Caste Iron Lawn Mower

[D_W]

If you don't want to pay for a grinding surface, you could buy one of the clip on abrasive gadgets.

They're far more effective than back lapping with loose SiC paste.

This sort of thing

You need to fit them with lots of clearance and then VERY GRADUALLY do spin/tighten cycles, until the blades have been ground over their entire surface.

This took around 10 minutes on a fairly blunt Qualcast Concord; I don't know how long it would take on your machine.

EDIT; old (generally favourable) thread on these gadgets

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/shar ... 24542.html

BugBear

220 grit or 120 grit SIC paste, tighten the cylinder to the reel and run the reel (backwards) with a cordless drill. It takes about a minute to remove major wear with back lapping. if you spin the reel by hand, then certainly that'll take a long time, but it's not something I'd do if you can get to the drive system and get a drill on an axle somewhere.

If necessary, the operation can be done twice. Once the paste is broken down, the mower is already in adjustment at the end of the sharpening cycle with uniform contact.

If it's well adjusted, it will cut light and heavy grass only a little bit differently. If it's too loose, it'll cut easily in light grass and be very difficult in heavier grass.

 

[cg1997]

Thanks for message, due to being new to this site, appears I'm not allowed to respond or see your video!

Would like to discuss more & can provide additional information from our archives, my direct contact is on Museum of Gardening & The Budding Foundation websites

Thanks

 

[Rhyolith]

I beleive a third post will allow you to use the pm system and see the video.

 

[cg1997]

Will give that a try, Thanks

 

[TFrench]

Ed, if you give me measurements for the rollers I'll knock them up for you on my lathe.

 

[Rhyolith]

Thanks, I’ll take some measurments! Clive do you know what wood they should be?

 

[Hardwick76]

Hi, would you consider selling your automaton lawnmower, I ve been after one of these early models for ages.

 

[swb58]

Thanks, I’ll take some measurments! Clive do you know what wood they should be?

Unless you've got a picture of an original I'd suggest there were more than two parts to the roller, probably 4.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What caste is your lawnmower? Mine's a dalit. Sorry. :lol:

 

[Rhyolith]

Hi, would you consider selling your automaton lawnmower, I ve been after one of these early models for ages.

Not at the moment and someone else has first dibs if I do, sorry

 

[Hardwick76]

The last one of these to come on eBay sold for over £1000, so bear that in mind, if you ever part with it

 

[Rhyolith]

Bloody hell, I knew it was valuable... but thats a bit more than I thought XD Thanks for the heads up.

My intention is to give it a soft restoration (replace broken wooden parts and clean basically).

 

[DannyEssex]

That is a fantastic looking piece of kit

 

[Garno]

Where is the electric plug? #-o

Well you would of looked foolish trying to sell it without one. :shock:

Help should be my middle name 8)

 

[Trevanion]

Where is the electric plug? #-o

Well you would of looked foolish trying to sell it without one. :shock:

Help should be my middle name 8)

Back in the day, you had to wire your own plug on! People were built tougher back then and could do it themselves without all the associated H&S!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Electricity was all a bit new fangled back in them days. If it wasn't powered by hand, it was drawn by a horse or team of oxen, or had it's own small steam engine.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxhist=0

http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/TRAN ... /mower.htm

 

[StraightOffTheArk]

What caste is your lawnmower? Mine's a dalit. Sorry. :lol:

This got me interested, and after a bit of imaginative research, this is what I found.

Apart from the caste system, India has contributed much to the world. Everyone knows that chess, Arabic numerals and bungalows originate from there - not many people realise that the lawn mower does too.

It's origin lies in a little known caste of entertainers known as 'Irony Merchants'. However, their particular style failed to find favour at the court, and they foolishly let it be known that they thought it was because the Sultan lacked a sense of humour. To prove them wrong he banished them to the iron works, where they could get rather more irony than they could handle. To try and regain favour with the Sultan one of them designed an ingenious wheeled device that would perfectly trim silk carpets when trundled across it. It was not until after the 2nd Anglo-Sikh war that this device became known to Europeans and its true potential realised.

I used the well-known source 'Citation Needed', which also, apparently, has proof of the flat-earth theory, chemtrails and the vaccine conspiracy.

Tara a bit,

SOTA