[AT] Corn Binding/Hay

[Steve W.]

And if you want the home made version take an old hoe handle and saw a 
slot on one end long enough to install a sickle bar section. Install the 
section with it at an angle. I drilled the holes for mounting so that 
one hole is close to each edge of the handle. You could also use a chunk 
of heavy wall conduit as the handle. To use just slide the handle down 
the stalk till you hit the ground and give it a sharp yank up/back to 
cut the stalk.

Larry D Goss wrote:
> If you can find one, John, use a bona fide corn knife for the job of hand 
> cutting rather than the machete-style knives that dealers are selling 
> nowadays.  It makes all the difference in the world.  You may have to haunt 
> a bunch of antique shops to find one, but a real corn knife looks kind of 
> like either a miniature scythe or a hand sickle on steroids.  The forward 
> side of the knife is serrated and you don't have to swing it to make it 
> work.  You just put the knife down low (close to the root ball) and pull 
> toward you at an angle.  It slices off the stalk clean as a whistle.  You 
> know that it's time to sharpen the knife when you start pulling the root 
> balls out of the ground.
> 
> Larry
> 

-- 
Steve W.
Near Cooperstown, New York