Antique Hay Knife Collection

Antique Hay Knife Collection HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Miscellaneous Retired farmer Niles Schulz Loweville N Y recently sent FARM SHOW photos of some of the big knives in his antique hay knife collection Most were made in the 1800’s and have 2 wooden handles and a long serrated blade Schulz who started collecting the knives after retiring from farming in 1994 calls himself the “Hay Knife King” “At one time I had about 160 antique hay knives Over the years I’ve sold some and given away others but I still have almost 100 left ” His hay knives were used before the days of bales when hay was stored loose in the barn or in stacks The knife was used to cut through the loose hay so that an armful could be easily removed for feeding livestock “The operator used both hands to slice through the loose hay in an up-and-down motion cutting on the down stroke ” says Schulz “These knives won’t work on today’s tightly wound big round and square bales However some small Amish dairy farmers still use these knives to slice through small square bales and open them up ” One of his oddest looking knives measures almost 4 ft long and has 3 sickle sections welded on at the bottom and a single handle on top The operator steps on a built-in foot rest and then works the handle up and down to cut the hay “This knife was made after the Civil War and designed for soldiers who came back from the war with an arm missing ” says Schulz Another knife has teeth as small as those found on a common hand saw “The teeth were too fine and just chopped at the hay without slicing through it at all It was a ridiculous design ” says Schulz One knife has a straight blade with no teeth at all “It was one of the first hay knives made and had just a short handle and a 1 1/2-ft long blade ” says Schulz He claims to have the only left handed knife ever made - and he made it “I bought a knife with a slightly curved blade that was in good shape I also bought an identical knife with a bad blade and heated the steel so it could be bent in the opposite direction which converted it to a left handed model ” says Schulz Another knife has a round metal handle and a long pointed blade at the bottom where 2 small “dogs” stick out just above the point Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Niles Schulz 6714 Buckingham Road Loweville N Y 13367 ph 315 376-3460

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