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Thread: Hapiness is a petrol lawnmower

  1. #1
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    Hapiness is a petrol lawnmower

    Previous Mrs V's imposed an outright ban on anything but electric lawnmowers. Noisy, smelly things they said. Oh how well I recall the awful job of mowing the 130ft lawn we had when I lived in Reading 20 years ago with little more than a small flymo and numerous extension cables joined together. I should have recognised this as a sign that all would not end well on the marriage front in both cases.

    The current Mrs V is different. Looking out over our jungle of a back lawn I suggested that we buy a petrol one. She thought that this was a great idea - much better than messing about with cables and she said that she loved the smell of a the petrol engine. Oh, 'deep joy' as the good professor would say.

    Last week I picked up this Mountfield mulching model with a 4 stroke Briggs & Stratton engine



    Newly serviced including a sharpened blade, I picked it up for £100 from eBay.

    It made short work of the over grown lawn:



    So good to hear the noise of the engine and smell the exhaust (don't tell extinction rebellion please) and what a joy not to have to tangle with electric cables and mess around with clippings. Lovely. Looking forward to the grass growing so I can get out and use it again.

  2. #2
    Grand Master mart broad's Avatar
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    Can only agree i personally hate electric cables/cords and also have a petrol mower but if pushed my previous cordless Bosch was far better than either option and returned many years of sterling service just to mean to pay the price for a new one.

  3. #3
    Is that your only lawn? Mower looks like overkill TBH!

    Quote Originally Posted by mart broad View Post
    Can only agree i personally hate electric cables/cords and also have a petrol mower but if pushed my previous cordless Bosch was far better than either option and returned many years of sterling service just to mean to pay the price for a new one.
    Agree about cordless Bosch, mine's been excellent.

  4. #4
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    Is that your only lawn? Mower looks like overkill TBH!
    Well I have a very small one at the front....

    Yes, you are quite correct - its is a bit over the top. However, I just fancied one.

    When I see the woman next door later on today I am going to ask her if she would like me to mow her lawn so that I can get to use it a bit more.

  5. #5
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    I was kind of hoping that this might become a lawnmower version of the Petrus's cabrio thread

  6. #6
    Master
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    We've had a petrol mower for years - too much grass for an electric one. What I discovered today is that our mower runs much better on super unleaded !

    Pete

  7. #7
    Grand Master mart broad's Avatar
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    “When I see the woman next door later on today I am going to ask her if she would like me to mow her lawn so that I can get to use it a bit more.”

    Makes a change from etchings

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Velorum View Post
    Well I have a very small one at the front....

    Yes, you are quite correct - its is a bit over the top. However, I just fancied one.

    When I see the woman next door later on today I am going to ask her if she would like me to mow her lawn so that I can get to use it a bit more.

    Based on the "boys room" posts I wondered where the mowing the woman next doors lawn bit was going...

    Petrol mowers are cool if our lawn were bigger I'd want some big '50's Atco or something, they're just beasts !

  9. #9
    Master
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    When I see the woman next door later on today I am going to ask her if she would like me to mow her lawn so that I can get to use it a bit more.[/QUOTE]

    I'd be very careful how you phrase that offer 

  10. #10
    Agreed, there's something wonderful about the smell of newly cut grass and petrol.

    Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

  11. #11
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    My wife used to mow this whole area with a little Honda mower, but following a riding accident and a badly broken shoulder, it was obvious it was going to be a bit much to mow it from now on... Best £400 quid I’ve spent...

    Enter an old Hayter ride on...V twin (sounds like a Ducati) 20 HP twin blades... makes the job a breeze..








  12. #12
    Petrol all the way for me too. Lawn mowing is enough of a chore without messing about with cables.
    Don't forget to use additive in your petrol can. I was wondering why my mower was such a pain to get started after the winter lay up until I realised it was the inevitable half a can of stale fuel left over from the previous summer that was the problem. One bottle of additive later and starts every time without drama!

  13. #13
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    Hadnt thought of that! What additive to you use?

  14. #14
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    Maybe when the thing wórks....

    Over here there is a lót of ´weeds´ to cut. I use a petrol engined weed mower on a harness strap; no not electric and if the resident female objects to that, shé can do it.

    Problem is that the thing is dreadfully unreliable; back for repair under warranty third time. I cannot open/repair it myself as that infringes warranty conditions. Meanwhile cutting by hand with a sickle. That makes me ... well... not happy. So the resident female helps. Oh mán what horror. She has allergies so is dressed like woman-in-black, overheats, needs double dosage of ant-histamins, is in a FOUL mood ánd doses off when not.

    Concerning bad starting; run it dry. You know by experience how long it takes so plan useage accordingly.

  15. #15
    Craftsman TAG0001's Avatar
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    A diesel lawn mower for me every time over electric

    IMG_9294.JPG


    Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

  16. #16
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Velorum View Post
    Previous Mrs V's imposed an outright ban on anything but electric lawnmowers. Noisy, smelly things they said. Oh how well I recall the awful job of mowing the 130ft lawn we had when I lived in Reading 20 years ago with little more than a small flymo and numerous extension cables joined together. I should have recognised this as a sign that all would not end well on the marriage front in both cases.

    The current Mrs V is different. Looking out over our jungle of a back lawn I suggested that we buy a petrol one. She thought that this was a great idea - much better than messing about with cables and she said that she loved the smell of a the petrol engine. Oh, 'deep joy' as the good professor would say.

    Last week I picked up this Mountfield mulching model with a 4 stroke Briggs & Stratton engine



    Newly serviced including a sharpened blade, I picked it up for £100 from eBay.

    It made short work of the over grown lawn:



    So good to hear the noise of the engine and smell the exhaust (don't tell extinction rebellion please) and what a joy not to have to tangle with electric cables and mess around with clippings. Lovely. Looking forward to the grass growing so I can get out and use it again.

    Ah yes, deep joy indeed. Went all petrolobe, and now lovely popping and revloders to achieve the smoothy lawnscapery.
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  17. #17
    Master j0hnbarker's Avatar
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    Couldn’t agree more.

    I have a 1960s Suffolk Super Colt that I bought off a guy on eBay who restores them.

    It was used for a strip of grass in front of my old house. I just enjoyed starting it and servicing it each year TBH.

    I also fitted it with a K&N air filter (they don’t do them small enough unless you use one of their crank breather filters). Looks like Max Power c.1995.

  18. #18
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Enoch View Post
    That Hayter looks just the business. Hello Charlie, hello Rosie!

  19. #19
    Master
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    You can all keep your noisy, unreliable, polar bear killing stinky petrol lawn mowers. My bosh leccy is awesome. Press the button and it goes let go and it stops, every time every year. My garden is waaay bigger than yours op also. No treks to the petrol station, pulling my arm out, buying oil, services......na thanks.

  20. #20
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    I'll just leave this here - and run away! . I recognise that this is way OTT for the OPs lawn area.


  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Velorum View Post
    Hadnt thought of that! What additive to you use?
    Not sure of its composition but it’s made by Briggs and Stratton. Got it off Amazon.

  22. #22
    Master
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    I’ve got a foot in both camps, I have a Ryobi petrol power head for strimming/brush cutting/hedges/tilling, but use electric Ryobi One+ for light duty chainsaws and other garden kit.

    For the grass I use a 48v Mountfield cordless mower, just into its 4th season now and hasn’t missed a beat. It came with two batteries and I can get the lawn done on 1.5 of those.

    I would like a petrol lawnmower though, and could just about justify a sit on, but the garden is quite steep so would probably need a 4WD...

    The petrol power head I have gets zero maintenance, some would say it’s neglected, but in the 8 years I’ve had it, it fires up every time even on stale petrol.

  23. #23
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    I am a great fan of fuel-powered garden machines. Atco mower here, for 300m2 nicely striped lawn. Petrol of course. Currently, there are very good battery-powered mowers like the Atco-style machines for sale. They cover about 500m2 on one charge. Atco (or a new name: Allett) has a big advantage: the newer machines allow the attachment of special tools for scarifying and mulching.

    Stihl leafblower as well. For that, I use Aspen two-stroke fuel. The Atco drinks Euro 95.

    Menno

    Edit: my wife isn't interested in how a mower is powered. She couldn't care less. Nuclear, solar, diesel. She can't be bothered.
    Last edited by thieuster; 12th May 2019 at 13:51.

  24. #24
    I wouldn’t entertain my wife’s opinion on lawn mowers unless she was going to mow the lawn - which she isn’t.

    Honda izy petrol is what I use. Solid reliable and starts first pull every time even first use after winter.

    However next year will look into the Gardena robot mowers .

  25. #25
    I too kept using a Flymo with two extension leads as my ex partner didn't see the point in buying a petrol lawnmower. That situation continued until I decided that, as she didn't mow the lawn or would be the person buying a petrol lawnmower, I would invest in a Mountfield. The fortnightly chore was more than halved in duration and I went on to buy a petrol brushcutter to make short work of the hard to reach spots. Funnily enough, that woman is also now an ex and my new partner is a great advocate of investing in tools to make life easier. Shorter chores means longer playtime!

  26. #26
    Craftsman
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    If you get the urge I have one of these that I can highly recommend, there is something immensely satisfying about mowing your lawns. It follows the golden rule of always make sure your mower has a Honda engine.



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_yEoMK_6n4

    My father has a small tractor thing that cost an unbelievable amount of money when compared against the price of a new car, economies of scale I assume. Plus he gets to escape my mother for an hour or two a couple of times a week ;-)

  27. #27
    I bought an Al-Ko lawn mower two years ago, they really are a level up compared to the competition.

    https://www.al-ko.com/shop/uk/produc...awnmowers.html

  28. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by adrianw View Post
    I bought an Al-Ko lawn mower two years ago, they really are a level up compared to the competition.

    https://www.al-ko.com/shop/uk/produc...awnmowers.html

    These are the best of the bunch, all made in Austria (bar the easy range) and absolutely superb in wet grass. If I was to recommend a petrol it would be the Alko.


    Also very impressed with the ego cordless range. Not cheap but lovely to use.


    https://egopowerplus.co.uk/products/mowers

  29. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skier View Post
    I'll just leave this here - and run away! . I recognise that this is way OTT for the OPs lawn area.

    How do you get stripes with that ?

  30. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by amnesia View Post
    How do you get stripes with that ?
    No stripes, moves around randomly, to avoid getting tyre tracks in the lawn

  31. #31
    Grand Master magirus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Velorum View Post
    When I see the woman next door later on today I am going to ask her if she would like me to mow her lawn so that I can get to use it a bit more.

    That may be a contender for "Euphemism of the Month" for May. Don't get carried away and ask if you can trim her bush . . .
    F.T.F.A.

  32. #32
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by magirus View Post
    That may be a contender for "Euphemism of the Month" for May. Don't get carried away and ask if you can trim her bush . . .
    As I was working from home yesterday I thought that it would be the ideal opportunity to catch her round the back and see if she would like me to sort things out for her.

    Unfortunately, by the time I had finished work telephone calls she had asked the chap round the corner to not only give her front and back lawns a seeing to but also trim her rather wild looking hedge. Shame, I had been looking forward to deploying my Mountfield on her unkempt undergrowth.

  33. #33
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    LOL

    Sent from my moto e5 play using Tapatalk

  34. #34
    I'm in the process of developing a terrible lawn into a decent one and once that's done I quite fancy a petrol mower, but it will definitely be a cylinder cutter. Far better results IME than a rotary.

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  35. #35
    Grand Master magirus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Velorum View Post
    As I was working from home yesterday I thought that it would be the ideal opportunity to catch her round the back and see if she would like me to sort things out for her.

    Unfortunately, by the time I had finished work telephone calls she had asked the chap round the corner to not only give her front and back lawns a seeing to but also trim her rather wild looking hedge. Shame, I had been looking forward to deploying my Mountfield on her unkempt undergrowth.

    I hope that chap didn't overdo the hedge trimming. As we both know, taking too much off can be aesthetically ruinous. Then again, I suppose if he made a poor stab at it you and the Mountfield may yet be invited round to sort her out properly.
    F.T.F.A.

  36. #36
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    Sadly this particular window of opportunity has now closed as Mrs V has told me that I must not get involved with the young ladies garden

  37. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Enoch View Post
    My wife used to mow this whole area with a little Honda mower, but following a riding accident and a badly broken shoulder, it was obvious it was going to be a bit much to mow it from now on... Best £400 quid I’ve spent...

    Enter an old Hayter ride on...V twin (sounds like a Ducati) 20 HP twin blades... makes the job a breeze..






    It's certainly made a good job of your sheep !!


  38. #38
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    While everyone is in shed mode, does anyone use a petrol cylinder mower? I'm thinking of getting one as my petrol rotary is getting a bit creaky. Any recommendations?
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  39. #39
    Master
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    I love a good mower...currently using a 17'' cylinder. Beautiful stripes, and much nicer to use than a rotary (my Hayter 48 Pro).


  40. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldoakknives View Post
    While everyone is in shed mode, does anyone use a petrol cylinder mower? I'm thinking of getting one as my petrol rotary is getting a bit creaky. Any recommendations?


    Allett. Still made in England. We stock the 14, 17 and 20 inch ones with the Kawasaki engine. Pm me if your interested I'll do a good deal.

    https://www.allett.co.uk/mowers/home...ington-petrol/

  41. #41
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Irish boy View Post
    Allett. Still made in England. We stock the 14, 17 and 20 inch ones with the Kawasaki engine. Pm me if your interested I'll do a good deal.

    https://www.allett.co.uk/mowers/home...ington-petrol/
    Thanks will take a look and bear that in mind.
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  42. #42
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by ODP View Post
    Petrol all the way for me too. Lawn mowing is enough of a chore without messing about with cables.
    Don't forget to use additive in your petrol can. I was wondering why my mower was such a pain to get started after the winter lay up until I realised it was the inevitable half a can of stale fuel left over from the previous summer that was the problem. One bottle of additive later and starts every time without drama!

    Trick I've found with all petrol implements that are left not used for a few months i.e. the stale petrol problem - things were better in the old leaded petrol days. Put a tiny dribble of new petrol onto the air filter or a few drops directly into the carb. Starts immediately then and will run fine on the old petrol. Works a treat.

  43. #43
    I believe a freshly-filled full petrol can allows the petrol to be stored for up to 12 months. However, once it has been re-opened the volatility degrades and has probably only 3 months left before it becomes problematical.

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  44. #44
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
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    At the risk of being burned in this thread as a heretic, are the new generation of cordless electric lawnmowers (eg Bosch) any good?

    I’ve lived in city centre apartments all my life, but suddenly have a lawn to contend with for the first time. I’ve just bought a cottage on the west coast of Scotland with about a quarter of an acre to mow. Too much for a corded electric, but not enough, surely, for a petrol one?

    What does the panel reckon?

  45. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seamaster73 View Post
    At the risk of being burned in this thread as a heretic, are the new generation of cordless electric lawnmowers (eg Bosch) any good?

    I’ve lived in city centre apartments all my life, but suddenly have a lawn to contend with for the first time. I’ve just bought a cottage on the west coast of Scotland with about a quarter of an acre to mow. Too much for a corded electric, but not enough, surely, for a petrol one?

    What does the panel reckon?

    They're fine but go with a decent brand, I'd recommend ego, I've found them to be great guys to deal with, passionate and they've developed a superb range, market leaders of cordless garden in the uk. They have certain promotions on they pass to us such as second batteries free etc and the lower end stuff is very affordable.


    https://egopowerplus.co.uk/products/mowers

  46. #46
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
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    Thank you for this tip!

  47. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seamaster73 View Post
    Thank you for this tip!

    No problem, if anyone has any garden machinery queries thats my business and I'd be happy to help. We've been importers/distributers and retailers for over 40 years since my dad started in 1976.

  48. #48
    Craftsman
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    Any advice regarding secondhand mulching ride ons? Thank you

  49. #49
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seamaster73 View Post
    At the risk of being burned in this thread as a heretic, are the new generation of cordless electric lawnmowers (eg Bosch) any good?

    I’ve lived in city centre apartments all my life, but suddenly have a lawn to contend with for the first time. I’ve just bought a cottage on the west coast of Scotland with about a quarter of an acre to mow. Too much for a corded electric, but not enough, surely, for a petrol one?

    What does the panel reckon?
    Congratulations on your lifestyle change!
    Quite jealous, recently spent a week on the West coast of Scotland and it was idyllic.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  50. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by MonkeyBoy View Post
    Any advice regarding secondhand mulching ride ons? Thank you


    There is generally 3 options. Standard tractor type, either with a sealed off deck or a mulch plug fitted. These are dead on, generally work better as a collector machine but good if you need both options. Start at £2k for a 36" machine new.

    Front deck mowers, the 2 best manufacturers for these are Stiga and Husqvarna. The advantage of these is manoeuvrability and they leave a superb finish. Also good for under shrubs etc. Downside is they're not the most robust thing if you bump a tree, and they don't love long grass if you've been on holiday for 3 weeks you'll need to cut it 2 or 3 times. Start between 2.5 and 3k new.

    Zero turns. An American design but I like them. Go for Ariens, they offer everything the dearer makes like Toro etc do but for less money. They are very fast, robust and exceptionally manoeuvrable. Downsides are the finish isn't as good as a front deck, and they can mark the grass till you get used to how to properly drive a skid steer. Some never do. £3k will get you a twin cylinder 42" new.

    Used is a minefield, mowers aren't like cars, people don't trade in every 3 years, more tend to keep them till they start to give bother. Mower parts are expensive, every bit as expensive as car parts. As an example the average Husqvarna clutch is over £200 for the part alone, plus you'll need belts etc on top of that. For that reason I'd always advise new unless your reasonably mechanical and the machine checks out.

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