Cylinder mowing tips wanted

[Gardenboy]

Hello

Long time since I last posted anything but it looks as though everyone's still here.

I'm a rotary mower man but it looks as though I'll be looking after an elderly neibour's lawn this summer with his cylinder machine.

I guess the grass will need to be properly dry to cut well?

How much grass can I expect to be able to remove? I'm used to being able to take off 1 inch+ if I have to with a rotary but assume the cylinder will only handle less.

Thanks for any help

Will

[richard p]

tis summit like 40 years since i last used a cylinder mower regularly.... we had one with wheels on the end of the rotor and a rear grass box... think it was a suffolk punch... anyway that thing would cut as long as a rotary will ...a foot or so was no real problem..
but i guess a conventional cylinder with the grass collector in front the limiting factor 1s pushing the grassbox over the uncut grass... two or three inches shouldnt be a problem.

[peter]

The front roller is the problem, rolls the grass flat before it's cut.
Two solutions, mow twice, second time in the opposite direction to the first.

Alternatively, do it again the next day when it will have stood up again, opposite direction then is good.

[richard p]

i have vague memories of taking the front roller off on the old push mower...lower the roller brackets right down so they act as skids to act as crude height control..... but we were cutting grass not a lawn.

[peter]

Just sold, via a friend who fettled the carburetor,.my.Qualcast Commodore, which had two 2" wide plastic wheels instead of a front roller, they mount outside the edge panels of the frame.

[Gardenboy]

Thanks, folks.

If I can get it done this week I'll give the cylinder a go, if it has to wait much longer I'll have to drag my rotary up the road to his place again

thanks again

Will

[oldherbaceous]

Evening Will, a lot will also depend on how sharp the blades are and also if it is adjusted correctly.

If it is very long, i think i would run your rotary mower over it first anyway, it would make a lot nicer job.

[Clive.]

The old sidewheel cylinder mower that Richard p referred to would I suspect have been a Suffolk Squire or Suffolk Corporation.

Clive.

[peter]

Clive, the county school grounds maintenance chaps in the 60's had some lethal (to today's eyes) cylinder mowers.

Best described as an oblong box, long side to the ground,
driven ribbed metal wheels on the short sides,
engine on top,
handle coming up from the old Suffolk Punch style thick steel deck, similar style to the Punch I think,
bottom being just the lower blade on a sculpted reinforcing bar,
the cylinder in the box.

No; roller of any sort, no bucket, no safety shield.

What came in the front was reaped by the cylinder, cut off on the bottom blade and flung at the operators feet.

So Clive, any guess as to what it was?

[Gardenboy]

Well. I've managed to cut it this morning before the rain I've now got and it cut quite well. Just the longer "stringy" bits of grass laid down and didn't cut. The plan now is: use a rotary on it next time to even things up, adjust the blades according to the handbook, not let the grass get so long before trying again with the cylinder.

Thanks for the interst.

Will

[farmer jon]

in our part of the world these "long ,stringy bits" are known as bents, they are the curse of the cylinder mower. use of a rotary will cure these, they are the coarser grasses in the sward. I always set the blades on a cylinder by using the fine silver paper that used to be on the inside of cigarette packets. as a non-smoker ,I am unaware if the packets still contain this. the gap between the baseplate & the blades should just be the thickness of this fine silver paper. I would tend to use a cylinder to only cut off 3/4 inch of grass or less at a time.for a really good lawn with fine turf,the secret is to mow at least twice a week in the growing season .

[Gardenboy]

Hello

I thought I'd give an update on this.

I got back to yhe mower withsome tools and a downloaded handbook and managed to set the blades so they cut paper nicely. A quick test up and down the lawn seemed to be cutting grass much better too

I've rotary mowed it ll nice and short so can try again from here.

Thanks to everyone

will