The reaping hook is one of the oldest hay-cutting tools. Also called a sickle, the reaping hook is a curved blade, sharpened on the concave surface, attached to a short handle. The worker slashes at the base of the hay or brush, driving the blade perpendicular to the stalks.
Scythes are familiar to some people as that large semicircular blade that accompanies the “grim reaper.” Created sometime around the 8th Century, the scythe accomplished the same thing as a sickle, but cut larger swaths of hay and brush without the worker bending over all day long. The longer curved blade was attached to a long curved handle. A peg was placed midway along the handle, allowing the worker to stand erect while sweeping the blade across the base of the hay.
When hay is harvested as feed, there is less concern for damage and loss of grain and more concern for easy management of the stalks themselves. The cradle scythe, or grain cradle, is a version of the basic scythe design, only modified to include a “cradle.” The cradle is a metal grid attached along the blade of the scythe to catch the cut hay, allowing the worker to tip the cut hay into a pile.
The Kaiser blade is also known as a sling blade. It is a heavy blade about a foot long, with a sharpened hook that is attached to a long handle similar to an axe handle. The Kaiser blade is swung like an axe, and is used mostly for brush clearing. Kaiser blades are still in common use to clear brush where tractor attachments and brush hogs can’t reach.
Before hay baling was employed, hay was cut in long pieces and stored in piles inside barns for winter livestock feed. Settling of the hay caused it to become interlaced and difficult to handle. The hay knife was used to cut off chunks of hay to feed to the livestock. It was invented and patented by George Dresden in 1871. The hay knife was a long, slightly curved, serrated blade attached to two short handles. One was aligned with the blade and one was perpendicular to the blade, so the worker could cut in tight spaces without hitting his hands.