We had one just like that when I was a kid. I called it the Star Ship Enterprise. My Dad had me running every type of machine imaginable by the time I was 12-13 years old including grading our lane in a Willy's Jeep........except for the Gravely. Our land was far from flat and he told me if I slipped up it would take my foot or whole leg off. It also had a two wheel tow behind tractor seat for when we mowed with it. IIRC, that thing had a blade the was 1/2" thick and 3" wide and would stop for nothing. It was an absolute beast! Best, Kelly
What size blade would be on that thing??? My tablesaw takes an 18 inch blade. I am cautiously using it every time with a high level of respect. There are some tools you just never lend out to friends or family (or just let them use). For me, my list is pretty small with my portable tools. My three chainsaws. And my weed-eater (with or without a saw blade on it)....and absolutely none of my stationary tools will I let somebody else use, including the foundry, without me present. If I owned one of these bladed lawnmowers, this would make my list of portable tools never to lend out.
Gravely's were made less than 10 miles from my house until 1964 when they sold out to Studebaker. If you had a garden, you tilled with a Gravely. If you had a small farm, you had two or three so you didn't have to change implements (there were 68 of them). When I bought this, the guy had a dual wheel model which I wanted but he wouldn't part with it.
It's interesting to see such a large oil filter on that Gravely. I'm not that familiar with their old equipment but I know they were a prolific producer. I remember my godfather had one like that that had a snowplow blade on it. Kelly's dad was wise to draw the line where he did. A lot of us grew up on the land and have seen the tragedies first, or at least, secondhand. Spinny farm things and kids just aren't a good combo. Pete
Those Gravely units were sold as the powerhead (Engine, Wheels, control side) and you could get all kinds of work heads. Mower, brush head, Plow blade, snow blower. It was more of a walk behind tractor than push mower. Lots of Gravely tractors still running in this neck (redneck) of the woods. Good units. Pretty sure you can still get parts for them at the local tractor shops (we have a few around here.... cows out number people 3 to 1 in my county).
The beast is running! Here's what I did. Pulled the plug and squirted a liberal dose of Liquid Wrench in the cylinder which soaked for a week. Burnished the points and got a nice blue spark on the plug. New fuel line with filter and shutoff valve. Installed the carb kit. Changed the oil and filter. Cleaned the sludge from the rotary cutter gear box and filled with fresh lube. Started first pull!
Certainly not desirable, but more up my alley. Yes, that's my neighbors shed under that (my) tree. Quite a windstorm yesterday.
Looks like multiple trees came down and the main trunk missed the shed? White Pine? Red Pine would have uprooted since they have no taproot. We had an ice storm that brought down many trees. This Hickory tree on the lower portion of the cemetery was a victim. With it out of the way, I cut this double bole Sourwood. That's the Hickory at the end. And went ahead and dropped this hard Maple. It fell on a 6" Hickory and splintered it. I figured those were enough to cleanup for the year so I have paused my cutting. There are still three more large ones that I keep eyeballing and want to drop and so far have resisted. This batch of mini Daffodils came up in the middle of the baby graves. I think I'll split them in 6 weeks and put a batch in front of each stone.
No, just one tree. White pine. Fortunately the shed was far enough away that it only got "slapped" with 8" limbs and not crushed by the trunk. Also, white pine is more easily broken than, say, a hardwood, so even those large limbs broke as they hit the shed. I think he's going to repair the shed. One broken rafter and a couple of punctures in the roof, etc. Personally, given its age I'd call insurance and have it replaced, but he's a very capable 80 year old and wants to fix it. His wife hasn't weighed in yet though.lol. It leaves me with a bit of an issue though. There is no way to get machinery in there other than a small tractor so I sawed the trunk into 16" x 30" rounds that I cant get rid of. I can either pile them to dry for a year and burn next year or dump them in a wet area to decay (basically a 10 year commitment).
I finally got around to finishing these castings and mounted them. Nehemiah is the great grandfather of Hot Rod Hundley, W Va basketball great and Utah Jazz commentator.
Geez, I'm a hoarder. I've got to scrap a couple mobile homes so the prep work is, disconnect the electric, water, sewage, underpinning, remove windows. Then the inside to see what's there. Blower/motor from a stacked washer/dryer combo. Heating elements from furnace. Bell Another squirrel cage blower from the furnace, 50' of 8/3, 30' of 2/3, 30' of 10/3 romex. Go back today for another 50' of 8/3 and 10/3 romex. The copper wire is serious money these days.
The old lady next door had 2 mobile homes on her property, she allowed someone to scrap them with the understanding they would remove the wood as well and everything once done. They took the good bits, then left the wooden frames. Then she died. Now there are 2 scrap/frames that look terrible and her house has gone to hell due to leaking roof so it will probably be condemned at some point. Blah