Nine Lives!

[mstacy]

I made the first trial run with an old McCormack Deering #9 mower behind my 11 month old devons, Stanley and Earl, yesterday evening. We only cut a couple of fifty foot swath before the connecting rod socket slipped off the cutter bar … but it was immensely satisfying.

When I was 5 years old this mower was already a rusted antique, left to rot out in the woods. More likely the woods grew up around it. I played on that machine as a child. Three and a half decades later I cut, dug and winched it out of the woods. And now after numerous evenings with torch, hammer, wire brush and generous applications of WD40 I’ve got it back to the point where it’s nearly functional … without any bells and whistles. The cutter bar and all the linkages were siezed up tight and the connecting rod had long since rotted away. But the gears were still bathed in oil and the basic drive mechanism is pristine.

Now it’s time to brush the rust off the blades and reintroduce them to a whetstone. I was amazed that the blades cut anything at all in their current state. It was mesmerizing to see the grass fall in its swath.

I’m looking forward to figuring out how to tune this thing up and putting it back to work.

[CharlyBonifaz]

I made the first trial run with an old McCormack Deering #9 mower behind my 11 month old devons,….yesterday evening

🙂 same deal over here: first time, two oxen (3 and 2,5 years), one old McCormick mower, yesterday afternoon

but it was immensely satisfying.

same feelings 😀 definitely, positively satisfying
lots of fun!

[Ed Thayer]

I am enviouse………….

I till have to dig one out and get to restoring it. Good job.

[Lawrenceu]

That has to be satisfying.

[Author]

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