I just have to tell someone.

Cleaning, fixing, using, repairing, best and worst of your mechanical aids in the garden...

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Ricard with an H
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Ok-ok, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some of you you will yawn and move-on, some may appreciate my excitement.

Not only have I always wanted a roller, I couldn't/wouldn't afford the expense and never quite new how heavy I needed to go or rather how heavy I could afford to go considering the limitations of our lawn tractor, a Westwood T14. (!4 HP twin engine)

Two years ago a neighbour got me out of a mess by driving this beast behind a Landrover, last week he said I could have it. He inherited it when they bought the old cottage, it was made in a local foundry and I can only guess it's age though would rather someone take a more qualified view.

The good news is that it tows nicely behind the Westwood.
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How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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snooky
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Giving up gardening,Richard, and taking up cricket :D
Tidy-looking beast of a roller that.Can you research the Foundry where it was made,looks local to you from the"Cardigan"on the side of the leg?
Regards snooky

---------------------------------
A balanced diet is a beer in both hands!
WARNING.!!... The above post may contain an opinion
Monika
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There is nothing like a good piece of equipment, is there, Richard? Well made and fit for purpose - a thing of beauty. Enjoy using it!
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Ricard with an H
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The roller came at a convenient time, rather than spends days accumulating into a week with a heavy brushcutter trimming the summer growth from the Pembrokeshire banks surrounding our paddock I got a local contractor to come in with a bushwhacker. He wanted £20 to do the lot but they do make a mess and because the ground was soft I was left with a lot of chevron patterned tyre tracks.

He did warn me though on one side of the paddock the mole workings were getting so they need attention. I gave him an extra tenner to do a few more laps so I got tyre tracks alongside tyre tracks.

This beast is so heavy I can't move it more than an inch, just enough to help locate the pin onto what passes as a towing jaw on a domestic tractor.

I'm still amazed, though gratified, that the Westwood can tow it. I'm now wondering about the drive belt, I have never replaced it in the 15 years I had the machine. When I bought the Westwood it was five years old so I'm guessing the drive belt is original.

Cricket pitch ? (Smile) well no, but, we do like to keep it tidy and it's quite amazing how stone that was once well-buried come to the top, then there are mole working and after a few years what was once described as a pitch-and-putt or cricket pitch has become quite rough so cutting grass has to be done on a lower gear than when the paddock was first created.

Another reason to care for the paddock is that as an amenity to the domestic garden and barn conversion it was valued at £8000 fifteen years ago whereas the rough field we inherited with the barn was a liability full of concrete, old tyres, gates, a couple of steel beds and steel girders. It probably cost us under £1000 to sort it out.

It will be used two or three times a year though I'm almost embarrassed to admit I have an element of pride in ownership.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Geoff
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That's quite a beast. I love the way old cast iron has unnecessary twiddly bits that give it character. Somebody has made a good job of replacing the wooden parts.
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Ricard with an H
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Geoff wrote:Somebody has made a good job of replacing the wooden parts.


They fitted green sawn oak from the local national parks saw-mills, sadly they didn't have the skills to do a pegged mortise and tenon. Even worse they used steel screws to hold that 45 degree joint together and they won't come out. I have some stainless steel coach screws that will hold it all together for another 100 years.

I already flooded the timbers with preservative though I'm not sure about that green paint job even though I have some.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
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jimmyD
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how do I ask a question
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Ricard with an H
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Click on the "Post reply" button. A panel will appear, write your question in the panel then press Submit button.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
jimmyD
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many thanks
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XT500fred
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I used to work at an Architectural Ironworks a few years ago, who used to specialise in restoring and making Georgian and Victorian gates and railings, as well as castings like bench ends, fire inserts, machinery, etc. I've seen the name Cardigan before, on many an item, either stamped into wrought iron or embossed onto iron castings. The foundry was in Cardigan, Wales, who made steam engines, ploughs, etc. It's definitely Victorian, and it's possible that roller was made by them and was originally attached to a steam roller. What does the rest of the embossing say? There might be Bridgend and/or Foundry and Iron Works embossed.

Some information about the foundry here: http://www.glen-johnson.co.uk/bridge-end-foundry/

cheers
fred
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Ricard with an H
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Hello Fred.

I think the word after Cardigan is Engineering, thanks for the history on my lovely roller.

I intended to create an area of hard standing with gravel rather than the roller sit on grass that will turn to mud, I haven't got around to it yet and after last nights rain the ground is wet I won't move it until a few days of dry weather.

I wanted to post a closer photo of the hitch, the hitch is piece of art-engineering in itself, I've been so busy on another project that everything else has been neglected including the barn. Dusty shelves and cobwebs together with a smelly little cocker spaniel soon turn a lovely home into a tip.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Ricard with an H
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Hello again Fred.

Im wondering if this hitch was made up, or altered at a later date if the roller is Victorian, the hitch looks as if it was cobbled together from what could be found and welded together rather than forged. The process of forging doesn't lay metal down in the same way as two parts being welded.

With forging the metal is heated until it is plastic then its beaten together and/or shaped.

What do you think Fred ?

And just in case you aren't aware, I'm 45 minutes drive from Cardigan. For such a small town it has a huge engineering history.
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Geoff
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It does look like it has either broken off or been cut off on purpose then a lower hitch added slightly crudely. Do tractors hitch lower than horses?
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XT500fred
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Yes, that looks like it's been fettled with at some point, and like Geoff has suggested - altered to fit a different level of tow.
The original hitch would of been one continuous length of flat wrought iron, with a short length either fire welded on or attached with hot rivets, at the end.

And the flat lengths look like rolled steel. Steel rusts differently to wrought iron. Steel will rust in scaly patches and flake off, whereas wrought iron will laminate and peel away in layers. Also, wrought iron has sharp angled edges, and rolled steel will have rounded edges like yours has.

The short L shape of metal underneath the wood looks like it's wrought iron.

But as long as it works...

cheers,
fred
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Ricard with an H
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XT500fred wrote:But as long as it works...

cheers,
fred



I thought you could throw some light on its changes, oh-yes, it works a treat and I'm still amazed I can pull it with my lawn tractor.

I think it must have been used by the farmer who started farming this valley, he also created, or helped create a chapel, a vestry and a graveyard. We have our own graveyard though we are not known as a village. The national database does not recocnise Rhos-Y-Caerau even though round signs take you to us though they only start within a mile.

Further down the valley 200 metres there are three cottages that must have served the farm community though that's about it until you get to our post-code village St Nicholas that is at least three miles away. They have their own chapel and a manor, but I'm not aware they have a graveyard.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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