Anyone use a cylinder mower for domestic grass cutting jobs?

[Big T]

Hiya,

 

Does anyone use a cylinder mower for domestic grass cutting? I'm in the market for a new mower but can't justify spending a lot as I only have small domestic jobs at the moment. I was wondering if a cylinder mower would be any good? They are available second-hand for reasonable money and I think they might cope with wet grass and clog up less than a rotary, also leaving nice stripes into the bargain! Any thoughts?

[chris hennelly]

....i found with a cylinder,unless you cut every week it wouldnt cope with length or wet grass,whereas a honda rotary with roller would cut,in the rain and leave stripes,roller means you can cut over the edges without falling in,as with wheels,i found also that wheels leave ruts over time in the lawn.....also i dont put the stripes the same way every time,but cut to all points of the compass to avoid grass bending same way,then being missed.............(i had a 30" atco cylinder with a kawasaki engine,but sold for a vast loss to get a rotary)......hope this helps. c.

[codlasher]

I have just had a 24'' Webb cylinder mower (Like an Atco) through my workshop.

I was pleased with its build quality and enjoyed doing the fiddly repair needed. Happy client too as he thought it was destined for the scrap pile but has years left in it and it only went wrong due to lack of grease in the right place!

V similar to this;Webb 24" cut cylinder lawnmover | eBay

codlasher

[GardenKit]

I really would not use a cylinder mower for mowing customers lawns.

 

They only cut well if properly ground and set. If they are just a little blunt they will just tear at the grass.

They will not cut long grass or long weeds, they just push it over and it springs up behind the mower.

They are expensive to maintain properly.

 

Do yourself a favour and buy a good roller rotary if you want stripes, or a 4 wheel rotary if you don't.

[scraggs]

Got to agree with the man above.

You will be forever setting it up to cut properly, a badly set cylinder mower leaves a terrible finish, mowing wet with a cylinder is not the best idea unless it's set up spot on, and unless it's a pretty substantial one any stones that go through it will put it off cut for a while.

They are just a whole load of maintenance and not worth considering for that type of work imo.

[Hodge]

I started cutting grass at 10 years old, it was an atco cylinder mower with a villeirs engine, it cut my grandads lawn live a bowling green, it cut his lawn for over 30 years and looked superb, his mate down the road liked the lawn so much he asked if he could borrow it, my grandad tried to explain that the mower was set up for his lawn and would ruin the other as it had not been cut by a cylinder mower before, the weight of the mower helped compress the surface and give a good Finnish, he borrowed the mower and ruined the grass. If you had to set the mower up for every lawn it's gonna take a while.

 

 

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[Graham]

My first ever job was grass cutting from March to Sept every year. We used nothing but cylinder machines on numerous sites. Lloyds, Dennis and Ransomes. The Lloyds were a wheeled machine with a rear roller and coped well with long grass with bents only becoming evident late in the season if the weather was dry. They were also extremely fast. I reckon a modern rotary would be better as good cylinder machines will be expensive.

[Big T]

Ok guy's, thanks for the advice! Etesia here we come!

[wrsni]

We've two, a Ransomes Super Certes and an old Atco, total cost of both was under £500.

 

We're developing our own small private golf course around the house so the Ransomes is used for the greens, the Atco is used for the tees and surrounds and is set higher.

 

The finish they're capable of producing could never be matched by any rotary, but cutting isn't the issue. We have four greens and the young fella works at them constantly or else they'd be a carpet of moss and weeds already.

 

Cutting peoples lawns with the cylinder would probably just be a disaster without all the other attendant maintenance between times. A nice rotary with roller is probably what you want if stripes is the aim, just remember that you'll still have the front wheel tracks when you're done which does detract from the effect a bit.

[hedgesparrow]

as all other posts if its your lawn or one customers nice posh lawn which they want looked after then yes a cylinder will give you cracking results.

but the cylinders need to be kept in tip top so they will cut paper.

your normal lawn will have you know what in it hit a stone thats the cylinder ruined £100 bill to have it sharpened.

get a rotary with a roller on back or a mower with a rubber brush on back and will get the stripes. my toro ride on has a rubber mat on back and that gives me stripes. customers like the finish.