The word "sickle" is familiar to almost everyone, even those who have nothing to do with work in summer cottages and gardens. The emblem of the USSR - a sickle and a hammer, is well known. Therefore, the appearance of the tool itself was also deposited in memory. From the article you will learn about what it is - a sickle, what is its purpose, whether it is used now.
A brief excursion into history
People began to use sickles in primitive times, making it of bronze, and then of iron. In addition, this agricultural equipment was also used as a rather formidable weapon, allowing mortally wounding the enemy.
Therefore, we form the first definition. A sickle is a tool for working on the field, used to cut grass, made of strong material (bronze, iron), and among some peoples it was considered a weapon.
Modern definition
To understand what constitutes this weapon according to more modern sources, we turn to the explanatory dictionaries:
- In Dahl, a sickle is a knife with a curved blade, designed to cut grass or compress bread.
- Ushakov has a slightly different interpretation: this is a hand tool with a jagged sharp blade, the purpose of which is to compress bread from the root.
- In Ozhegov’s dictionary, the shape is emphasized - a semicircle, and the purpose is expanded - it is used to compress not only bread, but also any grain crops.
Thus, we note that the sickle is a semicircular cannon that resembles a month, used to compress under the root of grain and grain crops, and also used to cut herbs.
Using
Now, even in remote villages, sickles are not used to compress bread, for this there are special machines that allow you to perform work simply and quickly. The purpose of the sickle is the following:
- Harvesting feed for farm animals.
- Harvesting grass in narrow spaces that prevent the use of a scythe or trimmer.
- Weed control in aisles, under trees and bushes, along fences.
Thus, despite the fact that the sickle seemed to be outdated and gave way to trimmers, lawn mowers, it is still used, since a small but very sharp tool can remove weeds in places inaccessible to modern technology.
Features
So, a sickle is a tool of labor, without which sometimes it is impossible to do on a summer cottage. He will help out if the grass has grown greatly, has become stiff and does not succumb to the lines of the electric trimmer. On some models there are sharp cloves, thanks to which you can defeat sedge, burdock, and even burdock without extra effort. The productivity of this tool is amazing: if you have experience, the reaper is able to process up to 150 sq.m. fields with grass!
When buying, it is better to pay attention to models with a classic wooden handle that does not slip in the palm of your hand, and steel is preferred as the material.