Manly mower vs flyweight flymo?

[jack]

26 minutes ago, DavidWright said:

We have places where we have grass in our moss, not the other way round... Good job I rather like moss.

For the rest, a few years ago I purchased an Austrian scythe, since when I haven't used either the mower or the strimmer.

I'd only expected to use it on the docks, etc. but I found that on our ground (nowhere is flat or level) the scythe is a much better option all round. Easy start, no noise (aside from a slight 'swish'), and my knees are much happier with it (they'd ache for a couple of days after using the mower or strimmer to fight the grass on our rough ground). I started off with a 'ditch' blade. In the second year I got a fine grass blade too & with that I keep one patch of the grass closer cropped that I'd imagined possible at first.

For more about Austrian scythes see: http://thescytheshop.co.uk/

Interesting.  I read a lot about these about a year ago when we were thinking about how best to maintain the meadow section we're planning for our garden.  I'll be interested to see how good a cut you get on regular grass - I'd happily spend more time doing it this way than pushing around a lawnmower.

[DavidWright]

30 minutes ago, Crofter said:

Maybe if I pop down to Elgol you could give me a wee demo of the scythe? I am hoping to go to the gala day actually so perhaps I'll bump into you.

You'll be welcome to pop in. Gala day is Saturday 18th June this year. If you'll be coming down PM me and I'll let you know how to find me (right by the road, but easy to miss - you'll see what I mean when you see it.).

[DavidWright]

29 minutes ago, jack said:

I'd happily spend more time doing it this way than pushing around a lawnmower.

Since getting the scythe our place is tidier than it's ever been in all our over 20 years here. Cutting the grass is still a task, but it's no longer a chore.

One thing that makes it particularly handy for here is that if anything having the grass a bit wet is an advantage[1] - it makes the grass a little stiffer and lubricates the blade slightly - so you can cut on days that you'd certainly not mow & probably not even strim.

One of the big advantages of the Austrian[2] scythe over the classic British is that it's half the weight!

The cut grass is left in a (fairly) tidy swath that's easy to deal with. I tend to use it as mulch under shrubs and in places where I'd like to suppress grass & weed growth (e.g. around & under the bird feeders). Some I even make into a small amount of hay, which I use for covering layers of kitchen waste additions to the compost heap in winter.

If you follow the link there are loads of 'inspirational' videos.

[1] Traditionally you'd get up to catch the dew, but I'll leave that for others!

[2] Really the two main styles are more a case of SE Europe & NW Europe, but Austrian scythe seems to be the commonly used term, even though some of the really good "Austrian" style blades are Italian!

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, DavidWright said:

We have places where we have grass in our moss, not the other way round... Good job I rather like moss.

For the rest, a few years ago I purchased an Austrian scythe, since when I haven't used either the mower or the strimmer.

I'd only expected to use it on the docks, etc. but I found that on our ground (nowhere is flat or level) the scythe is a much better option all round. Easy start, no noise (aside from a slight 'swish'), and my knees are much happier with it (they'd ache for a couple of days after using the mower or strimmer to fight the grass on our rough ground). I started off with a 'ditch' blade. In the second year I got a fine grass blade too & with that I keep one patch of the grass closer cropped that I'd imagined possible at first.

For more about Austrian scythes see: http://thescytheshop.co.uk/

 

 

 

Off-topic. Slightly.

I quite like the sound of scythes, but I have a few problems with this particular gentlemen, Simon Fairlie, who seems to have a habit of campaigning for extreme versions of causes that only the rich world can afford, then coming somewhat to his senses years later when he has done quite a lot of damage.

For many years he was a vegan campaigner who then decided it was acceptable to eat sustainable meat.

Now he is happy to support anti-GM campaigners, who have imo a *hell* of a lot to answer for in terms of making it more difficult to feed the world. Fortunately the only continent where this madness has really taken hold is Europe; most of the others are rather closer to reality by dint of not being able to afford the luxury of those opinions.

>" Scythes are an ideal tool for making it clear to sowers of experimental GM crops that the majority of UK residents do not want them in this country. I am happy to loan scythes for anti-GM protests. "

I will not do business with people who promote the commission of criminal damage, particularly when I think the relevant opinion is squarely based on conspiracy theories. And I hate to think what such protestors could be charged with; you can probably cut a leg off with a well-sharpened scythe.

is there a recommended alternative source?

Ferdinand

(PS If anyone wants to debate the politics of this I suggest a new thread in the Housing Politics forum.)

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by Ferdinand

[AliG]

I feel your pain Jeremy. I have found a guy who cuts the grass 18 times a year for £200. We have around 300 sq metres in total, it is quite the bargain.

Next door just went the whole hog and replaced their back garden with astroturf!

For a couple of years I also had a robowmower. A Friendly robotics Robomow RL 800. It actually worked extremely well. The main drawback was it doesn't collect the grass but cuts it into very small pieces which should mulch over time. Ideally you would combine it with scarifying once or twice a year. The great thing was you could just go out and leave it working, but it wasn't fully automatic, you still had to get it out, start it up, clean it etc.

Eventually, however, the battery went and it was outrageously expensive to replace, it was also getting a bit unreliable. I might have bought another one but they seem to have increased in price. I think I paid £600 for it, mostly they seem to now cost over £1000 now which is what I pay for 5 years of cutting.

[DavidWright]

19 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

I quite like the sound of scythes, but I have a few problems with this particular gentlemen, Simon Fairlie,

<SNIP>

is there a recommended alternative source?

I have reservations about some of his views too, but I can't quote another source that I've used (& his page has a lot of useful info even if you don't buy from him).

[Ferdinand]

17 minutes ago, AliG said:

I feel your pain Jeremy. I have found a guy who cuts the grass 18 times a year for £200. We have around 300 sq metres in total, it is quite the bargain.

Next door just went the whole hog and replaced their back garden with astroturf!

For a couple of years I also had a robowmower. A Friendly robotics Robomow RL 800. It actually worked extremely well. The main drawback was it doesn't collect the grass but cuts it into very small pieces which should mulch over time. Ideally you would combine it with scarifying once or twice a year. The great thing was you could just go out and leave it working, but it wasn't fully automatic, you still had to get it out, start it up, clean it etc.

Eventually, however, the battery went and it was outrageously expensive to replace, it was also getting a bit unreliable. I might have bought another one but they seem to have increased in price. I think I paid £600 for it, mostly they seem to now cost over £1000 now which is what I pay for 5 years of cutting.

We just applied Occam's Razor and banished the lawn, to be replaced mainly with a "grass garden" of exotic shapes and colours, which the cat now eats and sits on in turn each morning as a digestif  aperitif before breakfast.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Ferdinand

[DavidWright]

32 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

you can probably cut a leg off with a well-sharpened scythe.

There might be a slight grating noise as it hit the bone, but the flesh would be no problem!

In use scythes are pretty safe for the user (who is well behind the blade), but anyone else should be well clear! The particular areas of danger are what you do when you put it down & where you put it, and (for the user) while sharpening (you try to be very careful to always make movements away from the edge). If you run a finger along a blade you'll not know about it till you see the blood...

Strange as it may seem I wear gloves while mowing (because I have soft, office worker's, hands), but take them off when freshening the edge of the blade (you tend to give the blade a quick fettle every 5-10 minutes when mowing).

Edit: typo

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by DavidWright

[Roger440]

AliG beat me to it, but this surely is the answer http://www.johnlewis.com/robomow-rc304-robotic-electric-lawnmower/p1239328?sku=233112577&kpid=233112577&s_kenid=622c0de0-31fc-447c-bb30-0d2698cf9cc5&s_kwcid=402x369048&tmad=c&tmcampid=73

Under serious consideration if our house move comes off. Lawn at the new placeis too big for the nice new battery mower we just bought. Doh. But the battery mower is a huge leap forward from one with a cable.

 

 

 

[reddal]

5 hours ago, Roger440 said:

but this surely is the answer

 

No - surely this is the answer :

[ToughButterCup]

On 5/23/2016 at 18:33, Construction Channel said:

i should be able to get the fuel right by the 3rd or 4th attempt

...........and i am being quite serious 

Let's ask Faye about that one...... and get the truth

[Construction Channel]

Expect a Mrs construction channel account by tonight. 

[DavidWright]

8 hours ago, reddal said:

No - surely this is the answer :

If the grass you need to cut is that flat & level you just don't understand the issue.

Think alpine meadow.

I can't speak for Crofter's garden, but we have a plot that is ~50m x 50m. The top (North) corner is 10m above the bottom (South) corner. In places the slope is 1 in 4 or steeper. In theory our mower is "self-propelled", but on rough ground like that it's a euphemism for 'power assisted", & not much assistance at that!

I don't aim for a fine sward. My No.1 aim is that the area all looks green over winter (a real contrast to the surrounding fields & moors), my secondary aim is that it looks tidy throughout. To achieve that I have some areas I cut only once a year (the steepest bank), others I cut 2-3 times, and a small area that gets cut every 1-2 weeks (that bit is the closest we have to what some might call a 'lawn').

[jack]

16 hours ago, DavidWright said:

...

One of the big advantages of the Austrian[2] scythe over the classic British is that it's half the weight!

...

If you follow the link there are loads of 'inspirational' videos.

When I say I'd read a bit, what I really meant is that I spent several hours reading and watching youtube videos!  I found the whole concept extremely interesting, mainly because I hate lawnmowers.

The one video that sticks in my mind was a competition between a British and Austrian scythe at, I think, a country fair.  The Austrian version won easily, although I don't know how well tuned the British one was.

[DavidWright]

1 hour ago, jack said:

When I say I'd read a bit, what I really meant is that I spent several hours reading and watching youtube videos!  I found the whole concept extremely interesting, mainly because I hate lawnmowers.

So you must have seen the videos showing scythe v strimmer, with the scythe finishing first (& that's not even considering that it would be much faster to collect the trimmings)?

Usually they are straight races, i.e. winner is the first to cut a given area, but there's an especially good one at a British country fair where the test includes going round saplings and finding objects that have been left in the grass.

With the scythe I can leave a foxglove standing in splendid isolation, trying doing that with a strimmer!

For cutting in and around the bases of our willow windbreak (3 rows with 60cm between the trees) I find having a very short blade is handy.

[jack]

7 minutes ago, DavidWright said:

So you must have seen the videos showing scythe v strimmer, with the scythe finishing first (& that's not even considering that it would be much faster to collect the trimmings)?

Yep!

Great info - thanks for sharing.

[Crofter]

2 hours ago, DavidWright said:

If the grass you need to cut is that flat & level you just don't understand the issue.

Think alpine meadow.

I can't speak for Crofter's garden, but we have a plot that is ~50m x 50m. The top (North) corner is 10m above the bottom (South) corner. In places the slope is 1 in 4 or steeper. In theory our mower is "self-propelled", but on rough ground like that it's a euphemism for 'power assisted", & not much assistance at that!

I don't aim for a fine sward. My No.1 aim is that the area all looks green over winter (a real contrast to the surrounding fields & moors), my secondary aim is that it looks tidy throughout. To achieve that I have some areas I cut only once a year (the steepest bank), others I cut 2-3 times, and a small area that gets cut every 1-2 weeks (that bit is the closest we have to what some might call a 'lawn').

Yup, the garden area is really quite small, but with very large changes of level. The house was built into a deep cut into the hillside so there are large areas that are too steep to walk up. These get a token tickle with the strimmer. The 'flat' areas are still too steep to push a mower around. I found the mower worked much better if I strapped down the brake, and towed it around behind me- I could then lift it to meet all the lumps and bumps. Maybe not the safest but I loathe picking up the cuttings and the strimmer leaves it looking so uneven it reminds of that time I tried shearing a sheep by hand...

[warby]

On 23/05/2016 at 22:31, Onoff said:

My South African mate reckons tractors with glazed / meshed cabs are a must out there if grass has been left to grow or fallow land needs ploughing in. His brother has a farm out there. Seemingly the cutting heads etc can throw up poisonous SNAKES and/or bits of them still capable of biting.

And apparently you should never run a snake over whilst on a motorbike for similar reasons..... 

Last year in Thailand I reversed the  car then started to go forward when a large snake came out of the radiator grill onto the bonnet and up to the windscreen

I hit the brakes and it slithered off. I was told off my other half for disturbing her texting. You can never win she was completely oblivious to what happened.

[Trw144]

I m looking at a Husqvarna 305 robot mower - anyone had any experience? My only concern is how well it will cut the strip of grass at the side of the house as I don't want a robot mower and still need another mower.

Found one for sale that will only cost me £500 

[SteamyTea]

Don't get a 4-stroke mower, they can seize up when working at an angle.

My Father chopped all his big toe of, half the next one and the tip of the middle one by using a petrol Flymo on a rope to cut his grass bank.  You don't really lose your balance when you chop your toes off, you just don't want to walk normally

[Crofter]

Just to update- I did the obvious thing and just bought a bigger strimmer. 53cc Kawasaki commercial job, off a bloke who cuts grass for the council and gets to take that year's machine home with him every season. Nice to know where our council tax goes!

[jack]

45 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Don't get a 4-stroke mower, they can seize up when working at an angle.

My Father chopped all his big toe of, half the next one and the tip of the middle one by using a petrol Flymo on a rope to cut his grass bank.  You don't really lose your balance when you chop your toes off, you just don't want to walk normally

Now you have me worried.  I have a new 4-stroke mower and am mowing some very steeply angled sections of lawn (alternating directions each run!).  I was a little worried about seizing, but I do tend to worry too much generally, so had convinced myself it's probably fine.  

I know it's a bit of a "how long's a piece of string" question, but anyone care to hazard a guess at what sort of angles and for how long could cause oil starvation and hence seizing?  Will pausing for a few moments on the flat at the end of each run help?  I assume making sure it's topped up with oil at all times should help...

[Jeremy Harris]

17 minutes ago, jack said:

Now you have me worried.  I have a new 4-stroke mower and am mowing some very steeply angled sections of lawn (alternating directions each run!).  I was a little worried about seizing, but I do tend to worry too much generally, so had convinced myself it's probably fine.  

I know it's a bit of a "how long's a piece of string" question, but anyone care to hazard a guess at what sort of angles and for how long could cause oil starvation and hence seizing?  Will pausing for a few moments on the flat at the end of each run help?  I assume making sure it's topped up with oil at all times should help...

Depends on the make.  Honda make a small 4 stroke that will run upside down or sideways (I have a bare engine I've hoarded to make a small generator for my boat with).  Most usually give a maximum angle somewhere.  The worst used to be the old Briggs and Stratton vertical shaft motors, that only needed to tip a little bit for the oil splasher to stop throwing oil around and so causing them to seize.  The horizontal shaft engines, with their much deeper sump, never seem to be so fussy.

If you can't find a maximum angle listed for your mower, then try finding an exploded diagram of the engine, as 9 times out of 10 you'll be able to tell from that what the oil level is going to do when it's tipped over a bit and whether or not there's a likelihood of oil starvation as a result.

[joe90]

Firstly I bought an Austrian Sythe and a petrol strimmer and the Sythe is so much nicer to work with. Secondly the mower I have is a petrol mower ( four stroke) cuts like a flymo ( non cylinder) has wheels and has power to the wheels so you don't have to push it, best mower I have owned so far. The only thing I wish it had was a rear roller which I think gives a better finish ( stripes) . After our new build I will be buying a ride on mower as we have 1/2 acre of field as well as 1/4 acre of garden ( but intend to get lambs and geese etc) .

[Stones]

We have over an acre of ground at our new site, which I'm going to landscape such that it can all be done using a ride on mower.  There is one area that slopes quite steeply and that will be fenced off and given over to sheep and chickens (or both).

Paying someone is still quite an attractive option though.  Our last house was 1/2 acre, around 1/2 of it laid to grass.  After we moved out but before the new owners took possession, I had to get the grass cut so the place was nice and tidy.  I got a couple of quotes from local gardeners, £30 for a cut and tidy of edges.  Just over an hour's work but they used their own machines, fuel etc.  When you think about it, paying for a cut every fortnight from April to the end of October, means 14 cuts, or £420.  £420 doesn't seem an excessive amount to pay annually to not have the hassle of cutting the grass, buying and maintaining a mower, getting and paying for fuel etc.