Early 20th Century Sickle Bar Sharpener

 This bi-pedal sharpener was used to sharpen the sickle bars (cutting blades) found on mowers, reapers, and binders. As you look around Stuhr Museum’s exhibit, you can see a mower, three reapers, and two binders that have sickle bars. In order to use this device, a person would place the sickle bar into the clamp located behind the emery wheel and in front of the seat. The clamp opens and closes, holding the sickle bar in place during sharpening. After placing the part of the sickle bar needing sharpened into the clamp, the person would press it against the emery wheel while moving the pedals like a bicycle. The pedals moved a series of gears which in turn spun the emery wheel.