Is there such a thing as a new, cheap and reliable lawnmower? If so I need
one.

Put this way, I have an old Black and Decker Stripemaster, with a very blunt
blade. I popped to a few garden centres over the bank holiday weekend to see
if I could get a new blade. Most looked blank and one laughed saying "yeah
right. Black and Decker stopped making lawnmowers over 10 years ago mate.
You'll never get a new blade for that piece of history"!!!!

So, a new mower it is.

Ideally I would be after a cylinder mower that stripes my lawn. Electric not
push (though petrol would be tempting). But so long as it covers the
following points I will be happy:
a) It stripes
b) It is reliable
c) I don't have to do the hard work (ie no pushing), except emptying the
cuttings
d) It doesn't cost much £'s

Any ideas????

Peter

In article , aka Robbie
writes
Is there such a thing as a new, cheap and reliable lawnmower? If so I need
one.
If you type in Lawnmower at Google, you will see full details of
hundreds of lawnmowers.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

my local B+Q were doing some kind of sale of their (and others') budget
lawnmowers last week; they might be worth a try if there is one near to you.
if not, they have a website. try also homebase (sainsbury's) .... there
must be others ... how about a google search, "cheap lawnmowers uk" or
somesuch

Alan Gould wrote:

If you type in Lawnmower at Google, you will see full details of
hundreds of lawnmowers.

But that's not really what I am after. I know the web well enough to do a
simple search, but that will bring up loads of answers yet won't answer my
questions.

Hence why I posted to this NG. I thought that a load of like-minded
gardening souls would be able to give me better advice.

Is there such a thing as a new, cheap and reliable lawnmower? If so I need
one.

Put this way, I have an old Black and Decker Stripemaster, with a very
blunt
blade. I popped to a few garden centres over the bank holiday weekend to
see
if I could get a new blade. Most looked blank and one laughed saying "yeah
right. Black and Decker stopped making lawnmowers over 10 years ago mate.
You'll never get a new blade for that piece of history"!!!!

So, a new mower it is.

Is it? Can it not be sharpened?

I have always sharpened my cutting edges, either with a file, oilstone or
angle grinder whatever fits and suits best.

Chisels
Scissors
Shredder Blades
Large Knives made out of High Speed Hacksaw blades (Wonderful for cutting
slabs of Fibre Glass Insulation)
Roto Scythe Blades.
Spades!
Hoes


NOT done. Saws. Chuck 'em away and buy a new one!!

mike

On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:59:20 GMT, aka Robbie wrote:

I have an old Black and Decker Stripemaster, with a very blunt
blade.

So sharpen it. You used to be able to get a gadget that clipped onto
the bottom blade and the cylinder rotated against it bringing it up
nice. IIRC the bottom blade just needs to be straight and true as the
cutting action is like scissors.

A wander through your yellow pages and I'd expect to find a few places
offering a sharpening service if you don't want to attempt it.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"aka Robbie" wrote in
:

Put this way, I have an old Black and Decker Stripemaster, with a very
blunt blade. I popped to a few garden centres over the bank holiday
weekend to see if I could get a new blade. Most looked blank and one
laughed saying "yeah right. Black and Decker stopped making lawnmowers
over 10 years ago mate. You'll never get a new blade for that piece of
history"!!!!

Worth trying a garden machinery / maintenance shop rather than just a
garden centre or DIY shed. My local one is very good on sharpening things,
and it can be cheaper than buying replacement blades, let alone lawnmowers.

If you do buy a new one, I can recommend against anything by Flymo,
(assuming they even do cylinder/stripy mowers).

My electric Qualcast doesn't stripe, so wouldn't suit you, but seems well
built and is very reliable. I believe they also make cylinder mowers: if
you get no other recommendations, this may be some use!

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

aka Robbie wrote in message
...
Is there such a thing as a new, cheap and reliable lawnmower? If so I need
one.

Put this way, I have an old Black and Decker Stripemaster, with a very
blunt
blade. I popped to a few garden centres over the bank holiday weekend to
see
if I could get a new blade. Most looked blank and one laughed saying "yeah
right. Black and Decker stopped making lawnmowers over 10 years ago mate.
You'll never get a new blade for that piece of history"!!!!

So, a new mower it is.

Ideally I would be after a cylinder mower that stripes my lawn. Electric
not
push (though petrol would be tempting). But so long as it covers the
following points I will be happy:
a) It stripes
b) It is reliable
c) I don't have to do the hard work (ie no pushing), except emptying the
cuttings
d) It doesn't cost much £'s

Any ideas????

Peter



Hello Peter,

I know that Qualcast make electric cylinder mowers. I use their Panther 30
cylinder push mower, and wouldn't use anything else now. I saw the push
mower recently priced around £35, and I can't imagine that their electric
version is very much dearer. Mine stripes, although the roller isn't very
heavy and may not produce the standard of stripe you're used to. The
electric one may well be heavier. Worth looking at.

Spider

Spider wrote

I know that Qualcast make electric cylinder mowers.

Cheers Spider.

A few people have mentioned Qualcast to me. I've know them to be cheap,
decent mowers, but was unsure as to the reliability standing. Looks like
Qualcast is now the way forward for me.

Looking at http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z1BC21539 the ELAN 32 looks like
something I might go for.