garden mower, FAO OLDCLAYPAWS

[Dexter's Shed]

So, just wondered how paws was getting along with his mower in the woods, after getting ours back up and running again, and finally cutting up one of the trees that blew over earlier in the year, our one finally got to do the job it was bought for, the tree was at the far back of our plot, inaccessible by car, the mower and trailer easily made it there carrying the winch and chainsaw and my two helpers, and fully loaded with logs it pulled it back out, I'm looking forward to do the 2nd tree now, as before I tended to forget about it due to the location, trying to pull logs out by hand trolley would have been a nightmare

[oldclaypaws]

Shortly after I got my tractor I nearly chopped off my left hand, which kinda put a hold on things. Its still in storage and hasn't been to the wood yet (the tractor, not the hand). A lot of catching up to do, but now starting to do heavier bits.

I've actually found in the interim if you put air in the tyres of your wheelbarrow, it makes it a lot easier, so have shifted several tons of firewood just with the barrow. It was in places where as yet there's not a track wide enough for the tractor.

Would also prefer rather than being left in the open the tractor had a building, which is very much in my thoughts. Clearing space for extra parking and the building is a higher priority than taking the unprotected tractor to the wood.

[Dexter's Shed]

there's not a track wide enough for the tractor.

mower's don't need a path, just drive straight through

Would also prefer rather than being left in the open the tractor had a building, which is very much in my thoughts. Clearing space for extra parking and the building is a higher priority than taking the unprotected tractor to the wood.

get yourself a green tarp, sorted

[oldclaypaws]

Unfortunately its not that easy to 'drive straight through' 70 foot long 4 ton fallen oaks, of which I have around 15 scattered on the ground, the clay pits, dense Hazel understorey, discarded gypsy bottles and 4 foot of brambles. Remember my wood has had little management for a Century and there's a lot of catching up to do. The 'lost world' feel is very much part of its considerable charm, but not so easy to tear through on a tractor at the moment. I also want to go carefully round my best ground flora, not trash through it.

Until such time as its needed and has clear routes, its quite happy where it is (under a green tarp, safe from tealeaves, at the bottom of the garden).

Patience Ratty, I know its your favourite toy and you are dying to compare notes, but I currently have other priorities.

[Dexter's Shed]

I was looking at cutting decks and collection boxes, I dont know if it would work for cutting brambles, unlike most lawns that are nice and flat, but thought it would make life a lot easier if it could work in the woods, at the very least we could keep the rides in trim which are flat, however cutting decks were fetching £250 on e bay, so I had a cheeky bid on a complete westwood with grass box, and won it for £130, just picked it up, it's a barn find and has not run by the looks of it for a number of years, but we can swap the deck and box over to our "little donkey" whilst I play at getting this one up and running

[SimonFisher]

... at the very least we could keep the rides in trim which are flat ...

Do the rides need to be kept in trim? We've a neighbour who liked to keep the shared rides in trim with a garden mower till we pointed out that he was mowing down lots of flora that was attracting butterflies and of benefit to other fauna. In this case the rides were perfectly negotiable in vehicle or on foot without his efforts. He seemed to think that as it was grass it had to be mown!

[Dexter's Shed]

in the summer time we tend to let them go wild, but a trim come autumn/winter wont do any harm, and if anything, think it'll help spread any seed pods around

[Dexter's Shed]

at the moment, the new addition is still in the back of my van, as we have some work being done on our house and scaffolding it up, making our side entrance too narrow to get the mower through, and I'm itching to get my hands on it, I did however remove the cutting deck, and was very surprised that it had hardly any rust on, it'll get new blades added and oiled,greased and a fresh coat of hammerite in green, it's a 42" cut so very happy with that, the grass collection box is in good condition too, so maybe it spent it's entire life in that barn

although a westwood, this is a laser turbo, with a Kawasaki engine, and will be getting a good makeover on it, including the nato green paint, although think this one will be called "Big Donkey" as it has the additional bits

[Dexter's Shed]

well the scaffolding was removed yesterday, so having got the mower out of the works van and into the back garden, we got to have a good look on what needed doing, it's all fixable, but my first thoughts were that we needed to get a flywheel mounted on it, so that a battery wouldn't be needed, I follow an american guy on you tube that had showed how to do it, but I've never tried welding, even though I had a new,still in the box arc welder, so watched a clip on how to use it and gave it a go, not the prettiest weld, but it holds,

http://youtu.be/TxWSso6lq1M

the wiring still needs sorting out, but thankfully an american forum gave me the manual and wiring diagram for it, but I thought I'd try out the new flywheel, make sure the engine works before getting really stuck into it

http://youtu.be/TxWSso6lq1M

[oldclaypaws]

I trickle charged mine yesterday and tried to fire it up after about 3 months sitting idle.

It wouldn't go at first. Then I remembered to turn on the petrol tap. That helped. Kicked straight into life. I think its a good 'un.