Mowing ..

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

I'm already starting to see the pay off from raking up all the dead thatch. Some nice green shoots coming through now

Hoselink must be jammed though. I ordered over a week ago and still order is only confirmed not ready or shipped maybe due to delays in the post.

It will be the shipping. I waited nearly two weeks for an order that would normally be 5 days.

Now would be a great time to feed your lawn too, that will spur those new green shoots.

[galaxy xr8]

It must be the time for it, I've just replaced the air filters/ spark plugs/changed the oil on my Honda mower/brush cutter and blower. As well as new blades for the mower, and I'm just waiting on a muffler gasket to finish it all off, so what does one do while waiting for that to turn up...... grab the shine mate polisher and give all three a polish over, my wife thinks I'm sad that I'm polishing my garden equipment.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by galaxy xr8

It must be the time for it, I've just replaced the air filters/ spark plugs/changed the oil on my Honda mower/brush cutter and blower. As well as new blades for the mower, and I'm just waiting on a muffler gasket to finish it all off, so what does one do while waiting for that to turn up...... grab the shine mate polisher and give all three a polish over, my wife thinks I'm sad that I'm polishing my garden equipment.

Love it, even I don't go that far!

[Tonz]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Love it, even I don't go that far!

you dont even let dirt settle on your tools,

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by galaxy xr8

It must be the time for it, I've just replaced the air filters/ spark plugs/changed the oil on my Honda mower/brush cutter and blower. As well as new blades for the mower, and I'm just waiting on a muffler gasket to finish it all off, so what does one do while waiting for that to turn up...... grab the shine mate polisher and give all three a polish over, my wife thinks I'm sad that I'm polishing my garden equipment.

Your wife is right!.....



Cheers BillyN

[FTE217]

yep its sad but mad cleaning the garden and work tools for me
The most cleaning I've done is the blower over the mower quickly, I like the used and abused look on garden and outside tools of choice
More like I couldn't be bothered, barring new plugs or a filter thats all the TLC they need to keep them firing.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by FTE217

yep its sad but mad cleaning the garden and work tools for me
The most cleaning I've done is the blower over the mower quickly, I like the used and abused look on garden and outside tools of choice
More like I couldn't be bothered, barring new plugs or a filter thats all the TLC they need to keep them firing.

I agree, they are to be used, quick hose off and put away, if bare metal a quick spray WD40 if hanging for an off season, that's it!
But it did make me chuckle a little, good stuff on a normal boring day.


Cheers BillyT

[FTE217]

gawd even spraying WD is excessive to me lol, the tools are all under cover in the off season, infact just brought out the Stihl whipper and Briggsy 4stroker out of hibernation on the weekend for the seasons first cut/s, both fired up with relative ease and away we go

[MITCHAY]

I finally got my Hoselink oscillating sprinkler and manual hose reel today. The sprinkler is gonna take some fine tuning, it may mean I have to move it at least once.

Typically mum brings around her 9 pattern one after I already ordered Maybe I can use that for the front but not sure.

The hose reel not as slick as I expected but then again that is compared to the much more expensive wall mounted one I'm used to.

It is certainly a lot more compact than I expected. I thought the leader hose would be on a reel but it is kind of awkward and needs to be wound by hand behind clips. You can either attached leader or reel end to the tap.

Otherwise it will do the job fine, it reels in simply enough and certainly better than the crappy reel I got now.

[Rallye Sport]

We're nearing renovation season on the golf course (I'm at a new club now) so I thought I'd share a couple of steps if anyones thinking about doing the same at home.

So firstly, get your retic or watering tested and working. Most retic shops give out catch cups for free so use these to check for uniformity wet/dry spots and work out your timing for a 10mm drink which is the usual rate for watering and washing in product.

On to the products, depending on your soil start with an application of wetta soil granules, followed by 10mm of water.
A week later apply a general fertilizer and another 10mm. This will put the plant in good health before the stress of renovation.
I know the blokey thing to do would be to chuck out a bag of each until it looks like its just snowed But, please, work out your square meterage and stick to the recommended rates. You're just throwing money away otherwise...

A couple of weeks later you'll be ready to go.
Generally you'll get away with a low mow and rake to remove thatch.
Vertimow if you've got heavy thatch or if the mower chokes when you mow.
Core with a machine or punch holes with a fork if the soils compact or if theres a thatch problem. This will help with water penetration and get the soil bacteria working to help break down future thatch.

Hope that helps get those lawns started for summer.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Rallye Sport

We're nearing renovation season on the golf course (I'm at a new club now) so I thought I'd share a couple of steps if anyones thinking about doing the same at home.

So firstly, get your retic or watering tested and working. Most retic shops give out catch cups for free so use these to check for uniformity wet/dry spots and work out your timing for a 10mm drink which is the usual rate for watering and washing in product.

On to the products, depending on your soil start with an application of wetta soil granules, followed by 10mm of water.
A week later apply a general fertilizer and another 10mm. This will put the plant in good health before the stress of renovation.
I know the blokey thing to do would be to chuck out a bag of each until it looks like its just snowed But, please, work out your square meterage and stick to the recommended rates. You're just throwing money away otherwise...

A couple of weeks later you'll be ready to go.
Generally you'll get away with a low mow and rake to remove thatch.
Vertimow if you've got heavy thatch or if the mower chokes when you mow.
Core with a machine or punch holes with a fork if the soils compact or if theres a thatch problem. This will help with water penetration and get the soil bacteria working to help break down future thatch.

Hope that helps get those lawns started for summer.

Ha ha, it the first thing I tell guys, "you will need less than you think....."

Great tips!

[Rallye Sport]

Its that time of year again...

Originally Posted by Rallye Sport

We're nearing renovation season on the golf course (I'm at a new club now) so I thought I'd share a couple of steps if anyones thinking about doing the same at home.

So firstly, get your retic or watering tested and working. Most retic shops give out catch cups for free so use these to check for uniformity wet/dry spots and work out your timing for a 10mm drink which is the usual rate for watering and washing in product.

On to the products, depending on your soil start with an application of wetta soil granules, followed by 10mm of water.
A week later apply a general fertilizer and another 10mm. This will put the plant in good health before the stress of renovation.
I know the blokey thing to do would be to chuck out a bag of each until it looks like its just snowed But, please, work out your square meterage and stick to the recommended rates. You're just throwing money away otherwise...

A couple of weeks later you'll be ready to go.
Generally you'll get away with a low mow and rake to remove thatch.
Vertimow if you've got heavy thatch or if the mower chokes when you mow.
Core with a machine or punch holes with a fork if the soils compact or if theres a thatch problem. This will help with water penetration and get the soil bacteria working to help break down future thatch.

Hope that helps get those lawns started for summer.

We're making preparations at work for this years reno's. One of the steps we'll be doing this year is hollow tining the greens. This is quite a messy process with the cores being ejected onto the surface. Heres a pic of a cored fairway to give you an idea.



Cleanup usually takes a team of 4 about an hour a green to rake, shovel and sweep the spoils. Times this by 22 greens over 2 days it makes for some longs days of work.

There is a solution though, drumroll.... Introducing the core harvester.



This particular machine had been abandoned after the previous users claimed it didn't work.
We've had a couple of shed days due to thunder storms of late so it was dug out and commissioned for service. After a check over it was attached to a tow rig. So far so good, the electrics and hydraulics all worked so it was taken for a test run.

At this point it was confirmed, the machine wouldn't pick up a thing.
We set about playing with the roller height and brush angle but still it wouldn't pick anything up.

The brush is heavily shrouded so we decided to remove these to have a closer look at what the brush was doing. On start up we were greeted by a shower of cores being fired from the front of the machine. This wasn't right they're meant to go backwards into the hopper.
Its at that moment we had a sinking feeling, could we have hooked the hydraulic couplings up back to front?
With them swapped over the brush was now working the right way but the other hydraulic functions lift, dump and tow bar swivel were now back to front.

After putting them back the way they were the hoses at the brush drive were swapped over and bingo everythings working like it should.

It took a couple of hours work on a stormy day but this machine will be worth its weight in gold come renovation time.

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by Rallye Sport

Its that time of year again...



We're making preparations at work for this years reno's. One of the steps we'll be doing this year is hollow tining the greens. This is quite a messy process with the cores being ejected onto the surface. Heres a pic of a cored fairway to give you an idea.

image

Cleanup usually takes a team of 4 about an hour a green to rake, shovel and sweep the spoils. Times this by 22 greens over 2 days it makes for some longs days of work.

There is a solution though, drumroll.... Introducing the core harvester.

image

This particular machine had been abandoned after the previous users claimed it didn't work.
We've had a couple of shed days due to thunder storms of late so it was dug out and commissioned for service. After a check over it was attached to a tow rig. So far so good, the electrics and hydraulics all worked so it was taken for a test run.

At this point it was confirmed, the machine wouldn't pick up a thing.
We set about playing with the roller height and brush angle but still it wouldn't pick anything up.

The brush is heavily shrouded so we decided to remove these to have a closer look at what the brush was doing. On start up we were greeted by a shower of cores being fired from the front of the machine. This wasn't right they're meant to go backwards into the hopper.
Its at that moment we had a sinking feeling, could we have hooked the hydraulic couplings up back to front?
With them swapped over the brush was now working the right way but the other hydraulic functions lift, dump and tow bar swivel were now back to front.

After putting them back the way they were the hoses at the brush drive were swapped over and bingo everythings working like it should.

It took a couple of hours work on a stormy day but this machine will be worth its weight in gold come renovation time.

Love seeing your course maintenance updates rallye.......
Interesting re the Toro, seems like the previous guys couldn't work out the instructions or visa versa....

Yer I see this process at the course's I frequent, sure leaves alot of cleaning up, I see piles of it put aside out of the way.

Hows your greens couring going what stage you ate ?

[DFB FGXR6]

For tall, wet and sticky clover, there is only one choice...........





Lots of smoke, lots of noise........ lots of smiling from me.

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by FTE217

Love seeing your course maintenance updates rallye.......
Interesting re the Toro, seems like the previous guys couldn't work out the instructions or visa versa....

Yer I see this process at the course's I frequent, sure leaves alot of cleaning up, I see piles of it put aside out of the way.

Hows your greens couring going what stage you ate ?

Cheers FTE
The course was on the verge of bankruptcy with only 3 staff left so a 'whats the point' culture crept in and alot of machines were just parked up as they failed or in this case needed some gremlins sorted out.
We're back up to 7 motivated staff now.

Green coring starts next week, over the past month we've had a soil and leaf tissue analysis done and have been applying foliar fertilizers based on the results and deficiencies aswell as making some pH amendments.
We'll start with a light vertimow, followed by coring, sweeping, adding compost to known dry areas, topdressing, brushing and lastly a granular fertilizer.

Its amazing how quick they come back from a major renovation like this, we expect them to be ready for tournament play a month later.
I get some pics as we go next week.

[yanknbank]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

I finally got my Hoselink oscillating sprinkler and manual hose reel today

I have to ask. Is that similar to the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?

[Work Horse]

Originally Posted by yanknbank

I have to ask. Is that similar to the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?

Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!

[MITCHAY]

It's pretty cool. There is a knob for water flow, adjustable sliders for range and then you can turn off up to 3 jets either side for width control just by pushing tabs in.

You can also undo the knob on the end to drain it and it also has a pin for clearing the jets if they get clogged up. Also has a mesh filter on the inlet.

[.:4:.]

Yesterday i did the wilson and stuck my head over the fence as i could hear my mate doing a lot of axe swinging but no block splitting. So i offered a hand and my chainsaw. So the stump is hardwood and about 900mm in diameter. So my bunnings cheapo chainsaw, its fine for trimming small trees etc as i dont have any large trees, so no chance of great success with this stump. But we did make a solid dent before it turned into another job for another day. Got half the stump out. So went through a tank of fuel, used the axe and a sledgy to eventually crak it in half and because the roots had been dug up and sawed off, that half came out with a lot of prior effort.
Sitting around after with a few earned beers, my other mate comes around to my mates place. He tried to big man himself after hearing the axe hardly makes a dent. So first swing and the thing bounced back and almost took his block off.
Theres only 1 root left keeping the rest of that stump in the ground as it moves alot when bashed with a sledgy. So once its cut after more digging it should come out without too much effort.
So its my mates mums house next door. Like most she's not made of money, shes doing alright for herself, but if its something her son can attack, or i can give a hand, we give it a crack. She's a really good neighbour so i dont mind helping out as it never goes unappreciated. Also i have a lot of tools that you wouldnt justify buying for a 1 off job. That being said, my chainsaw was not the correct tool for the job. Underpowered for that application, but thats not what it was purchased for and its filled its original purpose, but for 1 stump, paying a stump grinder would probably be cheaper then buying a hectic stihl chainsaw. But a bit of elbow grease, yeah takes a lot longer then a proffesional, is a lot cheaper still.

[Citroënbender]

Stump grinder is dearer than a Bunnings chainsaw. You’d be looking at $220 for a solid crack at one stump. Consider a sacrificial bar and chain, yes $40-$60 but you’ll come out ahead.

My lawn is due for its weekly monthly quarterly cut today. Picked the cooler forecast to do it this afternoon.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Stump grinder is dearer than a Bunnings chainsaw. You’d be looking at $220 for a solid crack at one stump. Consider a sacrificial bar and chain, yes $40-$60 but you’ll come out ahead.

My lawn is due for its weekly monthly quarterly cut today. Picked the cooler forecast to do it this afternoon.

Nah, i meant paying for a company that grinds stumps. I did sacrifice a brand new chain, its not 100% stuffed, but a 16' chain is about $40 so not the end of the world. The homelite chainsaw was on special for a little over $100 when i bought it. Did its job for the intended purpose i bought it for for my property. So only small stuff. Now its more something i lend out. It paid for itself around my yard, so if i lend it and it comes back dead, or if i kill it lending a hand im not going to be upset in the slightest.
But considering it hasnt been used in months, after a fresh tank of fuel, a top up of bar lube and a prime. It started 2nd pull. 1st pull being full choke, 2nd half choke and it was good to go.
So being a 37cc, 16' bar, there was no chance it would simply eat that stump. But it did make progress. So once the last root is dug down to, theres enough life left in the chain to chop that then the sledgy should be able to knock the rest of the stump free from the ground.

[Tassie f100]

New chainsaw file and a few minutes work will turn most stuffed chains into usable again.

[Citroënbender]

My $220 remark referenced the cost of having someone come out, unload their gear, grind one stump properly (to the point where the root burl was gone and main roots well ground back) and then pack up. Plenty of posers who go barely 100mm down but charge full freight.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

My $220 remark referenced the cost of having someone come out, unload their gear, grind one stump properly (to the point where the root burl was gone and main roots well ground back) and then pack up. Plenty of posers who go barely 100mm down but charge full freight.

Fair call. In this case its something meaningful to do. My mates on heavily reduced work hours at the moment. Im on zero hours at the moment. So between a truck driver and an electrician, we have no idea of what we are doing, but thats the entertaining part. Plus its harder to stuff up deconstruction then construction, especially going in blind, experience wise.
That tree was originally a big unit that died years before getting cut down to a stump. It got felled years ago. So far the 5 larger roots cut have been 6 to 8 inches in diameter so hopefully the last one i partially dug to is the final one keeping the remainder of the stump in the ground.
The main 2 reasons why the seemingly simple task of the last root was postponed was my chainsaw after the best part of an hour running flat stick decided it was sweating balls so didnt want to start again, and my mate and myself were also sweating balls so beers were a better option. I did start the saw today to see if its dead, shes apples, started 1st go.

[.:4:.]

So after yesterday with doing stuff, me left arm us up to its old tricks. Anyhow enough about that.
So my mate who rents my granny flat, we go beer for beer mowing my lawn. If he wasnt a good mate he wouldnt be paying sweet f a for rent. So, he borrows my free to me whipper snipper, thats fine. The chain of ownership was my brothers neighbour bought the cheapest bunnings had, said it was a piece of crap as it never started, gave it to my brother who stashed it in his car hold for 5 or so years and then gave it to me. So a freebie, the fuel lines were shot, but $19 for a kit with fuel lines, fuel filter and a primer bulb. Add another $9 for a new spark plug. Small price to pay for something thats been deadly reliable for years now.
So starting it. After a prime you go rip rip rip on full choke. It attempts to fire. Half choke, rip and thats all she wrote.
Choke off and yeah.
So fueled and lined up i lent my mate the snipper and sat back for entertainment. He primed it the one slow rip full choke, a time period, another slow rip full choke, well this happened a number of times and it never kicked. Then he went optimus overprime, so floods magee.
I had a really hard time trying not to laugh or butt in and say give it a proper rip. He did get it going eventually it ran flawlessly. Nothing mechanical as towards not starting, purely user error.

[mad2]

i gave up on me fuel whipper snipper ........... went electric. at least the cord only gives me the shiiits now

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by mad2

i gave up on me fuel whipper snipper ........... went electric. at least the cord only gives me the shiiits now

I cant go corded electric as my driveway is 55m long so about 65m to the nearest power point. Although if i went battery electric id go brushless makita. Main reason for being so specific is all my other cordless tools are makita so i already have 3 x 5A 18v batteries that get maintained as in charged and used frequently. If you say buy a battery tool that only gets used occasionally the service life of said battery can deminish quicker. Obviously this statement is dependent on how much work needs to be done, if you only have 1 battery and the job is large enough to use more then 1 battery, youre going to need more then 1 or otherwise stop, let said 1 battery cool off then charge it. Again with infrequent use, even with 2 batteries both their service life will diminish over time.
With my little 2 stroke, worst case if i need to fill my fuel tin its a run down the servo. 10 minutes tops. A dead 18v battery on the rapid charger i have, about 45 minutes. But again, corded isnt an option for me. And the longest extension lead you can get is 25m from memory, and again if my memory serves me correctly (going back to tafe days doing my apprenticeship) its not legal to plug 2 extension cords together. My tafe teacher gave a logical reason as to why, but i wont get into that legnthy explanation.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

I cant go corded electric as my driveway is 55m long so about 65m to the nearest power point. Although if i went battery electric id go brushless makita. Main reason for being so specific is all my other cordless tools are makita so i already have 3 x 5A 18v batteries that get maintained as in charged and used frequently. If you say buy a battery tool that only gets used occasionally the service life of said battery can deminish quicker. Obviously this statement is dependent on how much work needs to be done, if you only have 1 battery and the job is large enough to use more then 1 battery, youre going to need more then 1 or otherwise stop, let said 1 battery cool off then charge it. Again with infrequent use, even with 2 batteries both their service life will diminish over time.
With my little 2 stroke, worst case if i need to fill my fuel tin its a run down the servo. 10 minutes tops. A dead 18v battery on the rapid charger i have, about 45 minutes. But again, corded isnt an option for me. And the longest extension lead you can get is 25m from memory, and again if my memory serves me correctly (going back to tafe days doing my apprenticeship) its not legal to plug 2 extension cords together. My tafe teacher gave a logical reason as to why, but i wont get into that legnthy explanation.

Iv’t got a Makita cordless,but not the brushless.Cost about $130, but the brushless was about twice that.Has enough power for grass edges,but is not in the same league as even the little FS 45 Stihl I use for rougher jobs

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Iv’t got a Makita cordless,but not the brushless.Cost about $130, but the brushless was about twice that.Has enough power for grass edges,but is not in the same league as even the little FS 45 Stihl I use for rougher jobs

If you have money to burn (i know i dont) makita do a 36v (so 2 x 18v batteries required) whipper snipper. A decent petrol anything would cost less and probably give greater results towards heavier jobs. But if lawn maintenance is done regularly, so not letting it go to the point of being overgrown, you dont need the most powerful equipment known to man.
Anyhow, so my chainsaw chain i sacrificed the chain when helping a mate and getting 50% of the tree stump he wanted out. So i always keep the last chain i took off, theory being if you munt a chain and jobs pertty well done, if the old one is in better shape use that to get over the line. So its a couple days later and in the interim i did clean the bar and put on the last but in better shape chain as ive ordered 2 new ones but being a weekend theyre not here yet. Firstly, my crappy chainsaw, cold start? What cold start? And the old chain was not 100% but still good. So it went you can get chopped, you can get chopped etc. So the last bit of amateur stump removal went well. Yes effort was involved. I use powerfit chains, theyre not the most expensive, there is probably better brands out there, but for a 56 tooth 0.050 guage 16 inch chain i know they fit.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by mad2

i gave up on me fuel whipper snipper ........... went electric. at least the cord only gives me the shiiits now

Two and a half years ago I bought a new Husqvarna brush cutter..It's lovely to use . I bought it to be a back up for my 25 year old Jonsered TL 33 that'd done a huge lot of work ..That's basically just been hanging in the shed since early 2019 since the last time I'd fired her up...Early last week during a week off I decided to give her a burl again ..Bugger all fuel in it so I half filled it with 50:1, set the choke and the throttle switch , a couple of primes and to my shock she fired like a beauty ...Didn't even check the plug .

I topped her right up and did all the jobs round the yard and even did the back nature strip that was seriously overgrown ..Never missed a beat .. The engine is a 33cc Mitsubishi and was the commercial model I bought in 1995 for my business. Even then (1995) it wasn't cheap (from memory about $700) but she's been a good one.. Incidentally I believe Husqvarna bought out Jonsered in Sweden so there is a tie in with them both...

I also have a cheap and cheerful Rockwell (via Mitre10) battery line trimmer that cost me about $100 with a spare battery ..I'm surprised how much I use it actually ..

Out of curiosity how much would a commercial grade petrol brush cutter cost these days . Do you guys in the biz use petrol or is battery the weapon of choice these days ?... Love to know..