Another sort of hobby.

[Otto Von Blotto]

My first job out of school was on a golf course, doing an apprenticeship in greenkeeping. As a result, I have what most people would probably call an anal obsession with maintaining a kickarse lawn that looks like a bowling green.

 

Anyway, point being, I favour those old school engine powered cylinder mowers for maintaining the lawn and in the process striping it or making checkerboard type patterns in it at times.

 

I bought one a few years ago from a guy on eBay, for $200. It was advertised as a Scott Bonnar Model 45, but upon closer inspection it turned out to be the earlier Model 33. I estimate this machine dates from the mid-late 60s. It looked a bit scrappy when I first got it as per this photo...

 

 

So, I decided to do a bit of a restoration project on it. This served two purposes, one being to get it looking better, and secondly, I was going through some bad shit at the time and this helped get my mind off it a bit.

 

Decided to give the blades a re paint as well:

 

 

This logo I repainted myself by hand, with no stencils or anything to go by, just the remnants of the original decal. I think it turned out pretty good:

 

A couple of photos of the finished job (I added some extras to the original logos etc.):

 

 

 

 

Of course it wouldn't be complete without a photo of the end result of all this faffing about unfortunately the blades needed a touch up as they left annoying little lines in each stripe, but anyway.

 

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[antiphile]

Great job on the mower, and on the lawn. Just one tip though mate; you're not going to win any garden comps until you stop peeing on those areas in the foreground.

[Hairy]

Nice work mate!

 

I hope you had a beer afterwards.

[Beerlust]

Great job on the mower' date=' and on the lawn. Just one tip though mate; you're not going to win any garden comps until you stop peeing on those areas in the foreground.[/quote']

 

+1

 

Nice spot there P2!!

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

[Magnaman]

That's funny Otto, in the mid to late sixties my late father (very keen gardener) brought one of those and it was my job to mow the lawn, I used to do the stripes and checks, and the pitch in the backyard.

 

Self propelled, hand clutch reel mower, was like a Rolls after the old Villiers 2-stroke we had before.

 

Happy days.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Great job on the mower' date=' and on the lawn. Just one tip though mate; you're not going to win any garden comps until you stop peeing on those areas in the foreground.[/quote']

 

Thanks, I think

 

Those were actually areas that hadn't grown back fully yet after I did a full golf course style renovation on the lawn. Bloody idiot clay soil isn't the easiest to work with.

 

Cheers Hairy! I probably did, although I wasn't brewing yet at the time. Probably had some crappy megaswill in the fridge.

 

Anyway, other distractions (read: guitars and women, and beer) got in the way of maintaining it for a couple of years, the mower's engine that it had in those pictures fell into disrepair and I couldn't even use it. Last year I decided I was going to either fix the engine or replace it, so I could use it at my now ex's place, and decided on the latter option. Anyway that all went pear shaped, but in the past few weeks I called up the bloke and got him to replace the engine on it, and sort out a couple of other minor issues, and it's back working good as new again.

 

Now all I have to do is wait until Spring when the grass starts to get its arse into gear again.

[Otto Von Blotto]

That's funny Otto' date=' in the mid to late sixties my late father (very keen gardener) brought one of those and it was my job to mow the lawn, I used to do the stripes and checks, and the pitch in the backyard. [img']lol[/img]

 

Self propelled, hand clutch reel mower, was like a Rolls after the old Villiers 2-stroke we had before.

 

Happy days.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Nice. They go down to about 4mm, so perfect for pitch mowing in the backyard! I think mine must have been a greens mower or something; it has a 12 blade cylinder on it where most of them had 6 or 8 blades. I do have another one of the same model without an engine, or even a platform to put one (I got it for spare parts mainly). It has a six blade cylinder, and originally I was going to interchange it with the 12 blade cylinder on the working one during winter when I leave the grass longer, and use the 12 blade in summer for the short cuts. But I decided against it because backlapping two different cylinders on one bedknife would probably shorten its life and the life of the cylinders because of the variation between the two, and it's almost impossible to find replacement parts for the 16" ones anymore. Pretty sure you can't buy the reels, although might be able to get them custom made. Yeah I like the fact that it's self propelled too.. because the things are bloody heavy .

 

I actually have an older Atco reel mower with a Villiers crank start engine on it, although it's not in working order. I'm buggered if I know how old it is but I'd guess the 1950s??

 

 

Also have a SB Model 45, which is also not in working order. I picked it up from across the street, they were just chucking it out one day. I had planned to get it going again but never got around to it yet... maybe now that I have a fair bit of spare time with not playing in the band or having a girlfriend at the moment, I might try to at least clean it up a bit. It will need a new engine though.