Mowing ..

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

So, you like "push" these mowers, do you ??!!
Sounds like hard work....................

image

Very , very nice gear there ..Toro have the runs on the board too.

[roddy1960]

G'day guys ...I walked into Mitre 10 late yesterday afternoon to buy sanding disc's and rivets for a couple of home projects i'm doing and .......

walked out with them of course AND ..

1 x Makita 140 cc lawn mower for $369 and a Rockwell battery pack line trimmer for $129. ..Put the line trimmer battery on charge (lithium ion 18 V) last night and tried it this morning before rain arrived..did a trim along my back fence and was very happy with the result . Big jobs or heavy going will be reserved for my brushcutter (Jonsered TL33) of course but this little battery trimmer is light as buggery , has the flower guard an will be great for the quick trim jobs .

The Makita mower is the 140cc 4 stroke Briggs and Stratton , comes with a big capacity 60 litre catcher and mulching option . The book is comprehensive too . Very happy and will try it once the rain quits ..typical !!!!! hasn't rained for the past two weeks ...

Looked at the comparable Victa they had in stock too ..Nice mower but was $440 .

Obviously I didn't really need another mower but I'll give away the older MDT that I have to a nearby friend if she wants it . She was going to buy one just to potter around with now she's retired . Otherwise I'll sell it for a few bucks ..

Then , I'll have the Husky ride on , the Rover 2 stroke with Suzuki motor , the MTD side throw 4 stroke , Victa 2 stroke , the Jonsered Brush cutter , the Rockwell battery line trimmer , Jonsered HT21 hedge trimmer , Poulan 14" chainsaw , Farm Boss chainsaw and now these two mowing items.

....and a Cox ridey to one day restore and very elderly Echo trimmer also to get going again ..

Will post a photo or two of the new additions too ..

No excuses for long grass now . The most expensive rivots and sandpaper I've ever bought though ..Cheers

[roddy1960]

The Makita mower and Rockwell trimmer

GEDC0032 by Rodney McGiveron, on Flickr ....

GEDC0039 by Rodney McGiveron, on Flickr

The mower is the low end model but the hand grip is soft feel , the throttle seems really smooth to use and the height adjustment is the good old fashioned single point one . I hate four wheel adjustment . Will fill it up with fluids this arvo and 'test mow' ..Oh yes , the wheels are ball race ones , not nylon , zero wheel wobble..already tested that . Was told Makita make a few different models but overall quality of build on the base one indicates they'll last pretty well.. We'll see I suppose ..

[roddy1960]

Just to add this if I may . Before yesterday I've never owned anything Makita , not because I didn't like it , but because I thought it was overkill for the sort of stuff I do and couldn't justify the extra cost over cheaper brands .

Yesterday I bought the petrol lawn mower PLM4623 NP model .. Very happy with it but as it's raining I had a look for more Makita mowing stuff . I found this by an Aussie crowd on YT ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-hzJX-sWyM .. and this more comprehensive one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOcpGbZesN0 on other stuff from Makita if it's your bag .

Debate on petrol v electric/battery will rage on but this was interesting .

Not sure if I'd ever totally commit to this but good to check out anyway ..

I'm thinking the 18 V batteries are about $125 each when needing replacement , I know the drill ones are as we have Makita drills at work and an extra couple of batteries arrived at about that cost each not too long ago . We switched from DeWalt to Makita too .

[383hq]

Was interested in replacing my smoking 4 banger mower with an electric jigger
the go seems to be the 56 volt jobbies.
Once replacement battery prices were worked out at $3-$400, and I realised I could buy an entire mower for the price of a replacement battery, the interest in electrical jiggers reduced greatly

thanks for the heads up on the makita, might go check it out. its cheaper than a large EGO battery...

[pottery beige]

man dont do battery mower

hth

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by 383hq

Was interested in replacing my smoking 4 banger mower with an electric jigger
the go seems to be the 56 volt jobbies.
Once replacement battery prices were worked out at $3-$400, and I realised I could buy an entire mower for the price of a replacement battery, the interest in electrical jiggers reduced greatly

thanks for the heads up on the makita, might go check it out. its cheaper than a large EGO battery...

Only going on what the costs were for the 3Ah 18 volt Makita batteries though . The 4 Ah are probably more expensive and they'd be specific to Makita equipment .

I suppose the whole idea is that same batteries for a variety of equipment , a bit like combo power tools on a bigger scale . In the second clip link I posted it looks like Makita uses a new type of brushless motor too . Would be expensive to get into I expect but horses for courses it might make sense for some people .

Had a quick look on EBAY , have no idea whether any of these via this method would be okay for these brushless powered mowing tools but I know when one of our crew picked up two extra 18 v batteries a couple of months ago for our new drills and impact driver they were about $125 each .That's what he said anyway . Bunnings Warehouse I think it was . I think they're the 4 ah 18 v but they can be bought in 3,5, and 6 too .I believe the non genuine cheap 'suitable for Makita' versions are risky and might not be a great idea .

No rain today so I'll fire up my brand new Makita petrol mower for the first time . No worries with battery power there ..Cheers ,,

[hackney]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

My old man was a VIP lawnie for 20 years, his machine choice was rover with Briggs motor, right before he retired, he got the Honda motor he wishes he had done so 20yrs earlier.

Yup,I can attest to that.Had a Honda buffalo(bought in 1992) never had an issue with it.When we bought some acreage a few years ago I use to mow about two acres with it until I bought a ride on.Power was a bit down,but that is to be expected,never used a drop of oil.Use to change the oil @ the beginning of every season.Now have a Honda mulching mower,great piece of machinery.(but heavy though).The things are bullit proof!Cheers

[Fed]

I still can't wipe the smile off my face after 12 Months.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-15...mower_p3381313

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

I personally dont buy into the whole Honda superiority thing. They are overrated.

The self-prop models lack a full width chute as the SP gear takes up some of that space. This hampers the catching ability, and I can tell you there is nothing more frustrating than having to unblock the chute every few minutes. (Motor off, catcher off, clear blockage, catcher back on, motor restarted.....)

Oh that's why my new neighbour is always starting it up, it has that dog lazy self propelled rubbish and he is only 30yo, hell the woman who lived there before him had a real nice small Honda and she was pushing that at 95yo with no worry's and all and it was a nice and quite one, but his is loud and he is all ways cutting out going into to long a grass and snuffing it out, he lets the grass grow to long.

Mine is a 20yo Rover Brigs and like new one spark plug and a broken lower handle it just snapped off about 5yo ago, so I bought that new part for handle.
my wiper snipper is a McCulloch pro max2335 and only one spark plug and a air filter that just happened to disappeared into the motor over that time.

My other neighbour he bought some new cheap rubbish and took it back to bunnings, he did not like it at all.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

he lets the grass grow to long.

And thats the issue, These are lawn mowers, not slashers, so if he lets the grass get too long you cant blame the mower because it struggles.

Another thing that you have to remember is that high end Honda industrial 4st equipment is meant to be working hard, letting them sit for a month between cuts and then pulling the cord and running them cold through long grass is not what they are designed for.
Its like a taxi, they regularly get 1million km's from a 4.0l Falcon engine because they rarely get cold and dont go through the heating and cooling cycles that your everyday car does.
We'd start our mowers at 7.30am, run them for a few minutes and they would stay warm all day and do anything upto 25 jobs, everyday, 6 days a week with an oil change fortnightly over beers on a Saturday afternoon.

Quite often a blocking mower chute can come down to something as simple as the direction in which your cutting when in longer grass.
Where possible we would cut the perimeter in an anti clockwise direction so as to pull the cut grass away from the uncut edge and continue going around as the area to be cut got smaller, obviously this is not always possible and so some thought must go into it, if its just too long go over it with a brushcutter and halve it first.

Something that really annoyed me was rocking up to a first cut and having a customer expect you to turn their neglected grass and weeds into a well manicured lawn in one cut, it just isnt possible and despite explaining the process to get it looking neat with regular maintenance and the good intentions of the property owner/occupier, more often than not you'd turn up for your 35meg3 or whatever the price and regularity you'd agreed on was, and get told to return in a fortnight or worse and have to start from scratch again with the same expectations.
Then you'd get the jobs where you'd take less than half a catcher knocking the tops off the same Buffalo lawn every friday afternoon followed by free beers with the fastidious owners that made it all worth while.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

And thats the issue, These are lawn mowers, not slashers, so if he lets the grass get too long you cant blame the mower because it struggles.

Another thing that you have to remember is that high end Honda industrial 4st equipment is meant to be working hard, letting them sit for a month between cuts and then pulling the cord and running them cold through long grass is not what they are designed for.
Its like a taxi, they regularly get 1million km's from a 4.0l Falcon engine because they rarely get cold and dont go through the heating and cooling cycles that your everyday car does.
We'd start our mowers at 7.30am, run them for a few minutes and they would stay warm all day and do anything upto 25 jobs, everyday, 6 days a week with an oil change fortnightly over beers on a Saturday afternoon.

Quite often a blocking mower chute can come down to something as simple as the direction in which your cutting when in longer grass.
Where possible we would cut the perimeter in an anti clockwise direction so as to pull the cut grass away from the uncut edge and continue going around as the area to be cut got smaller, obviously this is not always possible and so some thought must go into it, if its just too long go over it with a brushcutter and halve it first.

Something that really annoyed me was rocking up to a first cut and having a customer expect you to turn their neglected grass and weeds into a well manicured lawn in one cut, it just isnt possible and despite explaining the process to get it looking neat with regular maintenance and the good intentions of the property owner/occupier, more often than not you'd turn up for your 35meg3 or whatever the price and regularity you'd agreed on was, and get told to return in a fortnight or worse and have to start from scratch again with the same expectations.
Then you'd get the jobs where you'd take less than half a catcher knocking the tops off the same Buffalo lawn every friday afternoon followed by free beers with the fastidious owners that made it all worth while.

Yep , Even the same to a degree when cutting golf greens . If you missed a cut or two , you knew about it next time .

I only had two Scott Bonnar 65's with 24" cylinder reel to use in my time , now they use the Toro triplex but the quality of cut on a Friday was severely different if they weren't cut on Tuesday afternoon at least for the ladies day on Wednesdays . Usually meant a double cut otherwise whinging members on Sat comp day . All hell broke loose if not cut at all even if the greens were covered in water or you had a break down or sick ..Run for the hills if the pins weren't changed or the tee beds were long . Fairways with Ransomes triple gangs on a wet days was fun too . Not PTO driven , wheel driven .Go 50 metres , get off , unclog , get on , 50 metres , get off , unclog very often .

Ah , those were the days . Paid $7 p.h. for 30 hours that translated almost always to 40 plus hours for same $210 in the mid 1980's. No holiday pay either . Didn't work , no pay . Never happen now .

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Fed

I still can't wipe the smile off my face after 12 Months.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-15...mower_p3381313

Cool...Didn't even know Ozito did mowers til recently either. Their power tools aren't too bad either ..

[Rallye Sport]

The angle of the blade tips can help to clog the shute.
This can vary between brand blades so thinking a new set might fix it doesn't always work. You can do some 'tuning' by tweaking the angles. Every one loves a hard tuned mow right?

[thefargo]

Masport mower here. Does a good job, seems tough enough. John Deere ride on for the bigger areas and Deutscher slasher mower for the hard stuff and stuff on sloping ground.

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Fairways with Ransomes triple gangs on a wet days was fun too . Not PTO driven , wheel driven .Go 50 metres , get off , unclog , get on , 50 metres , get off , unclog very often .

That and the reels hold energy then snap round when the obstruction is cleared. We used to call them finger harvesters, many an old time greenkeeper out there with a couple less digits.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Yep , Even the same to a degree when cutting golf greens . If you missed a cut or two , you knew about it next time .

I only had two Scott Bonnar 65's with 24" cylinder reel to use in my time , now they use the Toro triplex but the quality of cut on a Friday was severely different if they weren't cut on Tuesday afternoon at least for the ladies day on Wednesdays . Usually meant a double cut otherwise whinging members on Sat comp day . All hell broke loose if not cut at all even if the greens were covered in water or you had a break down or sick ..Run for the hills if the pins weren't changed or the tee beds were long . Fairways with Ransomes triple gangs on a wet days was fun too . Not PTO driven , wheel driven .Go 50 metres , get off , unclog , get on , 50 metres , get off , unclog very often .

Ah , those were the days . Paid $7 p.h. for 30 hours that translated almost always to 40 plus hours for same $210 in the mid 1980's. No holiday pay either . Didn't work , no pay . Never happen now .

I play Lawn bowls so a similar situation with our greens to a golf putting surface, needs to be kept cut as often as the grass will accept in order to maintain pace and accuracy, 2 years ago we had the SA state squad request to train on our Santa Ana greens that a coupe of us prepare for love as were not a big club with funds to pay a professional, was quite an honour to host them.
The club decided to pay a bloke to do the job last season and the greens went down hill so fast as he just wouldnt put in the time that we did.
So many members complained about how they were playing, in the end he pulled the pin and now weve got 2 volunteers on the job again, a greens keeper from the local course and a former wicket curator who worked with me on them previously and the improvement in 2 months is remarkable.

Havent quite got the pace up yet, running about 14 seconds yesterday, but the coverage and even colour is promising at this stage of the year.

[DFB FGXR6]

As mentioned, trying to mow a lawn that is too tall in one hit will cause blocked chutes. If a lawn in wet its even worse. Now technically, you should never mow a wet lawn or mow too short, but some customers cant wait or want to see that the lawn has been mowed, read scalped in the aussie tradition.

Talking Honda's in particular, if the it looks like the model below, with a full width chute, then there will be no issues, be it wet or dry, tall or short.



The problem arises when with the below image, with a partial chute.



The self drive hardware prevents a full chute and sufficient airflow to allow long, thick or wet grass to be efficiently discharged into the catcher. These type of mowers are designed to be used on a regular basis, where only the very tips of growth are removed. A lawn that is maintained at a taller height is generally healthier, less prone to weed infestations and actually uses less water. Something at odds with the aussie tradition or expectation, ie "mow it so short so I don't have to do it again for a while".

For me, I use a range of mowers to suit a variety of different lawns, lawn heights and customer expectations. As a rule there is no "perfect" mower hence the use of different mowers. The only one I have found to do almost everything (mulch/catch/wet/dry/tall/short) is the Rover ProCut 560. The drive system isn't as robust as the Honda systems but it has a full chute meaning it is more versatile. It was also much cheaper to buy, allowing for occasional maintenance on the drive system when needed. The amount of money this thing has made me over 5 years if it blew up tomorrow I would be content knowing it earnt its keep. And its been HAMMERED, thrashed even.

[.:4:.]

I hit up my lawn yesterday. I havent mowed it since i did the nerve in my arm, but in that time the guy who rents my granny flat has done it a few times. So i gave him a hand. He typically uses his mower and snipper but his snipper had a cracked fuel line. So i gave mine a shot and same thing. I cut back the fuel and return lines and she was apples. I dont really like ryobi anything. I know the bloke at the local mower shop really doesn't like ryobi. But my 30cc 2 stroke snipper was gifted to me new and i tend to agree with the bad reviews. To heavy and cold starting procedure is a bit annoying. Once shes going it goes well though. I did cheat the cold start by spraying some wd40 into the carb first and its never started so easy. I did the edges so i didnt break out the victa, but i assume the 158cc briggs will still be as good as it has been in the past.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I play Lawn bowls so a similar situation with our greens to a golf putting surface, needs to be kept cut as often as the grass will accept in order to maintain pace and accuracy, 2 years ago we had the SA state squad request to train on our Santa Ana greens that a coupe of us prepare for love as were not a big club with funds to pay a professional, was quite an honour to host them.
The club decided to pay a bloke to do the job last season and the greens went down hill so fast as he just wouldnt put in the time that we did.
So many members complained about how they were playing, in the end he pulled the pin and now weve got 2 volunteers on the job again, a greens keeper from the local course and a former wicket curator who worked with me on them previously and the improvement in 2 months is remarkable.

Havent quite got the pace up yet, running about 14 seconds yesterday, but the coverage and even colour is promising at this stage of the year.

Our club is a double club but primarily these days a bowls club . Only one green but 8 rinks both ways and floodlit for night bowls on Friday nights .

The course is nine greens but 18 tees . Grass on both golf course and bowls green is a mix of browntop bentgrass and creeping red fescue , with a bit of errant poa annua here and there . Red Fescue and Browntop cope with our winters pretty well. We get 12- 13 seconds at the start of the season and up to 15 seconds by Christmas/New Year . Any faster is pretty hard to achieve.

We've lost a lot of members to new clubs in the past 15 years and can no longer field a golf Pennant team despite a ton of flags up until 2005 . Really sad . Lucky to get 10 players on Sundays for a comp now and I haven't dragged the clubs out since about this time last year .

Bowls is a bit different . Pennant is mixed four rink teams now in Div 3 and the club has done pretty well . Won the State Div 3 title three seasons ago .

I've not played yet this year but will soon once I clear a few things out of the way. Plenty of players this year so no pressure to play .

We bought an electric mower to replace the old girl that cut the green for a bloody long time (also electric) a couple of years ago. Scarifyer and corer too are shared with the golf club as is the seeder and boom spray . Roller is a standard ride on one with a Honda motor .

Fourteen seconds is a beaut speed I reckon . Fair for all . I remember playing on a city green many moons ago in a rep game that looked about 12 before roll up and was actually more than 16 ..Was fun though despite us country bumpkins struggling to manage it .

Congrats on having your green used for representative training , that's a real honour . Re volunteers ..Legends ..the backbone of all clubs ..

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

As mentioned, trying to mow a lawn that is too tall in one hit will cause blocked chutes. If a lawn in wet its even worse. Now technically, you should never mow a wet lawn or mow too short, but some customers cant wait or want to see that the lawn has been mowed, read scalped in the aussie tradition.

Talking Honda's in particular, if the it looks like the model below, with a full width chute, then there will be no issues, be it wet or dry, tall or short.

image

The problem arises when with the below image, with a partial chute.

image

The self drive hardware prevents a full chute and sufficient airflow to allow long, thick or wet grass to be efficiently discharged into the catcher. These type of mowers are designed to be used on a regular basis, where only the very tips of growth are removed. A lawn that is maintained at a taller height is generally healthier, less prone to weed infestations and actually uses less water. Something at odds with the aussie tradition or expectation, ie "mow it so short so I don't have to do it again for a while".

For me, I use a range of mowers to suit a variety of different lawns, lawn heights and customer expectations. As a rule there is no "perfect" mower hence the use of different mowers. The only one I have found to do almost everything (mulch/catch/wet/dry/tall/short) is the Rover ProCut 560. The drive system isn't as robust as the Honda systems but it has a full chute meaning it is more versatile. It was also much cheaper to buy, allowing for occasional maintenance on the drive system when needed. The amount of money this thing has made me over 5 years if it blew up tomorrow I would be content knowing it earnt its keep. And its been HAMMERED, thrashed even.

image

Great info as usual ..Just like cars , reliability for mowers is a crucial factor in why we like certain brands and why we avoid others based on whether they fire up without fuss, easy to maintain and do a good job . A good lawn is a key talking point in a well maintained yard . It's the trimming that really finishes it all off too ..Do you trim and edge before or after mowing as a rule. Is there a procedure for that or does it alter depending on individual conditions and customers ? Just curious on what's your idea on that . .

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Rallye Sport

That and the reels hold energy then snap round when the obstruction is cleared. We used to call them finger harvesters, many an old time greenkeeper out there with a couple less digits.

No good if you needed all ten digits to count . You're so right how potentially dangerous it was . The jamming on the traction drive Ransomes behind the old red Fergy 35 was a common occurrence when the fairwars were soggy and soft . Frustrating too ..

[CoupeKing]

Got a petrol mower from Aldi about 8-10 years ago that has a Briggs engine. Nothing has been touched in it...oil, spark plug or blades and starts first pull 90% of the time. I think it's governed because it pretty quiet compared to my neighbours mowers.

Mind you I don't have a massive area to cut, nor does it get over-used, but one thing is for sure, long wet grass/weeds clogs up in it because the extraction port is a small hole about the size of a large orange.

As of now I generally cut the grass every 2 weeks when it's dry and very rarely get more than one catcher full. Having talked it up, next time I go to start it it will probably blow up in my face and cause 3 house fires.

Until recently I was using a cordless Ryobi whipper snipper for about 6-7 years then something decided to go to sleep in the trigger mechanism, so I decided on a Ozito from Bunnings - $125.00 with a 5 year warranty. Only used it twice, so far it's alright. Not as balanced as the Ryobi and it spits-out a little more grass towards the operator but it's lighter and the battery life is far superior.

I would not recommend my set-up to anyone that plans to tidy up an area any larger than a small yard.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by CoupeKing

Got a petrol mower from Aldi about 8-10 years ago that has a Briggs engine. Nothing has been touched in it...oil, spark plug or blades and starts first pull 90% of the time. I think it's governed because it pretty quiet compared to my neighbours mowers.

Mind you I don't have a massive area to cut, nor does it get over-used, but one thing is for sure, long wet grass/weeds clogs up in it because the extraction port is a small hole about the size of a large orange.

As of now I generally cut the grass every 2 weeks when it's dry and very rarely get more than one catcher full. Having talked it up, next time I go to start it it will probably blow up in my face and cause 3 house fires.

Until recently I was using a cordless Ryobi whipper snipper for about 6-7 years then something decided to go to sleep in the trigger mechanism, so I decided on a Ozito from Bunnings - $125.00 with a 5 year warranty. Only used it twice, so far it's alright. Not as balanced as the Ryobi and it spits-out a little more grass towards the operator but it's lighter and the battery life is far superior.

I would not recommend my set-up to anyone that plans to tidy up an area any larger than a small yard.

From years of experience with battery drills, often its a case of removing the trigger mechanism and taking the cover off and giving it a solid spray with contact cleaner. Its never going to be quite the same but something is always better then nothing. My angle towards battery power is you have to use it to maintain the batteries. If i go battery anything for me its makita. Reason being i have 3 5 amp makita batteries for my drill and 1 3amp that i use on the daily at work so they dont ever sit and are always charged like lithium ions like. So keeping batteries conditioned is important.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Fourteen seconds is a beaut speed I reckon . Fair for all . I remember playing on a city green many moons ago in a rep game that looked about 12 before roll up and was actually more than 16 ..Was fun though despite us country bumpkins struggling to manage it .

Its funny you know roddy, if you sit and listen to most bowlers they'll tell you they love quick greens, 16 seconds and over, yet as soon as they put a bowl down on them they cut the head and end up in the ditch.
I totally agree with your assessment, 14-15 seconds is quick enough and forgiving if you happen to miss your line by a fraction.

We played on a synthetic at Payneham last weekend and it was running about 17 seconds which is actually slightly off pace for what it can run when conditions are right, even with the modern bowls, i use a very narrow set of SR's, i was hitting the boundary at the shoulder and quite often finishing on the non professional side.
Not many could handle it and we lost all 4 rinks in the end.

Im only a hack really, my Daughter on the other hand, 3 time State Junior Champion and was sponsored by Henselite until she turned her back on national duties.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Its funny you know roddy, if you sit and listen to most bowlers they'll tell you they love quick greens, 16 seconds and over, yet as soon as they put a bowl down on them they cut the head and end up in the ditch.
I totally agree with your assessment, 14-15 seconds is quick enough and forgiving if you happen to miss your line by a fraction.

We played on a synthetic at Payneham last weekend and it was running about 17 seconds which is actually slightly off pace for what it can run when conditions are right, even with the modern bowls, i use a very narrow set of SR's, i was hitting the boundary at the shoulder and quite often finishing on the non professional side.
Not many could handle it and we lost all 4 rinks in the end.

Im only a hack really, my Daughter on the other hand, 3 time State Junior Champion and was sponsored by Henselite until she turned her back on national duties.

Would love to see your daughter bowl . That's impressive to be a junior champ and chosen for national teams..Wow.

I'm a tad old fashioned and love my old Henselite Classic ll's .Had them for ages. Mostly play pennant as a Third and the bit of late draw sometimes helps to get around short bowls in the way in a cluttered head . Remember playing against an old bloke many years ago who used these Size 5 wide draw bowls that all but finished up coming back toward you on a fast-ish green. He was a former Div 1 player and crucified me in a club singles game . Geez he could bowl . He was one of our skips at the time.

Back to mowing . We used to send the cylinders to a company called Pellows to be backlapped for the golf greens mowers . I used to bugger round for ages getting the bedknife and mild steel blade bedded in properly once the cylinder was either backlappped or reversed but it was worth it . Watching water spray like clippings going into the catcher was very satisfying indeed .Had grand plans of building my own green at home and even bought an old Villiers reel mower which I still have . Maybe a while off yet , but ya never know !!!!

[DFB FGXR6]

This is what 8 hours of mowing looks like in steps..............

[Sabantien]

I bought my first ever lawn mower not too long ago. Previous houses I had flatmates with lawnmowers, then I spent probably 15+ years in flats, so never had a lawn.



Have never heard of Yard Force, but it looked to have the same motor as the more expensive mowers, my woman liked the colour, and sure, i'd like a bigger deck, but I don't have much of a lawn here, and it's nice and flat, so a little 4 stroke was pretty much ideal.

I think a battery powered job would have been the better option, but they were pricey, and I wasn't sure how good they are. I have to think no worse than what I got, which does the job, but this also cost far less.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Sabantien

I bought my first ever lawn mower not too long ago. Previous houses I had flatmates with lawnmowers, then I spent probably 15+ years in flats, so never had a lawn.

image

Have never heard of Yard Force, but it looked to have the same motor as the more expensive mowers, my woman liked the colour, and sure, i'd like a bigger deck, but I don't have much of a lawn here, and it's nice and flat, so a little 4 stroke was pretty much ideal.

I think a battery powered job would have been the better option, but they were pricey, and I wasn't sure how good they are. I have to think no worse than what I got, which does the job, but this also cost far less.

Looks pretty good ..actually is a nice colour and she's got the black wheels too. ..

Here's a Yard Force battery mower review if ever you consider getting one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSgHVe56o1M ..Not too bad either.. Prices wise the battery mowers are becoming somewhat comparable now depending on brand so for growing numbers they might be worth considering ..I know with other garden care items the battery equipment could be also worth considering . My one and only such item is a line trimmer . Will not go remotely close to doing the work my Jonsered brushcutter does but it's already great for snipping around the fence and little bushes and plants . Runs one 18 volt battery and up to 45 minutes of run time..plenty for my uses .

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

This is what 8 hours of mowing looks like in steps..............

image

10k steps a day is meant to be good exercise, 35k is a workout for sure, certainly keeps you fit.
Do you have a mowing business mate, if so is it a franchise or independant?