Picture posting is enabled for all :)
We have both a scythe and a sickle, I'm a bit small to use the scythe effectively but I use the sickle a great deal (we have an awful lot of rough edges). The key is indeed to keep it really sharp, I have a bit of a sharpening stone wedged into a piece of plastic pipe as a handle, I sharpen every few minutes when working. It's a bit of a knack using either implement, and it's only sense to wear protective clothing - though unlike a strimmer, you don't need goggles or ear protectors...
Thanks, goodlife. Why don't you use your sickle and scythe much now?
I vaguely remember being told the name of the sharpening stone for a scythe, but might have had my leg pulled. There are probably a few regional names, but none quite so rude as the one from Lancashire, or was it Bedfordshire?
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to reply in such detail; I have found reading it very interesting, and can't wait to have a go. Job number one is to find a rusty old sickle I know I have hanging around somewhere and see, if I persevere, if I can sharpen it enough to do some of the tidying up you describe. I shall also haunt our local market where a man with old gardening tools is often to be found, and see what he has.