of a scythe blade?

The toe is the tip and the heel is the end nearest the snath. The beard is the end of the edge nearest the snath, and the tang is the arm that fixes the blade to the snath.

What holds the blade on a scythe?

The tang of the blade lies against the lower end of the snath, and a metal ring with screws clamps the two together.

What is a grass nail on a scythe?

A stiff wire from a hole in the beard of the blade to the snath, just above the tang. It keeps cut grass from choking the angle between blade and snath.