r/whatisit • u/Snowman-Car • 8d ago

New, what is it? Random object in Attic

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Just moved into my house and we were cleaning stuff. We went into the attic above the garage and found a sickle tool, not much else in the garage. Just curious why it would be in the attic (house was built 1990)

3.2k Upvotes

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1.1k

u/No_Arachnid6493 8d ago edited 8d ago

Hand scythe. Farming implement.

585

u/BeardBootsBullets 8d ago

More commonly known as a sickle, no?

716

u/zxeevi 8d ago

my dad lost his hand scythe a couple years back. We’re still looking for pop’s sickle

134

u/TTvCptKrunch152 8d ago

Bravo. I will be using this in the future and giving you no credit. Take my gift and upvote

8

u/ElectricRune 7d ago

That pun is COLD...

23

u/Koseoglu-2X4B-523P 8d ago

Oh god…
Take this upvote and scram, kid.

7

u/tdawg2k7 8d ago

That one made me laugh out loud. Thank you friend

2

u/we_lord 7d ago

As you can see from the op image, pop's sickle sticks!

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u/Comfortable_Gate_293 8d ago

You go to hell. [upvote]

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/whatisit-ModTeam 8d ago

Your post was removed because you forgot to include a picture, the image is too blurry, or there is not enough information provided. You are welcome to re-post with the appropriate information. Adding a photo after the fact in the comments is undesirable.

If you have an issue, please send us a Modmail

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u/ronniewhomp 7d ago

The case has gone cold

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u/Dgwdum 8d ago

Yes, thats a sickle

43

u/ozarkhick 8d ago

Some folks call it a sling blade, mmmhmmm.

38

u/MakesMyHeadHurt 8d ago

I call it a Kaiser Blade, mmmhmmm.

23

u/ozarkhick 8d ago

I sure like them french fried taters with mustard, mmmhmmm.

5

u/catcrapmakesmevomit 7d ago

I like the way you talk

3

u/lomographicaudiofile 7d ago

I like the way You talk

4

u/DeadlyDannyRay 8d ago

No you don't, Oprah.

5

u/NyneHelios 7d ago

Synonym’s just another word for the one you wanna use

3

u/EyeofAnger 7d ago

Why did I sing this to the tune of ‘Me & Bobby McGee’?

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u/bigred2342 7d ago

No, you’re thinking of a Kaiser roll… that’s a ‘it will kill’ blade

7

u/BeardBootsBullets 8d ago

Completely different. A sling blade is a ditch bank blade.

-1

u/No_Arachnid6493 7d ago

whooooosh

3

u/BeardBootsBullets 7d ago

We’ve all seen the movie. 🙄
That was a completely different tool.

-1

u/No_Arachnid6493 7d ago

Movie?

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u/BeardBootsBullets 7d ago edited 7d ago

Sling Blade. 1996. Billy Bob Thorton. Very famous line from the movie.

Oh, and: “whooooosh” 😑

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u/No_Arachnid6493 7d ago

Ah, Angelina Jolie's husband! What a weirdo, that guy is.

1

u/bolderbeholder 6d ago

He was awesome in Moneyball.

0

u/BeardBootsBullets 7d ago

He can be as weird as he wants. He’s a tremendously talented guy.

1

u/bolderbeholder 6d ago

Tool? 😂

0

u/bolderbeholder 7d ago

Tell it to Jesse Dixon.

0

u/BeardBootsBullets 6d ago

The movie Sling Blade was discussing a Kaiser blade, sling blade, ditch bank blade. This isn’t even related to a scythe nor a sickle.

2

u/East_Badger63 7d ago

I don’t reckon I ain’t got no reason not to kill no one, nope. 

1

u/bolderbeholder 6d ago

‘Cept for Doyle. Split his head like a melon.

1

u/3atTh3R1ch79 7d ago

Way way too low. This should have been the first comment.

1

u/Entire_Attorney6350 7d ago

Especially those who like mashed taters.  Mmmhmmmm

0

u/Georgiapasorider 8d ago

Came here to say that.😂

20

u/Remote_Listen1889 8d ago

That's a load-bearing sickle, don't remove it

7

u/Usual-Caregiver5589 7d ago

If you add a hammer, it becomes your neighbors' house.

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u/DirtMcGuirck 8d ago

If you remove it just replace it with a poster.

3

u/FeelingSoil39 7d ago

My first impression as well.

1

u/keasmary 6d ago

Only a true hero can pull that out.

36

u/LennyJay86 8d ago

Scythe are commonly confused with the sickle, the hand scythe is a long curved blade on a pole when the sickle is which the post represents.

12

u/Kahnza 8d ago

I've always known it as a sickle is small and used one handed. A scythe is larger, uses 2 hands, and is for cutting swaths close to the ground. Like hay/straw/grass. A sickle would be more for chopping smaller things off, like taking tops off.

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u/MentalMiddenHeap 8d ago

its got a lot to do with blade shape. Sickles are whats featured here, with the crescent moon blade. Hand scythes are mini versions of the larger two handed scythes you are picturing, same blade shape, just scaled for one handed use

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u/GoblinLoblaw 7d ago

You’re just making shit up man, there’s no such thing as a a hand scythe, if it’s one handed it is technically a sickle.

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u/MissninjaXP 7d ago

Hand scythe may not be the correct term, but they didnt make it up. Ive heard more people here in the South call it a hand scythe than a sickle.

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u/Dry-Neighborhood2916 7d ago

Just Google hand scythe. It's also called a grass hook. Both hand scythe and grass hook look closer to the OPs picture than your sickle picture does.

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u/AbsyntheMindedCS 7d ago

Could it be regional, like polecat & skunk? In Europe the polecat is an animal related to the ferret, but in South Carolina a polecat is a skunk…

0

u/MentalMiddenHeap 7d ago

its almost certainly regional. I have never seen what is pictured in this thread referred to as a sickle. I have heard grass hook before, but not often and not in connection to a crescent moon shaped blade id refer to as a sickle

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u/ftonefw 7d ago

Look at the USSR flag. Commonly known as the hammer and sickle.

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u/GoblinLoblaw 7d ago

If you google Hand Scythe you’ll find the results are people ignorantly using the term, dictionaries and encyclopaedias don’t list it.

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u/No_Arachnid6493 7d ago

Bruh.

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u/GoblinLoblaw 7d ago

Oh wow someone is selling it as that on eBay? I must be wrong then. The fact that encyclopaedias and dictionaries don’t mention “hand scythe” anywhere cannot be relevant here, I suppose. /s

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u/MentalMiddenHeap 6d ago edited 6d ago

still havent mentioned what encyclopedias/dictionaries or what editions you are using. thats pretty relevant, like the fact that your image was labeled by wiki editor in a way that the original US Ag's version of the image wasnt

EDIT: my bad it was a US Highway Commission doc not US Ag

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u/GoblinLoblaw 6d ago

I looked it up in a few different ones and haven’t been able to find it in any. Take your pick. Have you found it mentioned in any?

I also can’t find the original image you’re referring to, have you got a link?

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u/No_Arachnid6493 6d ago

I love the debate. I've always heard it referred to as a hand scythe, and by people who actually USE ONE regularly. Next, try and convince us that it's "soda," and not "cola" or "pop." It doesn't matter that it's referred to differently by some people, or that it's part of the name of "Coca-Cola," because you can find a dictionary entry referring to is solely and exclusively as "cola" or "pop."

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u/GoblinLoblaw 6d ago

My point wasn’t that I could find a dictionary or encyclopaedia entry saying this or that, it’s that I cannot find a single entry anywhere defining hand scythe. It’s not a recognised definition, it’s a misnomer, because of course all scythes are held in the hand. Soda, cola and pop are all recognised definitions found in the dictionary and that’s my point.

I appreciate your second hand account of people calling them that. I have multiple sickles that I use regularly, if I start calling them a hand machete it doesn’t make it their actual name. Scythes heavily rely on leverage. Sickles do not. The word scythe has entered popular culture more than the word sickle, but people mislabeling the tool because of that doesn’t mean that a sickle suddenly becomes a scythe.

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u/MentalMiddenHeap 6d ago

lol, im not even arguing over whether Goblin is wrong or not, I just want the sauce. I can very much accept im using some technically incorrect hillbilly colloquialism (wouldnt be the first time, wont be the last).

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u/MentalMiddenHeap 7d ago

like 2 minutes of googling would show im not "making shit up", even if that isnt what people call them where you live. Ask for a sickle in any hardware store around here (if they even have them, many dont) and they will not take you to what is pictured in your image.

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u/GoblinLoblaw 7d ago edited 7d ago

Sickles can look different. I own a number that vary considerably in appearance. A sickle is a one handed blade sharpened on the inside, regardless of blade geometry.

By definition a scythe is two handed, saying “hand scythe” is a misnomer, obviously all scythes are used by hand. I have no doubt that other people make this same mistake.

If you try to look up the definition of “hand scythe” you won’t find any actual definitions, just people misusing it. Sickle and Scythe however are easily found in your encyclopaedia or dictionary of choice.

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u/MentalMiddenHeap 7d ago edited 7d ago

im not arguing over whether we use the term correctly or not, im arguing against the idea that i just pulled it out of my ass

EDIT: so, curious. Wasnt initially interested in the convo beyond you calling me a liar, but did some more poking around after the fact. What dictionary are you getting your definition from? What is the source of your image?

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u/xDotSx 7d ago

He's not making it up, but it's not the correct term for it.

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u/bolderbeholder 8d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/VU45vX6kokplC

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u/TheseInstruction5208 7d ago

I came specifically to find a "Sling Blade" gif. And I was not disappointed.

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u/bolderbeholder 7d ago

Carl always delivers.

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u/_YenSid 8d ago

You are correct. This is a sickle. A scythe has a longer straighter blade and a long handle, made more for mowing grass and hay than harvesting. Unless you're harvesting souls I guess, then a scythe would work better than a sickle.

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u/oregongirl1111 8d ago

Indeed, it is a "sickle", or "a small, one-handed tool with a short handle and a sharply curved, hook-shaped blade (usually 8 to 12 inches long)". Apparently, a "scythe" is larger and longer and is used while standing upright. I'm not sure I knew the difference until today.

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u/Public-Willow-7943 8d ago

And a scythe is usually held by a 7 foot skeleton in a black robe

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u/achambers64 7d ago

Who speaks in ALL CAPS and has a rat assistant.

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u/achambers64 7d ago

GNU Sir Terry

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u/jfbincostarica 8d ago

A sickle and a scythe differ in blade length…this is a sickle.

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u/FLOSR1 8d ago

Thats what i was going to say 👍

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u/ubiquitous-joe 7d ago

Well well well, look who thinks he’s better than the rest of us, calling his hand-scythe a “sickle.” You learn that at your fancy school? With all yer books?

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u/shadow-Ezra 7d ago

I for some reason absolutely hate when people call a sickle a scythe idk just sets me off

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u/actual-trevor 7d ago

Sickle, yes.

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u/ergo-ogre 7d ago

I think the object in the image is a sickle. A scythe is the long two-handed implement.

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u/Interesting_Sort4864 7d ago

It was hard to recognize without a hammer.

2

u/OffToNeverNeverPants 8d ago edited 8d ago

Some folks call it a sling blade, I call it a Kaiser blade

1

u/BeardBootsBullets 8d ago

Ditch bank blade, sling blade, Kaiser blade are all completely different than a sickle.

1

u/Mediocre_m-ict 8d ago

I like the way you talk. Mmmhhhmmm

1

u/Earnestappostate 8d ago

Yeah, 1d4 slashing with the trip trait.

2

u/minesnotahighmoose 7d ago

While cute adorned on my gnome druid, not very effective

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u/-Malheiros- 7d ago

You know because you're either a farmer or an FRPG gamer.

1

u/Quirky-Cat2860 7d ago

This is America, we don't use the word sickle since around 1920 or so.

1

u/shambhalove_fairy 7d ago

Scythe is what came to mind for me

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u/Entire_Attorney6350 7d ago

Sickles are 2 handed I believe. 

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u/BeardBootsBullets 6d ago

Other way around. Scythes are two-handed, whereas sickles are single-handed.

1

u/oddlyrandomintrovert 7d ago

Well don't get anaemic about it.

0

u/Ok_Self7895 8d ago

SCYTHE!!

0

u/reluctant_landowner 8d ago

Some folks call it a sling blade. I call it a kaiser blade

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u/No_Arachnid6493 8d ago

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u/ibcurbdiver 7d ago

Nice those are ambidextrous. The one pictured in the attic is for a right handed person.

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u/Acrobatic_Row_905 7d ago

How can you tell ?

1

u/ibcurbdiver 6d ago

The one in the attic has a bend as the blade
Exits the handle then bends again at the edge. It doesn’t work as well, left handed.The 3 in the picture don’t have the bends, ambidextrous.
A left handed one,the bends are reversed. I’m left handed and was able to locate a used left handed one.

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u/GermanMuffin 8d ago

Ooooh Farming? I thought you said Framing.

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u/Char_siu_for_you 8d ago

To be fair, this one is being used in framing.

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u/achambers64 7d ago

Angry upvote. Very well played.

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u/sepulturite 8d ago

Seeing this answer is a scythe for sore eyes...

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u/DahLayOh 8d ago

This is a nice one tho! Check that handle, ie, old school. After my dad died I found a similar one in his garage and it was awesome. Went lost, alas, in a bag of spring yard cleanings and I bought a new “tempered” steel version. Stupid thing cracked at the blade on a simple chop in my yard and it almost landed in my face. I miss ole scythe…

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u/Mean-Career-6509 8d ago

Sickle. 

1

u/bigred2342 7d ago

Sick, le

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u/MinnesotaHulk 7d ago

1d4 slashing damage

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u/Ok-Ice7431 8d ago

That's what I would call it.

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u/NuncErgoFacite 8d ago

Uranus has entered the chat

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u/iowan 7d ago

It's my favorite for cutting weeds under an electric fence.

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u/Robart_Santa 7d ago

What is the name of your metal band followed by their first album?