tool
Sickle
Hand tool with a crescent-shaped or slightly curved blade (approx. 20-60
cm), the edge of which is sometimes provided with small teeth - oblique to
the handle - and attached to a short handle (approx. 10-15 cm). The sickle,
which weighs about 200-500 gr, is used to harvest (winter) grain, grass,
beans, etc. With one hand you hold the stems, with the other - in which you
keep the sickle - you cut them off. In general, therefore, cutting is done
by friction. However, chopping is also done (1). Exceptionally, a toothed
sickle was used as a knife to cut a clod of butter in all directions to get
the hairs, straws and the like out (2). The Japanese sickle has an
elongated, relatively short (approx. 15-20 cm) blade that is attached at
right angles to an approx. 30-40 cm long stem. The edge is slightly
concave; the back is convex and relatively wide (approx. 2-6 mm). That
sickle weighs about 150 g and is used to cut grass and to harvest rice; a
heavier version (approx. 500 g), for pruning shrubs...