a:  Scything appears to be a great alternative to the brush clearing I do with a 6 hp DR trimmer, but I want to know if there are scythes that will clear heavier brush like blackberry and vine brambles like wisteria, kudzu and English ivy overgrowth, even saplings, etc. where the growth is not a consistent grass but general mixtures of high weeds.

b: Clearly, I consider the physical aspect a full body exercise, but would hacking through heavy, high weeds and vine tangles be excessively tiring even though I had good technique?

c: And, Is scything effective if I were to top off vining ground cover, for fresh growth, without keeping the blade on the ground, which appears to be consistent methodology in videos.

FAQ: When you peen a scythe blade, how do you know when you have peened the edge thin enough?

Traditionally, a scythe blade's edge for cutting grass, was peened until the edge was thin enough to "run over the thumbnail". That is the edge would deflect when you pressed your thumbnail to it, and rocked it back and forth. This is kind of hard on the thumbnail, however. I prefer to use the cross-peen end of my peening hammer for that. I press the the hammer up against the edge, and slide it back and forth.  In the video below you can see a moving shadow created by the running pressure from the cross-peen end of the hammer. If you watch it on full screen, in HD on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPKGnqykmxk , you can actually see the metal at the edge deflect.