Back in the old days, it was easy. When you were mowing near a shrub, you could just let go of the mower, move the lower branches out of the way, grab the mower and mow under them. Not any more, damn thing stops when you let go. Needs two hands to restart, so have to let go of shrub. I can't quite reach them without letting go. Same with the strimmer, the interlock has a strong spring, and is extremely uncomfortable to hold for any length of time. Shift your grip to get more comfortable, and it stops! Very irritating. I can't reach anywhere near the whirring nylon while holding the handle, so it's totally superfluous.
Another example I suppose of catering for the lowest common denominator :-(
Am I alone in wishing that I could buy equipment tailored for those endowed with common sense??
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As my right hand and arm does not have full movement, and I'm very left handed, I have to put the mower against shed/house/garage to pull the designed for right handers starting cord. The idiot handle is secured in the on position by a bit of rope...
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Wed 25 Sep 13 at 19:53
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Get a petrol strimmer Mike. Changes your life a petrol strimmer. No namby pamby safety cut out switches on mine. Just raw destructive power, the smell of two stroke and enough noise to wake the dead ( or at least to wake my sprog and trampoline infested neighbours on a Sunday morning...)
When you're feeling too old, too downtrodden and too married it revitalises your inner warrior does a petrol strimmer. Recommended. Mine's yellow.
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"Get a petrol strimmer Mike."
Not a diesel?
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Doesn't really do enough miles to justify it Dave. Short runs mainly.
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>> Get a petrol strimmer Mike.
Thought about it last year when I bought the new super-duper 2 strand jobbie, but to be honest it's not worth it for the use it gets. But thinking about it, it would give so much more freedom than the cord. And probably, taking the cost of the €40 extension cable I bought, would not have been much more expensive. Perhaps I'll sneak out and buy one when SWMBO isn't looking.........
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You'll soon forget the cost.
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or perhaps just a pair of secateurs to prune the obstructive bush??
On the other hands, about 5 years ago I bought a Ryobi petrol strimmer with hedge trimmer attachment at a county show for only £40. Bit of an impulse buy, looked it up on Tinternet and their were numerous comments about it being impossible to start but I ain't ever had a problem. And it goes through rough grass, nettles, brambles etc like a knife through butter and the cord lasts a long time and the hedge cutter deals with a couple of high cupressus hedges we have and it makes a lot of noise!!
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PS Think it might be this one
www.screwfix.com/p/ryobi-rlt26ht-26cc-petrol-bent-shaft-line-trimmer/47262
Incidentally, I had an electric one before this and it was heavier and less powerful and ate cutting line.
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>>
>>
>> When you're feeling too old, too downtrodden and too married it revitalises your inner warrior
>> does a petrol strimmer. Recommended. Mine's yellow.
>>
I agree. But they too have irritating interlock devices.
Mine has to be set on half-throttle for starting. That means pulling the trigger to just the right extent and then engaging an interlock, which disengages when you rev it.
But get the setting wrong by a tiny amount and it reverts to the idle position and then it won't start.
It also has an On/Off switch with nearly invisible markings.
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>> As my right hand and arm does not have full movement, and I'm very left
>> handed, I have to put the mower against shed/house/garage to pull the designed for right
>> handers starting cord. The idiot handle is secured in the on position by a bit
>> of rope...
>>
He he, yes, good ploy. But you need one with an electric starter by the sound of it.
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>> Am I alone in wishing that I could buy equipment tailored for those endowed with
>> common sense??
>>
Even the most commonly sensible amongst us can have their off days.
Some years ago my late father, a keen and highly experienced gardener, was mowing a neighbour's lawn using their rotary mower. The rear vent or whatever you call it became blocked by grass, Dad put his hand in to clear it whilst the mower was still running and was lucky to escape with a cut finger, could easily have taken the lot off.
That's why they introduced those safety devices.
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But knowing the length of yer finger (original) helps. Time is time after all...
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Elf and Safety Mike H. All in the name of progress.
I used to mow golf greens in the winter with a hand mower that had a throttle on one handle and a clutch on the other. Simplicity itself.
Quite often you'll find that theses days mower becomes faulty due to a malfunction of the safety cut out. I find it's improved no end :)
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I had a Honda rotary where the safety cut-out was a clutch that took the blade out of gear and braked it... but the engine kept running. Excellent arrangement.
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>> I had a Honda rotary where the safety cut-out was a clutch that took the
>> blade out of gear and braked it... but the engine kept running. Excellent arrangement.
>>
Till the clutch fails. And please don't tell me it can't, it's a machine. ;-)
Actually IIRC that one Dad used was a Honda; thinking back it could have been the fact that the blade was still rotating, but not under power, which saved him from more serious injury.
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>> Not any more, damn thing stops when
>> you let go.
I prevent my Mountfield petrol mower from stopping by having a cable tie around the lever and the handle. When I want the mower to stop I simply slide the cable tie along the handle to release the lever. I have a similar arrangement on my electric hedge trimmer to enable me to use it one-handed.
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>>
>> I prevent my Mountfield petrol mower from stopping by having a cable tie around the
>> lever and the handle. When I want the mower to stop I simply slide the
>> cable tie along the handle to release the lever. I have a similar arrangement on
>> my electric hedge trimmer to enable me to use it one-handed.
>>
I've done that, but it does mean that if you drop the thing, eg by tripping or snagging the cable unexpectedly, or slip off a ladder, it will carry on running as it falls and cut whatever it lands on.
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>> I've done that, but it does mean that if you drop the thing, eg by
>> tripping or snagging the cable unexpectedly, or slip off a ladder, it will carry on
>> running as it falls and cut whatever it lands on.
>>
I never use my mower up a ladder.
;-)
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 26 Sep 13 at 10:33
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>> I have a similar arrangement on
>> my electric hedge trimmer to enable me to use it one-handed.
Then you are a dangerous fool. I hope the NHS send you the bill when you get your fingers chopped off.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 26 Sep 13 at 09:41
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>> Then you are a dangerous fool.
:-D
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 26 Sep 13 at 09:42
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Funny how times have changed.
In the late 50s/early 60s F snr got fed up with cramp in the clutch hand using Merry Tillers on large gardens/allotments... you had to hold it in all the while against a spring.
He got involved in discussions and exchanging drawings with them and they added a sprung pin on later models so the clutch (i.e. the rotors) would stay engaged without the operator holding the clutch.
So if the operator let go the machine would keep on going until it ran out of fuel or things to chew up.
Then around 1985 the elfs had another think and it was removed.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 26 Sep 13 at 10:01
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>> >> I have a similar arrangement on
>> >> my electric hedge trimmer to enable me to use it one-handed.
>>
>> Then you are a dangerous fool.
It induced you to reply to my post, so I achieved my aim.
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you'll not be posting with no fingers so make the most of it.
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>> you'll not be posting with no fingers so make the most of it.
>>
:-D
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I outmanoeuvre the bottle tops which you're supposed to squeeze to undo them, by cutting off the little lugs. I don't intend to let the Health and Safety brigade rule my life.
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>> I hope the NHS send you the bill when you get your fingers chopped off.
Snails have tentacles, not fingers.
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>> >> I hope the NHS send you the bill when you get your fingers chopped
>> off.
>>
>> Snails have tentacles, not fingers.
>>
You know that, and I know that, but obviously Zero doesn't.
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>> Snails have tentacles, not fingers.
>> >>
Is the word we're looking for here not "antennae"?
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>> >> Snails have tentacles, not fingers.
>> >> >>
>>
>> Is the word we're looking for here not "antennae"?
>>
I prefer to call them "feelers".
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At least he wears body protection in the garden. Slugs don't when they mow the lawn.
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Well well. Every day's a school day.
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>> Am I alone in wishing that I could buy equipment tailored for those endowed with common sense??
According to this story it is suggested that Mrs Milligan wishes that Mr Milligan had used the safety interlock.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-22431326
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Very sad story and one it appears may not have happened if a killcord had been used.
Speedboat was an incorrect description... it was a large RIB which are usually more stable than a speedboat but often over engined by design. (Over engined in my opinion not over the makers rated figure).
It is common to see a 300-350hp outboard or twin 200hp outboards on these craft and that is so much power capable of exploding into action if someone trips or catches their coat on the throttles.
Unlike cars boat throttles do not usually close by spring so fall off balance catching the throttles as you go down and 300+hp can be unleashed in a tight turn untill someone is able to get to them and shut them down.
It's a strange thing but place a small object in a large sea and a boat will so often hit it.. as is the case when folks fall overboard and boats circle.
In our much much smaller craft a killcord is still always worn.
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>> >> Am I alone in wishing that I could buy equipment tailored for those endowed
>> with common sense??
>>
>> According to this story it is suggested that Mrs Milligan wishes that Mr Milligan had
>> used the safety interlock.
>>
>> www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-22431326
>>
Point taken, but you couldn't really call a speedboat a piece of garden equipment could you? ;-)
My thread was specifically about garden equipment MM, it's quite apparent that there are other areas where safety interlocks are more vital and/or indispensible.
Last edited by: Mike H on Tue 1 Oct 13 at 13:36
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>> My thread was specifically about garden equipment MM, it's quite apparent that there are other
>> areas where safety interlocks are more vital and/or indispensible.
Its nice to know that garden equipment cant hurt you.
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Dangerous thing lawn mowers. Worse than flower pots. Rospa top ten sources of garden accident;
1. Lawnmowers (6,500 accidents in the UK each year)
2. Flowerpots (5,300)
3. Secateurs and pruners (4,400)
4. Spades (3,600)
5. Electric hedgetrimmers (3,100)
6. Plant tubs and troughs (2,800)
7. Shears (2,100)
8. Garden forks (2,000)
9. Hoses and sprinklers (1,900)
10. Garden canes and sticks (1,800).
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Well as Flowerpots are only second, we can do without safety interlocks on those.
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I tell you its carnage out there. Worse than a war zone.
Someone over the allotment put a fork through his foot last week.
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Someone over the allotment put a fork through his foot last week.....
I did that 50 + years ago as I was helping my old man in the garden.....I still have the marks today on the top and bottom of my foot .... as I recall it I actually pinned my foot to the ground and had a hole in the top and through the sole of my wellies..... not much blood at all.
I do not recall it hurting at all , just remember not being able to move my foot ....but I do remember fainting in the Doctors waiting room after the resulting tetanus injection in my rear end .......
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>> I still have the marks today on the top and bottom of my foot
Jesus.
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>> >> I still have the marks today on the top and bottom of my foot
>>
>> Jesus.
yup he had similar marks.
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All joking apart a friend of ours needed 3mths plus off work after using an old walk behind rotary Hayter with the rear guard missing and a bit of concrete almost as big as a tennis ball shot out and broke his leg.
When told we assumed it was his tractor mounted mower, amazed to find it was an 18" Hayter involved.
He was self employed with no insurance and was just finishing building a house. Took him a year to mend properly and get over it financially.
I wouldn't wish ill on anyone but he was a reckless risk taker, his 10yr old lad had a ride on mower with the guards missing so you could put your hands down in the blade and transmission drive belts.
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It does not have the safety devices removed to be dangerous. A friend had his ankle broken by a golf ball sized rock that was thrown at him by a rotary petrol mower. Several months in plaster, unable to work or drive.
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>> It does not even need to have the safety devices removed to be dangerous. A friend had his
>> ankle broken by a golf ball sized rock that was thrown at him by a
>> rotary petrol mower. Several months in plaster, unable to work or drive.
Indeed. My Father had a massive Allen rotary bought c1969 to cut a large paddock behind the house. Fully serviced annually and all guards in place. Perfectly capable of ejecting stone or other foreign objects from under it's side skirt and sending them many yards. We were not allowed near it as kids.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 1 Oct 13 at 16:02
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My Honda Izy threw a stone out sideways last year which inevitably shattered the patio door I was alongside. Always wear goggles when mowing now and keep the dustbin lids inside.
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>> Always wear goggles when mowing now and keep the dustbin lids inside.
>>
Pedant Corner.
Not 'dustbin lids', just 'dustbins'.
When using Cockney rhyming slang it is customary not to use the part of the phrase that make the rhyme.
In other words Cockney rhyming slang does not rhyme.
Don't let me see you doing that again!
;-)
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>> >> Always wear goggles when mowing now and keep the dustbin lids inside.
>> >>
>>
>> Pedant Corner.
>>
>> Not 'dustbin lids', just 'dustbins'.
>>
>> When using Cockney rhyming slang it is customary not to use the part of the
>> phrase that make the rhyme.
>>
>> In other words Cockney rhyming slang does not rhyme.
>>
>> Don't let me see you doing that again!
And there, in a nutshell is the trickery of Cockney rhyming slang. Some of the slang, both words are used, some of them only one.
In this case, it is correct to employ both parts of the slang. "Dustbin Lids" is the vernacular.
Bull 'n Cow would be another example, it is never shortened to "bull". Sometimes to wrongly shorten the slang can cause confusion. If you shortened the phrase Tom 'n Dick, or Tom Tit
to "tom" you end up talking about Jewlery. (where it is quite correct to shorten the phrase "Tom Foolery")
The use of the slang is a dead giveaway, and gives credence to those who employ it properly. No one says "Apples and Pears" any more a: because it was shortened to "apples" and b" its simply not used any more. Using it would get you called a " james blunt"
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>> Using it would get you called a " james blunt"
>>
Or nowadays a "Jeremy Hunt"
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>>
>> >> Using it would get you called a " james blunt"
>> >>
>>
>> Or nowadays a "Jeremy Hunt"
Come on you lot. We all know the correct word here is "berk". (Short for Berkeley Hunt, for the benefit of northern and other provincial and Celtic Fringe contributors.) This is an example where only the shortened version is used (AC's totally correct on this point - nobody says "dustbins" for children). Usually by people who have no idea where it stems from and how rude it actually is.
I still say apples and pears to my children. Up the apples and pears to Uncle Ned, just like my (dyed in the wool Fulhamite Londoner) Dad used to say to me.
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>> (AC's totally correct on this point - nobody says "dustbins" for children).
I'm no expert Alanovic. That was Zero. He may forgive you if you send him a substantial Gregory within four working days.
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Oops, Mr Rothschild, 'ows your apples and pears........
(embarrassed smiley)
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When we were doing haymaking my hay mower was a restored 40yr old machine with 4 spinning discs with two blades each. These discs weighed about 20lbs, looked like flying saucers and span at several thousand rpm. A 4" fence post was easy meat for them.
If a bearing shaft failed this particular model had the reputation for discs flying off at full revs taking out anything in their path.
The only safe place was in the tractor cab and I never allowed anyone else in the field when using it.
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Judging from the less extreme examples quoted, and my own experience, wearing stout boots and perhaps leg protectors would be more important than wearing goggles when mowing.
I am often surprised at the number of people who don't wear goggles or helmets when strimming. Even a low-power electric strimmer can flick a bit of leaf or a splinter into an eye.
When I take my helmet off it is plastered with grass or leaf shreds.
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>> Judging from the less extreme examples quoted, and my own experience, wearing stout boots and
>> perhaps leg protectors would be more important than wearing goggles when mowing.
>>
I always use sturdy shoes and NEVER sandals when mowing, however warm the weather. Under normal circumstances it's not possible to touch the blades when the clutch is engaged as they are totally enclosed in all directions. When cleaning around the blades, I always remove the plug cap to avoid the unlikely series of events in which the engine starts and the blades engage, neither of which should happen. Common sense.
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>> Point taken, but you couldn't really call a speedboat a piece of garden equipment could
>> you? ;-)
>>
>> My thread was specifically about garden equipment MM, it's quite apparent that there are other
>> areas where safety interlocks are more vital and/or indispensible.
Still ridiculous nanny statism, surely. If you want to take a calculated risk you should be allowed to [kill your children].
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Irritating safety interlocks on garden equipment - Slidingpillar
