DavidWright

And in case there's any doubt those are "Austrian" style scythes, just like on the other site.. The "Trimming blade Styria" blades are what Simon Fairle describes as "Ditch Blades". Unlike grass blades (which end as you'd expect a blade to), the trimming/ditch blades end in a very robust point (which you can't see it on the blade page image because of the edge guard). This makes them more robust. Particularly handy if you are working along a fence line! A 55cm 'ditch blade' was what I started with, so it's the blade that's had most abuse, both in terms of use and in learning to keep it sharp. Even with that use it's still a very useful blade, and is the one I turn to in the stonier areas (you still don't want to hit a stone with the cutting edge, but if it happens I cringe a little less that I would with my fine grass blade!).

Thanks for the suggestion. Another for the mix, and reasonably priced (the first hit on a web search was around £7 (plus VAT? it wasn't mentioned on the page,but...). I've already ordered a couple of Philmac '3g' couplers. I'll measure those up carefully, then see how it goes (& hope that it's well, because if not...)

Thanks. I was just about to say that I'd found this http://www.irrigationonline.co.uk/products/MDPE-Philmac-Coupler-Joiner-3G-Metric{47}Imperial™-compression-fitting-.html and was considering taking out a section of the old and fitting two of those with a 'ordinary' MDPE blue and 'modern' fittings between. That approach might fit well with the longer term view, i.e. in due course, when I've finished and take out the old system, I end up with just one pipe conversion and everything is 'modern' from that point onwards. One of the things that made me a bit shy of the Philmac kit is that there are a number of variations which seem to do essentially the same thing (e.g. the two above) with no really clear reason for there being a choice? As is sometimes the case up here the choice may end up being a matter of delivery policy of the seller!

Thanks. It would be nice if those were enough. The only other thing I've come across are the Philmac universal fittings (http://www.philmac.co.uk/products/3g-metricimperial/), which look great but there's a vast array of options and some are a tad expensive for a speculative (i.e. without a recommendation) purchase. I'm not in a hurry, so I'll do as you suggest and get some of those converters & see if they look like they might do the job. Very much a case of measuring several times before any cutting is done!

I want to re-route our incoming water supply. I mean inside the house - no digging involved. I want to end up with a new stop tap in a different place, feeding a new pipework. Currently the incoming pipe comes in under the suspended floor at one end of the house, runs along the length of the house (just sat on the bare earth , then rises to go through the floor in one of the corners at the far end. The incoming is black MDPE, and there's nothing to suggest it's not what was put in when the house was built in 1970. My vernier tells me has an OD of 26.9mm, which I believe makes it 3/4" pipe. What sort of kit do I need to get that talking to modern pipe work? Given the space and distances involved with the new arrangement, I could either go straight to copper, or use modern MDPE for the first few metres. I'm open to suggestions. Ideally I'd like to turn off the mains, tee into the existing about half way along, fit a stop cock on the tee, then turn the mains back on so we can continue using the existing supply while I set up the new arrangement at my own pace. If that doesn't sound too daft, what am I looking for?

A very relevant point. Here at 57N, iIn November, December, January & February our WSW facing 4kWp produce very little, then in March suddenly we are exporting. For the last few days, the export each day has been as much as we generated in the whole of our poorest December! That said, I think that ProDave has in mind splitting the install into several groups, pointing in different directions, which may affect his choice. Edit: an => a

So you must have seen the videos showing scythe v strimmer, with the scythe finishing first (& that's not even considering that it would be much faster to collect the trimmings)? Usually they are straight races, i.e. winner is the first to cut a given area, but there's an especially good one at a British country fair where the test includes going round saplings and finding objects that have been left in the grass. With the scythe I can leave a foxglove standing in splendid isolation, trying doing that with a strimmer! For cutting in and around the bases of our willow windbreak (3 rows with 60cm between the trees) I find having a very short blade is handy.

If the grass you need to cut is that flat & level you just don't understand the issue. Think alpine meadow. I can't speak for Crofter's garden, but we have a plot that is ~50m x 50m. The top (North) corner is 10m above the bottom (South) corner. In places the slope is 1 in 4 or steeper. In theory our mower is "self-propelled", but on rough ground like that it's a euphemism for 'power assisted", & not much assistance at that! I don't aim for a fine sward. My No.1 aim is that the area all looks green over winter (a real contrast to the surrounding fields & moors), my secondary aim is that it looks tidy throughout. To achieve that I have some areas I cut only once a year (the steepest bank), others I cut 2-3 times, and a small area that gets cut every 1-2 weeks (that bit is the closest we have to what some might call a 'lawn').

There might be a slight grating noise as it hit the bone, but the flesh would be no problem! In use scythes are pretty safe for the user (who is well behind the blade), but anyone else should be well clear! The particular areas of danger are what you do when you put it down & where you put it, and (for the user) while sharpening (you try to be very careful to always make movements away from the edge). If you run a finger along a blade you'll not know about it till you see the blood... Strange as it may seem I wear gloves while mowing (because I have soft, office worker's, hands), but take them off when freshening the edge of the blade (you tend to give the blade a quick fettle every 5-10 minutes when mowing). Edit: typo

I have reservations about some of his views too, but I can't quote another source that I've used (& his page has a lot of useful info even if you don't buy from him).

Since getting the scythe our place is tidier than it's ever been in all our over 20 years here. Cutting the grass is still a task, but it's no longer a chore. One thing that makes it particularly handy for here is that if anything having the grass a bit wet is an advantage[1] - it makes the grass a little stiffer and lubricates the blade slightly - so you can cut on days that you'd certainly not mow & probably not even strim. One of the big advantages of the Austrian[2] scythe over the classic British is that it's half the weight! The cut grass is left in a (fairly) tidy swath that's easy to deal with. I tend to use it as mulch under shrubs and in places where I'd like to suppress grass & weed growth (e.g. around & under the bird feeders). Some I even make into a small amount of hay, which I use for covering layers of kitchen waste additions to the compost heap in winter. If you follow the link there are loads of 'inspirational' videos. [1] Traditionally you'd get up to catch the dew, but I'll leave that for others! [2] Really the two main styles are more a case of SE Europe & NW Europe, but Austrian scythe seems to be the commonly used term, even though some of the really good "Austrian" style blades are Italian!

You'll be welcome to pop in. Gala day is Saturday 18th June this year. If you'll be coming down PM me and I'll let you know how to find me (right by the road, but easy to miss - you'll see what I mean when you see it.).

We have places where we have grass in our moss, not the other way round... Good job I rather like moss. For the rest, a few years ago I purchased an Austrian scythe, since when I haven't used either the mower or the strimmer. I'd only expected to use it on the docks, etc. but I found that on our ground (nowhere is flat or level) the scythe is a much better option all round. Easy start, no noise (aside from a slight 'swish'), and my knees are much happier with it (they'd ache for a couple of days after using the mower or strimmer to fight the grass on our rough ground). I started off with a 'ditch' blade. In the second year I got a fine grass blade too & with that I keep one patch of the grass closer cropped that I'd imagined possible at first. For more about Austrian scythes see: http://thescytheshop.co.uk/

A quickly edited version of my original eBuild first post... I'm not self-building, at least not from scratch! I am however gradually "greening" our 1970 block cavity wall, suspended floor, bungalow on Skye. The house was originally a self-build of sorts, based on a standard "department" plan (IIRC it's a "No. 5", though I've never found an official reference). One of the guys involved in building it says that horizontals were judged by a half-empty bottle and verticals with a wet rope (& it's pretty windy round here) and I'm pretty sure he's only half joking! I've no relevant training, but I'm a "practical" sort and experience with trades over the years has led me towards the "if I take my time & do the research I stand a better chance of getting what I want, how I want, if I do it my self" attitude for most things... We are "all electric", with the fancy local "Total Heating Total Control" economy tariff (All the heating is on separate circuits & it's nothing like E7). When we arrived there was no fixed heating (& the house was built without a chimney). We expected to fit an oil or LPG wet system, but one of the plumbers asked "Have you considered electric"? As we had a clean sheet & were going to be doing a full re-wire anyway, we "considered electric" & it was the way we chose to go. Doesn't suit everyone, but it suits us. It may help that I'm the sort who's happy to be continually tweaking settings (& have the house so full of sensors & logging I can tell you the temp in every room, under the floor, in the loft...). Over the years since we decided to "green" the place and the way we use it we've reduced non-heating consumption by well over 50% (we average 5-6kWh/day usage - rather less for import thanks to the 4kWp of PV on the roof. We have an export meter, so we can properly assess usage). On the heating side we are down to around 5kWh/day/HDD12 in winter. We get a lot of passive solar gain (even at 57N). We added a big solar space (aka conservatory - unheated , of course) to the WSW facing front a couple of years ago. That worked out so well we then added a similar one to the "back". As I write this (May 2016) the day time mean is still only around 10C or less, but as it's bright we don't need any heating.