The scythe, the second element of the three-fold formula, was not used for harvesting grain, but only for taking hay in Russia. The scythe referred to was initially of the short-handled type (kosa-gorbusha): the long-handled type, similar to the scythe in use in modern times, probably came into use in Russia in the fifteenth or sixteenth century; illustrations in a sixteenth-century manuscript psalter are the first evidence for it. The former type seems, in any event, to have been dominant throughout the period with which we are concerned. On the basis of finds mainly from the Kievan period a number of subtypes have been identified. These are shown in table 2. In general, unlike the smaller scythes of the first millennium a.d., they are somewhat more like the short-handled scythes which have continued in use in northern and forest areas till modern times. The blade, however, tends to be shorter and broader. No handles of ancient implements appear to have been recovered but, to judge from modern examples, the handle was probably about the same length as the blade and might be either straight or with a curve.

Judging by modern ethnographic evidence, implements such as these were held in both hands and cuts were made to both right and left. Their advantage was that they were well suited to cutting the relatively soft forest grasses and, since they could be used in a confined space, they were well adapted to work around trees or boulders.