Oops -- or Things to Not Run Over with a Lawnmower

[Mk42gunner]

So I was mowing my yard today, trying to get caught up with it for once this year, when the blades came to a sudden stop. So sudden there wasn't time for the belt to squeal. Just a thud and that was it.

I backed out of whatever I hit, saw a good sized stick pull out from under the deck and thought I had gotten off easy. No such luck.

Run the mower up on the berm and looked under it. Found a nasty ball of spring steel :shock: that used to be a leaf rake.

Take my advice and don't run over one of them with the blades rotating. It made a ball about six inches in diameter that really wasn't fun to remove.

On the plus side, there was no permanent damage to the mower:bigsmyl2:. The leaf rake wasn't so lucky.:sad:

Be careful when mowing, especially in high grass.

Robert

[Omega]

If only. The first few years of mowing my lawn it seemed that instead of grass my lawn was growing rocks, and not small ones either. With the freeze and thaw cycle, large 8" plus rocks were being extruded from the ground and once it was an old piston which must of been there for years. I bent quite a few blades before it finally settled down.

[JSnover]

I learned pretty fast to walk the yard every spring before the first mow. Rocks, branches, lost tools, old toys...

[country gent]

Neighbor hit a dog tie cable once. We spent several hours cutting it out after it was wrapped tight around the blade mounts and blades. I hit a 12 gauge shotgun hull that really flew. Some of these new mowers have much higher blades speeds than the old ones did and really throw things hard

[dubber123]

Round pointed shovel with the girlfriends new snow blower doesn't go well either.

[Friends call me Pac]

I saw a frog just before I pushed the mower over him. I couldn't stop fast enough & got ready to be grossed out. Surprisingly nothing came out. No hide, eyeballs or anything at all. I was amazed & looked under at the still turning blades of my ancient push mower. I was amazed to see that frog hopping over the blade on each rotation!

[DerekP Houston]

So I was mowing my yard today, trying to get caught up with it for once this year, when the blades came to a sudden stop. So sudden there wasn't time for the belt to squeal. Just a thud and that was it.

I backed out of whatever I hit, saw a good sized stick pull out from under the deck and thought I had gotten off easy. No such luck.

Run the mower up on the berm and looked under it. Found a nasty ball of spring steel :shock: that used to be a leaf rake.

Take my advice and don't run over one of them with the blades rotating. It made a ball about six inches in diameter that really wasn't fun to remove.

On the plus side, there was no permanent damage to the mower:bigsmyl2:. The leaf rake wasn't so lucky.:sad:

Be careful when mowing, especially in high grass.

Robert

Been there done that......almost lost a good shovel that way! I try to always put my tools away after use, but that grass grows QUICK here with all the rain. Ant hills make me dance the most.

Other than that my lawnmower does double duty as a compost maker and wood chipper on occasion :D. And yes...I have to replace the blades more often than most. I've gotten pretty good about getting it back up and running though. My neighbor has a "rock garden" on the side yard that my son likes to collect from....I've learned to keep an eye out in the front for those, but it gets mowed more regularly. HOA doesn't complain about my jungle/vegetable garden in the backyard though.



I learned pretty fast to walk the yard every spring before the first mow. Rocks, branches, lost tools, old toys...

Whats a "first mow".......it never stops growing here!

[Artful]

I used to have to mow about an acre with the old self propelled (no ride for me) and I would always forget one of the faucet's and have to replace it - finally go to the point where I put traffic cones over 'em. But the good news is I got good at plumbing.

[DerekP Houston]

I used to have to mow about an acre with the old self propelled (no ride for me) and I would always forget one of the faucet's and have to replace it - finally go to the point where I put traffic cones over 'em. But the good news is I got good at plumbing.

:D I should use that trick for the sewer cleanout cap. Hit that thing about once a year!

[johnson1942]

we go over snakes we glee. lots and lots of them get turned into mulch on our place.

[Goatwhiskers]

Back when Snapper brand mowers were very popular around here, a guy stopped in at the local dealer. The conversation went something like this: "I found something a Snapper won't mow." "Yeah, what's that?" "A Handyman jack." GW

[William Yanda]

I saw a frog just before I pushed the mower over him. I couldn't stop fast enough & got ready to be grossed out. Surprisingly nothing came out. No hide, eyeballs or anything at all. I was amazed & looked under at the still turning blades of my ancient push mower. I was amazed to see that frog hopping over the blade on each rotation!

I thought the Calaveras County Jumping frog was in California or Colorado. But Arkansas???????

[gwpercle]

When my kids were little , I would occasionally find one my tools with the mower...that caused a lot of swearing !
I bought the kids their own tools , plastic of course and things got a lot better.
The other day I was digging in the back yard putting in a small raised bed for tomatoes and dug up a plastic claw hammer , cap gun and plastic GI Joe toy survival knife and a few other toys. My youngest son is going on 35 now , wow those years just flew by . Now I feel bad about hollering at him .
Gary

[OS OK]

Yall ought be glad you ain't Rednecks...they find cars and trucks when they mow the front yard...I swear!

[Moonie]

Yea, my 17 year old daughter used to find my hose when she mowed... They get shorter every year :bigsmyl2:

[Wolfer]

Yeah, I once started the mower with a litter of baby kittens under it. Looked like something out of a horror movie! There were a few that survived, don't remember how many. Most did not.

[RogerDat]

Snow blower and that electric cord you knew but forgot was out here in the snow running out to the shed. Aside from the joy of being out in the cold clearing the auger is the fun of knowing you have a heavy duty extension cord to replace. Along with a life time supply of short ones if you want to buy the ends.

[Taylor]

Yall ought be glad you ain't Rednecks...they find cars and trucks when they mow the front yard...I swear!

Back when I was still delivering the mail.There was this one trailer with a pickup broke down in the front yard by the porch.They were moving one day as I came by,I watched them drag the truck out.Dead deer by the porch.Been there all winter.

[leeggen]

Boys used to split the wood and move it to the shed. Well it seemed like every yr they would leave a peice in the grass. Of course the first cut is usually tall. Had one jam under the deck of the cub cadet, 26hp and 50 i9nch deck. The blade was a couple inches into the wood and the wood jammed on the brace at the discharge. Barried about 3 inches into the wood, oh yeah it was oak that was dry and hard. Finally got the sawsall out and it cracked one of the mounting lugs for the shaft housing. Heck here in Tn we grow rocks like trees. Rattle snakes never look better than after those blades hit it. Oh and those cars in the front yard that is to establish your rating in the neighborhood, the more you have the higher your rating, kinda like a credit rating.
CD

[country gent]

I was mowing with an old cub cadet rider at my grandmothers. My wallet worked out of my pocket on the next pass I diint see it till it came out the disgharge. Drivers license a credit card and some cash chewed up ( cash was still spendable but got some odd looks) drivers license and credit card had to be replaced. Wasnt a big thmp or ground rattiling shock but seeing that light brown leather come out and I knew what it was.

[Garyshome]

Box turtle a couple of years ago, that was a real mess.

[MaryB]

I was helping a friend mow... he always carries his cell phone. I made a turn and saw him searching his pockets and figured he was looking for a smoke... then I heard that sound of shattering glass and plastic and cell phone parts spit out the chute... He wasn't to upset, he had been wanting to replace that phone for 6 months and his girlfriend of 27 years(they never married but sure argue like they are!) said not as long as it still worked.

My house sat empty for 10 years before I bought it. First 4 mowings I hired a farmer with a sickle bar mower to knock the brush down. After that I was mowing on a beat up rider I got from my dad. I never hooked up the cable TV so thought nothing of it until I wrapped up 100 feet of TV coax in the blades! Ripped their pedestal out of the ground too. Turns out they never buried the cable and the grass had just grown up over it. Turning with the mower had dug up a loop and the blades dug the rest from under an inch of mulched grass and weeds. I called them and told them to come finish removing their cable form my property. They got here and had a fit and wanted to bill me for destroying it until I pointed out that I had no contract with them, I would be happy to meet them in small claims court for damage to the mower(bent a spindle). Or they could rip the rest of it out of the ground and get it off my property permanently. After a lot of swearing at me they removed it, I made sure their boss got a copy of the cell phone recording so he could see how his techs behaved... yeah they were looking for new jobs the next week after he checked more of their installs in town and found most of the drops to the houses weren't buried.

[Silfield]

All I ever seem to find with the lawn mower are the doggy landmines! Doesnt matter how much I walk the garden first with a spade, I always manage to hit a couple. Earlier this summer I saw something in the fresh cut grass that needed closer examination and it was the remains of a newt, not a common newt but a Great Crested Newt which are protected by law! Out came the spade and not a word has been said about it since (well, until now)
Also hit one of the dogs hard rubber balls, which came out through the grass box at the back like a stabbed rat and clipped my crown jewels on the way. Wife saw me go down with a thud and thought I had a heart attack-we laughed afterwards and the dog was happy that I had 'found' her ball!

[Teddy (punchie)]

We find all types of things cutting , mowing and brush hogging. Best are blocks left in the fields. Had A bid on a field to cut had been 10 years from the last time it was cut. Older nice lady. I bid the job at 500.00 she like just to cut the 4 acres. I explained that have you walked it and you have 10 trees I'm going to have to remove. Do you know if there is any junk or old parts out there? She never called which I was thankful for just never fun replacing gears and share bolts.

[Bob65]

I would have to cut my grass just to find the mower in there somewhere before I could mow.

[Wayne Smith]

Yellowjacket nest!

[salty dog]

Not once but twice my wife has found a soaker hose that was hidden in the grass. It's amazing how much of it can get wrapped up in there.

[44man]

Hose nozzle with snow blower, hose Carol left out with mower. Hunk of carpet she put in the dog pen, broke the belt.
But you should hear the neighbor when he mows, I swear he has a rock crusher!

[Ole Joe Clarke]

It's getting deep around here!

There was a spell when I cut the grass at the church with my personal mower. The kids had a "camp out" in the church yard with tents and the whole works. The next time I cut the grass I found the handle of the hammer somebody lost. I walked the yard looking for the hammer head, to no avail. I found it next time I cut the grass. Two new sets of blades and I am still riding the ole mower.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[w5pv]

Wasn't mowing but I had this four wheel drive truck that picked up a run of hogwire fence that wrapped around the front axel and shut the going forward down took about three hours to get it removed from around the tire and axel.I would cut and finally got it unwrapped but that was a night mare.

[StolzerandSons]

I was helping a friend mow... he always carries his cell phone. I made a turn and saw him searching his pockets and figured he was looking for a smoke... then I heard that sound of shattering glass and plastic and cell phone parts spit out the chute... He wasn't to upset, he had been wanting to replace that phone for 6 months and his girlfriend of 27 years(they never married but sure argue like they are!) said not as long as it still worked.
Both of my sons chewed up a cell phone when they were teenagers...it's a good lesson. All that work mowing and all you get to spend that extra money on is a new phone. They only did it once each, they learned to empty their pockets before getting on the mower.

[benellinut]

My son in law was mowing their lawn with a rider mower, my daughter was in the yard when he ran over a garden hand trowel. It sheared it in half, the lower pointed half hit my daughter in the thigh and gashed her bad enough she had to have a few stitches. They were both thankful it didn't hit one of the girls, at the height it hit my daughter, it would have hit a child in the upper body or head.

Years ago a local gun shop had photos of a baby browning pistol on the wall, before and after pics. The owner of the gun had it in his back pocket while on his riding mower, the gun fell out and he ran over it with the mower. It made a real mess out of it, but the gun smith welded up all the damage, hand filed it, rebuled it, new grips and when done it looked new. It had ruined the grips, tore the trigger guard half off and had gouges all over the slide and frame. I asked, "It must have cost more to repair it then what it was worth?", he told me it would have been but he took it on as a challenge to see what he could do with it, said he didn't charge the customer all that much. The pics where there to show his skills, he had em!

[victorfox]

brush cutters are even more fun... they throw stuff real high and usually at your face or leg. I mowed some snakes and cavies (guinea pigs), pieces of wire, nails, stones, screws, and worst of all, dog poo... which flew on my face. Then I learned why there are masks.

[lavenatti]

My lawn tractor ejects grass clippings, sticks the occasional toy and even rocks horizontally out the chute on the side of the mower deck.

If anyone can explain why wet bear poop goes vertical I'd really appreciated it....

[victorfox]

My lawn tractor ejects grass clippings, sticks the occasional toy and even rocks horizontally out the chute on the side of the mower deck.

If anyone can explain why wet bear poop goes vertical I'd really appreciated it....

Murphy sez that what's it's supposed to do when it hits the fan... [smilie=p:

[DerekP Houston]

brush cutters are even more fun... they throw stuff real high and usually at your face or leg. I mowed some snakes and cavies (guinea pigs), pieces of wire, nails, stones, screws, and worst of all, dog poo... which flew on my face. Then I learned why there are masks.

LMAO I always thought it was to keep the grass and dirt off the face....hadn't considered airborne feces. Anything alive that gets turned into mulch I just call free fertilizer. Thank goodness I only have a small lot to worry about for now.

[bob208]

with bush hog found a tire mounted on a rim. that made some noise. also found a 12' chain with the bush hog. that was a mess getting it out.

[Sur-shot]

Oh, I can win this without trying......... 50 HP Kabota with Bush Hog on the back, two holes in the field with a kick up on the second hole and my AR goes straight up from its fender mounted boot, drops down beside the rear right fender and whop, whop, whop. Modified AR. Had to use a Saws-All to cut it apart.
Ed

174753

[Pine Baron]

Yup...you win...:shock:

[DLCTEX]

Years ago I bought used and desd lawn mowers to repsir and resell. Many were near new that had hit domething and sheared the flywheel key or bent the crankshaft. I had a device to straighten crankshafts and made quick money. I resold several to the people I bought them from.

[benellinut]

Hell of a way to win LoL. Kinda sucks, badly.... 174754

[lightman]

I just replaced the cord on a guys blower. The kind that inflates those giant yard toys. "No Honey, I don't think I hit it"!

[victorfox]

Oh, I can win this without trying......... 50 HP Kabota with Bush Hog on the back, two holes in the field with a kick up on the second hole and my AR goes straight up from its fender mounted boot, drops down beside the rear right fender and whop, whop, whop. Modified AR. Had to use a Saws-All to cut it apart.
Ed

174753

PM me if you want to sell your 80% AR corner shot... [smilie=p:
174757

Just kidding... sorry for the loss man... :|

[NavyVet1959]

Back on the ranch -- bush hog, armadillos, gophers, etc...

My yard? Usually just a tennis ball that the dog got distracted during that "fetch thing".

[starmac]

Back in the 70's I was living in a travel trailer in a park. these had small lawns, so when I mowed I would also mow my neighbors, who was a single mother without a mower. One sunday her boyfriend, who was a friend of mine brought over a riding mower to mow her lawn, and since he new I usually mowed hers, he decided to mow mine while he was about it. Now these lawns were not really big enough to get a riding mower around, so when my lights went out I went out to check. He was standing their scratching his head and ask where he could get me a new cord like that on a sunday. I told him I probably had the stuff to repeir it and started around to my shed when I noticed I didn't have a water hose. I ask him about it and he told me he had already sent her for a new one, as he had run over it first. lol
I told him he should just run over my sewer and I would just move out.

I guess carma got him, as before he was finished hre turned the mower over in the ditch out back and broke his ankle. lol

[DerekP Houston]

Back in the 70's I was living in a travel trailer in a park. these had small lawns, so when I mowed I would also mow my neighbors, who was a single mother without a mower. One sunday her boyfriend, who was a friend of mine brought over a riding mower to mow her lawn, and since he new I usually mowed hers, he decided to mow mine while he was about it. Now these lawns were not really big enough to get a riding mower around, so when my lights went out I went out to check. He was standing their scratching his head and ask where he could get me a new cord like that on a sunday. I told him I probably had the stuff to repeir it and started around to my shed when I noticed I didn't have a water hose. I ask him about it and he told me he had already sent her for a new one, as he had run over it first. lol
I told him he should just run over my sewer and I would just move out.

I guess carma got him, as before he was finished hre turned the mower over in the ditch out back and broke his ankle. lol

LOL that really encourages me to stick with my push mower instead of switching to a riding mower. I had considered going the hank hill route, but thought it was just me being lazy.

[NavyVet1959]

LOL that really encourages me to stick with my push mower instead of switching to a riding mower. I had considered going the hank hill route, but thought it was just me being lazy.

Knew a guy once that had one of the higher end solid glass storm doors on the front of his house. He was mowing one day and hit a small rock that headed towards to glass door like a guided missile. He was wanting to replace the glass, but it was pretty expensive. Told him to replace it with Lexan and from now on, mow with the lawnmower discharge chute pointed *away* from the house. I've seen the same sort of thing happen with houses that had really large picture windows overlooking the front yard. Makes me glad that I have panel windows and the single pane glass. It might not be as energy efficient as double pane glass, but it is easy to replace AND I've had a few times that I've had to do it. Sometimes, it is a rock, but having to break into the house after locking myself out (or getting locked out) has probably happened more often.

[Polecat]

Ran over a logchain with the bush hog if that counts took two days to fix.

[DerekP Houston]

lol the discharge shoot is always pointed back towards the yard, that just saves me from sweeping it back up! I timed it today, if I stay on top of the dang yard it only takes about 10-15 minutes for a quick trim and edge. We have "hurricane" windows/doors and screens on top to keep mosquitoes out, luckily haven't broken any yet *knock on wood*. The backyard jungle is my challenge for this weekend...

Like most home repairs/maintenance if I stay on top of it, it is much easier and less work each time. That's what I get for being lazy during all this rain awhile back.

[grumman581]

I was down in the Florida Keys a few years back with my jet boat. I had taken it out to do some diving and ended up getting a piece of crab trap black polyester rope sucked into the impeller. It wrapped itself around there and brought me to a halt fairly quickly. So, I can't get back to the launch site and had to try to disassemble the grating that is *supposed* to stop things from getting into the impeller just so that I could gain access to it to cut the rope in pieces. The wind was up a bit, so the boat was rocking / moving quite a bit. Ended up being blown onto some very small island, so there's not much room between the bottom of the boat and the sand. Fins and BC were just in the way, so grabbed a tank and regulator and squeezed between the bottom of the boat and the sand with the tank laying beside me. The waves were causing the boat to beat me to death, but I eventually got it disassembled and the rope removed. By the time I finished, I gave up on the idea of doing any more diving for that day.

[Menner]

Finished riding the yard and sometimes only cut the ditch every other week (push mower time) grass was a little high hit a dead Bird that had been there the better part of 3 days in july and it did not go out the chute don't remember getting sick but mower stayed in the ditch until I had a good cussing from the wife for coming in the house and a good scrubbing in the shower! Man was that Fowl (sorry)
Tony

[xs11jack]

There is a old red oak stump on my back property line that somehow angled a large root straight out then down, kinda like a dog leg. My wife somehow hit it with a little craftsman 21 inch, self compelled as she calls it. and the blade came to a stop so quickly that the last 3" of the blade turned 90 degrees straight up. She is a little more careful now. Just in case I cut the root out. The surprise is that with all that energy stopped in a nanosecond, the crankshaft didn't get damaged.
Ole Jack

[OS OK]

After sending a rock through the second story bathroom window from 75 feet away I bolted a piece of carpet in the end of that fold down black plastic discharge chute of the deck...that was the end of flying debris, period.

MY my how some of us have to learn things the hard way...prolly where hard-headed came from.

[Frank46]

My wife uses bricks for her flower post and you guessed it, one happened to be in the grass when my riding mower hit it. Cost me a new set of blades. And regarding snakes, had the tractor out cutting the back section and ran over a cotton mouth. Bad for him as he got sliced and diced. Frank

[Mk42gunner]

After reading some of these, I don't feel so bad. I hit a 12 gauge shell with a rider one time, a loud noise was the only result.

I remember replacing the flywheel key pretty regularly on a Briggs & Stratton push mower when I was a kid.

I don't mind fixing a mower when I have actually hit something, it is when it breaks and I haven't hit anything that gets me.

Robert

[ncbearman]

Yellowjacket nest!

Right on brother. And don't think that "parking" on top of the nest will get em' all. IT DOESNT. I got tore up by those little suckers a few years ago. I jumped off that mower and ran for the pool. I had rigged the seat switch so I could get off the mower and it would still run. And it did til it ran out of gas. I hate those things.

One more. At the start of a long pass I hit a stone and it made a heck of a noise but kept turning. I finished the pass and turned around for the next one and it looked like I had been pulling the tiller or discs behind me. That rock bent the blade down about 3" on the end and was goin to town tearin up my grass. I told the wife I was going to plant a long row of corn that year.

[pill bug]

This thread immediately brought to mind the Lawnmower cut coins the metal detector guys post on their websites (almost a "parallel universe" of hobbyist not unlike us). Its seems to be almost a "rite of passage" to find your first mower hit coin. They are a fun and somewhat unusual find that are often pictured and talked about in post.

174795

[Skunk1]

Brother in law hit his curb stop (main water shutoff). Locked his mower up tight. Luckily I have the same mower so I ended up getting a parts mower.

[NavyVet1959]

:D I should use that trick for the sewer cleanout cap. Hit that thing about once a year!

I've hit that one a few times -- so has my lawn service. Eventually, I took a spare single hole (i.e. 8x8x8) cinder block, plugged one end with concrete, and it set over the cleanout cap. It just looks like a little random concrete cube sitting out in the yard.

[Hickok]

My wife ran over a red brick she had placed around her flowers, (in a circle pattern to protect the flowers from when I ran the mower), with the riding mower. She made it another 5 to 6 feet before the bent blades stopped the mower. Looked like a an upside down helicopter crash in grass!

[KCSO]

As my Dad got older he would work on stuff in the front yard of his cabin and would leave tools laying in the grass. I drove up to mow every two weeks and so far I have hit hammers, pliers, a cresent wrench and a box of wood screws. I now walk the yard before I mow! The absolute worst though was a large hunk of green nylon rope that took 2 hours to cut loose.

[higgins]

Years ago, outside Nashville, a guy mowing the interstate ROW found a body that had been in the weeds for a couple of weeks. I always wondered if he found it before or after he ran over it; talk about a mess if after.

My son worked for a mowing service when he was in high school. They mowed a small trailer park. More than once he ran over a TV cable laid on the ground between trailers, not placed there by the cable company. If they were lucky it was a clean cut; if not, it was several yards of cable wrapped around two blades as described in MaryB's post.l

[labradigger1]

I run over it all. Balls, bicycles, toys, animals, rocks and sticks. Old gravelys take all comers.

[DerekP Houston]

Not sure why I bought premium gas this time.....but found out my mower just wont run on it. Went through the whole thing trying to figure out what was wrong until I remembered. Switched back to 87 octane and it fired right back up. Blade needed sharpening anyways....

Also found an old rusty blade I had set aside as "too nicked or damaged" to use.....heating it in a fire right now to remove the temper and going to attempt a bushcraft knife out of it.

[TCFAN]

I ran over a Armadillo with a 4 foot brush hog on my small Kubota tractor.Surprised me as much as it did him.Course he did not have very long to think about it.He came out in three or four pieces.........

[NavyVet1959]

I ran over a Armadillo with a 4 foot brush hog on my small Kubota tractor.Surprised me as much as it did him.Course he did not have very long to think about it.He came out in three or four pieces.........

When scared, armadillos will jump straight up. Good defence mechanism for horses, not so good for 18-wheelers or bush hogs.

[woodbutcher]

:lol: Back in the spring of 86 my neighbor was mowing his yard when BANG and smoke rolled out from under his mower.He hit the ground.I ran over to see f he was hurt.He was ok,just scared the **** out of him.We got to checking and found the remains of a BLASTING CAP.Now how that wound up in his front yard we never found out.Sure made for an exciting morning though.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Storydude]

Next time you wrap something around blades, don't bother trying to untangle it...Unscrew and drop the blades from the spindle.

Much easier and less swearing when you have the mess on the bench.

[rondog]

I work in fiber optic cable maintenance for a big telecom. We had an outage this summer in Nashville and a temporary fiber cable had to be spliced in and ran on the ground until a permanent cable could be placed underground.

Yep, last week some yahoo with a mower chopped up the temp cable! We hate outages, they're a huge PITA.

[MaryB]

One other thing I hit a lot are beer cans the drunks toss on the way out of town. Wind blows them all over the yard and if I don't see them in time they are aluminum mulch. Hit one someone had stomped flat and I launched it a good 150 feet into the field...

[NavyVet1959]

One other thing I hit a lot are beer cans the drunks toss on the way out of town. Wind blows them all over the yard and if I don't see them in time they are aluminum mulch. Hit one someone had stomped flat and I launched it a good 150 feet into the field...

Hitting one of those junk newspapers that they litter your yard with makes a pretty good mess also.

[Artful]

Oh, I can win this without trying......... 50 HP Kabota with Bush Hog on the back, two holes in the field with a kick up on the second hole and my AR goes straight up from its fender mounted boot, drops down beside the rear right fender and whop, whop, whop. Modified AR. Had to use a Saws-All to cut it apart.
Ed

174753

Holy Spiff the Spaceman - That's a Champion story for sure.

[Artful]

Also found an old rusty blade I had set aside as "too nicked or damaged" to use.....heating it in a fire right now to remove the temper and going to attempt a bushcraft knife out of it.

Oh, document this for us -

I have a friend that E-mailed me he has an old blade and wanted to know if I wanted it and I had the same Idea as yours. I was thinking my Turkey Fryer/Smelter with a bit of fire brick would probably give me enough heat - what do you plan on using?

[Hardcast416taylor]

A strip of lawn that was the border with my elderly neighbors was cut every year for 10 years by me. They have 2 `wild` grandsons that literally get away with murder on the grandparents simply because they won`t or can`t keep them in line. Anyway, I had just splurged and got a new John Deere riding mower. I was cutting this strip of grass that had grown high in early June. WHANG! I backed up and peered under the new deck. I pulled a now mangaled piece of metal out that had bent badly both blades, but nothing else. I took the mangaled metal up to my barn to figure what it was. I finally figured out it was a hand 3 tine dirt worker tool from a garden. Since neither I or the old neighbors had a garden I wondered where it came from all of a sudden. After I replaced the blades, about $40 as I recall, I more carefully watched where I mowed on the strip. To my surprise I started spotting other gardening hand tools and other chunks of unkown metal. I gathered them up in a box and went next door to ask if these looked familar. The old man immediately recognised most of the pieces as from being in his work shed. Upon questioning the grandson most oldest, about 12 yrs old, said `Yeah, we were playing Transformers and throwing them at each other`! Yeah, right next to where I cut the grass. I was never offered money for new blades, only advised to be more watchful where I mowed!Robert

[DerekP Houston]

Oh, document this for us -

I have a friend that E-mailed me he has an old blade and wanted to know if I wanted it and I had the same Idea as yours. I was thinking my Turkey Fryer/Smelter with a bit of fire brick would probably give me enough heat - what do you plan on using?

It got red hot in the fire last night and the file I tossed in came out bent so I assume I removed the hardening. This will be my first attempt so no promises on quality but I'm going to give it a try.

The forge setup I'm looking to make is a simple cast iron 3" pan with steel piping for forced air induction.

I need to find an anvil or something heavy enough to swing on the flatten out the blade if anyone has some railroad track they want to get rid of!

[rondog]

Hitting one of those junk newspapers that they litter your yard with makes a pretty good mess also.

Run one through a snowblower sometime! Yay.

[odinohi]

I know from experience that a propane line is not good to run over with a rototiller;

[NavyVet1959]

I know from experience that a propane line is not good to run over with a rototiller;

Obviously, it was not buried deep enough. :)

When I ran the gas line around my hard for my gas grill and fryer, I used 1" sched 40 steel pipe and buried it 18" deep. I wanted to ensure that if I was digging a hole for some new landscaping plants that I would either not hit it due to the depth or at least I would feel it and not dig through it. I've busted too many irrigation lines over the years because the installers used the thin walled plastic pipe.

[jsizemore]

Back in the 50's there was 2 folks that got a foot each while mowing. One was the preacher. Was cutting the grass early in the day when the dew was heavy. Slipped on the bank beside the road. No safeties on the mowers in the good old days.

[NavyVet1959]

I remember a woman once who had had had her fingers detached 3 times by lawn mower and reattached each time. The 4th time, she wasn't so lucky and they couldn't reattach them. One would think that after the first time, she would have learned her lesson not to reach down there to get something out of the exhaust chute, but apparently it took her a few times.

[TCLouis]

Guess mine was a rat snake about 4 foot long. Did not see him til he came writhing out the back at my feel. Sorry to say he mus have stuck his head up as it was cut off. I like having them around the yard to keep other things in check.

[Southern Son]

My best was just a small pile of gravel. That resulted in 4 broken windows in two cars.

[jbutts6785]

I am probably the worlds worst golfer. My best drive ever was when I ran over a golf ball with the mower. Last I saw of it, it was about 75 yards out and still climbing. Just missed the neighbors car.

[Mk42gunner]

The golf ball made me think of one time shortly after I retired, I was at my best friend's Dad's house. He was mowing the yard and I had just thought, "That discharge is going to be pointing this way."

I turned around and a piece of gravel hit me right between the shoulder blades, from about twenty yards.

[RIHP]

Cmp

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

[2wheelDuke]

I've found plenty of metal objects like locks, chains, old car parts, etc. I've also found my fair share of tree roots that ruined blades.

The most "exciting" thing I ever found was a live extension cord at my parents' place, that then sparked pretty vigorously. Once I unplugged it and started gathering it up, I recognized it as the one I'd loaned my brother about a month before.

[RogerDat]

Hitting one of those junk newspapers that they litter your yard with makes a pretty good mess also.
I hit one of those with a two stage snow blower. Makes me want to start swearing all over again. Had wads of newspaper wedged between housing and augers. Which stopped the augers, which sheared the pins designed to shear for a jamb, sheared both left and right auger pin, I had one replacement on hand. Oh and the plastic bag from around the paper was wound up in there too. Bad enough to have the ugly newspaper box out next to the mail box, even worse to have them just throw it on the driveway into the snow.

[dave524]

Newspapers are dropped at my corner for the kids to deliver, that plastic strapping that is crimped by heat is nasty stuff to wind up in a mower or 2 stage snow blower as it separates into individual fibres as it gets wound up. Years ago mowing waist high weeds with a rotary mower behind the PTO of a Massey Fergusson 35, throw a blade off the end of the arm, easy to find though as I watched the weeds tumble as it cut a path to its final resting spot.

[NavyVet1959]

I hit one of those with a two stage snow blower. Makes me want to start swearing all over again. Had wads of newspaper wedged between housing and augers. Which stopped the augers, which sheared the pins designed to shear for a jamb, sheared both left and right auger pin, I had one replacement on hand. Oh and the plastic bag from around the paper was wound up in there too. Bad enough to have the ugly newspaper box out next to the mail box, even worse to have them just throw it on the driveway into the snow.

I was on a lawn tractor and saw the newspaper, but figured I could just go by it and it would be OK. Didn't realize that the mower had enough suction to suck it from an area that was not underneath the mower deck *into* the mower deck. It didn't damage the mower or stop it. It just shredded it into pulp and spread a cloud of it over the yard. Tried to clean it up for a minute or so and then just mowed over the pieces a bit more and used a water hose to wash it down into the grass. :)

[Elkins45]

My personal favorite was a five foot length of 6-3 copper electrical cable. I got to replace a spindle and bearing as well as the blade because of that one.

[MaryB]

Just reminded me of the absolute worst... you know the shrink wrap they put on pallets? Well a 100+ foot strip had blown into my tall grass out back and one end was sticking out into where I mow. Thought plastic bag just mow it... have you ever tried to remove 100 feet of wrapped tight then melted in place from the friction from 3 blades?

[starmac]

Well I didn't do it, but if you want to include snowblowers, I did see the aftermath of one that ate a freightliner hood, that was still attached to the truck and being driven at the time. lol It took a lot of repairs to both rigs. lol

[MT Gianni]

Hoses, rocks and dog piles are all I have hit with mowers. With balers though I have had some doozies. You haven't lived until you pull a skunk out of a conditioner. [it rolls hay flat to remove moisture]. You can't get a fat skunk down to 1" thick.

[NavyVet1959]

Hoses, rocks and dog piles are all I have hit with mowers. With balers though I have had some doozies. You haven't lived until you pull a skunk out of a conditioner. [it rolls hay flat to remove moisture]. You can't get a fat skunk down to 1" thick.

I've seen them run over by big trucks. You can definitely get them down to 1" thick.

[Mk42gunner]

Just reminded me of the absolute worst... you know the shrink wrap they put on pallets? Well a 100+ foot strip had blown into my tall grass out back and one end was sticking out into where I mow. Thought plastic bag just mow it... have you ever tried to remove 100 feet of wrapped tight then melted in place from the friction from 3 blades?
The net they wrap big bales with is quite the PITA to remove from under a mower also.

[lead-1]

This strikes me as funny because just a week ago the neighbor across the street hit the edge of a 10 x 12 blue tarp. Her boyfriend was yipping to me about her causing him two hours of lost time trying to cut that tarp out of the blades, once the blades grabbed it they pulled in the whole thing til it stalled the mower.
Fast forward a couple days and the same guy came over to my house to ask for help getting the serpentine belt back on his truck, a cat decided to help him take it off.

[Storydude]

If anything tangles your blades, do not fight cutting it out...

REMOVE THE BLADES.

1or 2 bolts and it's in your hand with a nice disk of (insert yard **** here) that unwinds nicely.

[Butchman205]

Oh, I can win this without trying......... 50 HP Kabota with Bush Hog on the back, two holes in the field with a kick up on the second hole and my AR goes straight up from its fender mounted boot, drops down beside the rear right fender and whop, whop, whop. Modified AR. Had to use a Saws-All to cut it apart.
Ed

174753

Ed wins. (Sniff-sniff)
My heart goes out to you man...


-Butchman

[OS OK]

I'd like to catch my mother in law laying in the tall grass of one of the pastures...prolly break my mower and she'd go off telling all the kinfolk I did it on purpose!

[Mk42gunner]

If anything tangles your blades, do not fight cutting it out...

REMOVE THE BLADES.

1or 2 bolts and it's in your hand with a nice disk of (insert yard **** here) that unwinds nicely.

Sometimes that works, but others by the time you have enough cut off to get to the #%)(*% bolts, you might as well finish the job with the knife in your hand instead of going and getting the tools needed.

[Butchman205]

I 2nd (or 3rd whatever)...it's a good idea to remove the blades.

I once learned the hard way, that a tiny ball of wire will destroy some grease seals on your bearings...which leads to dirt in bearings, then ultimately bearing failure.

When time permits, I go ahead and remove the blades, wire brush the shafts/mounting plates and swap out to my pre-sharpened spare blades I keep on hand. (I try to keep a spare set of blades sharpened and on standby).

This is kinda like having a spare spindle, bearing assembly, and spare tire on a trailer. You don't need it often, but on the rare occasion when you do...it's nice.


-Butchman

[DerekP Houston]

Sometimes that works, but others by the time you have enough cut off to get to the #%)(*% bolts, you might as well finish the job with the knife in your hand instead of going and getting the tools needed.

I would wager a bet the riding mowers/larger versions make that more difficult. With my push mower it is just a single bolt so I've popped it on and off to clear plastic off before.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

This thread makes me feel better about the assorted hoses, cords, bricks etc I have hit over the years. My best one that ended wellwas when I hit a very solid stump with the discharge chute on my Sears Suburban 15 which is probably pushing 1000 lbs with a deck, wheel weights, and myself on it. It whipped the entire tractor around 90 degrees or so without doing any damage to the deck. Got to love old iron!

[higgins]

Years ago I got a push mower from my wife's grandmother after she died. It had a cast aluminum deck that was obviously easily damaged by stuff hitting it from underneath. The deck looked like a grenade had gone off underneath it! Small holes, upward dents, near-penetrations, chipped edges. I know she had a gravel driveway but surely there was other stuff hit. Her (or whoever else ran it) operation mode was probably wide open and run over whatever was in the yard, driveway, or ditch. I doubt she could even see some of the things she ran over.

Amazingly, the motor (about 40 years old now) still runs. I mounted it on another steel deck years ago. Too much of the original deck edge was broken off, exposing the turning blade. It was scary looking even when it wasn't running.

[victorfox]

Just reminded me of the absolute worst... you know the shrink wrap they put on pallets? Well a 100+ foot strip had blown into my tall grass out back and one end was sticking out into where I mow. Thought plastic bag just mow it... have you ever tried to remove 100 feet of wrapped tight then melted in place from the friction from 3 blades?

Not the same, but I've done the same mistake as you and with a brushcutter ended with some 30ft of unknown plastic wrap. We used mostly a double cutting blade similar to those in grass cutters and it's awesome how they cath stuff opposed to those 3 or 4 smaller blades Solved with a small fire and a rusty knife, heat knife cut plastic until we took it all from the cutter.

[jcren]

While I have done my share of damage, the funniest was from my uncle. After a good tune up and going over, he fired it up in the garage to see how she ran. A few seconds later, huge bang, fireball, and uncle quickly retreated from the premises. After a few minutes he returned to find the mower in tact and no apparent damage. Then he noticed the bits of bright green plastic that had once been a brand new lighter that had fallen and slid under the deck.

[starmac]

I dropped a bic while lighting a cig on the 610 loop in Houston on my bike. It was a pretty good explosion and fireball, so I can see why he would have vacated the garage. lol

The wife had two such explosions one night coming home from lubbock, she stopped and checked everything and the car was fine, called me and I told her keep heading this way. The second time she called and same story, the car was running fine. The next morning I was going to check it out, but noticed small pieces of exploded lighters in the floor right off the bat. Apparently a couple of lighters had been eaten by the defroster and just sat and waited for a cold winter night. lol

[Mytmousemalibu]

A 6' brush hog on the back of a JD diesel tractor will mow a lot of stuff besides grass as I have found out. Probably the most resistant thing I tried to mow by accident was a set of logging choker's. The shear pin was having none of it though.

[Butchman205]

A 6' brush hog on the back of a JD diesel tractor will mow a lot of stuff besides grass as I have found out. Probably the most resistant thing I tried to mow by accident was a set of logging choker's. The shear pin was having none of it though.

Which brings up another good point...What's the 2nd best thing to have on a bush hog?!?...a good stump jumper disc.
What's the number 1 best thing to have on a bush hog?!?...a proper grade shear bolt. (They're made to break before BIG damage)


-Butchman

[Mk42gunner]

A hive of bumblebees is no fun to mow over with a brush hog in a field. You can usually get over them the first time all right; its when you make the next pass and they are milling around like a CAP over a carrier that you realize second gear in a WD Allis Chalmers isn't quite as fast as it needs to be at that moment. Very painful lesson there.

Robert

[mold maker]

As a teen I mowed for the local school system. They had a 36" walk behind Toro. It sent a coat hanger across part of a field, the road, a maple tree, and a second story window, before doubling up on the chalkboard. Glad it went out the side and not the back.

[woodbutcher]

:o Reading this thread just reminded me of a article that was in the on line version of my hometown(Vero Beach Fl) news paper a few years ago.One of the county road crew was mowing the road shoulders and ran over a Burmese Python that was estimated at 16 feet before the slice and dice.A definite oh fudge moment.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[DerekP Houston]

:o Reading this thread just reminded me of a article that was in the on line version of my hometown(Vero Beach Fl) news paper a few years ago.One of the county road crew was mowing the road shoulders and ran over a Burmese Python that was estimated at 16 feet before the slice and dice.A definite oh fudge moment.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

Bet it made good fertilizer :D

[NavyVet1959]

As a teen I mowed for the local school system. They had a 36" walk behind Toro. It sent a coat hanger across part of a field, the road, a maple tree, and a second story window, before doubling up on the chalkboard. Glad it went out the side and not the back.

If you figure a 3000 RPM blade speed, that means a blade tip speed of 36" * pi * 3000 RPMs / 12 in/ft / 60 sec/min = 471.24 fps which could very well be the speed of the object thrown by it.

Yeah... That could hurt...

[TXGunNut]

When I first bought my little 2 acre place I had a little MTD 42" mower and had to keep an extra set of blades on hand. I mowed a couple other places as well so was always "finding" stuff besides the rocks that somehow surfaced from time to time. I've hit everything from baby birds and rabbits to sewer cleanout caps, dog tie-out stakes, sprinkler heads, snakes, hand tools, rope, wire and fire ants, lots of fire ants. Even found a cast iron skillet once, glad the blades missed it! I'd take off one set, replace them with new or repaired blades 2-3 times a year. Mower is gone but still have a stack of blades lying around in case I decide to do a knife project some day. I only mow my place now and have pretty well cleared everything so the blades last longer these days.

[DerekP Houston]

When I first bought my little 2 acre place I had a little MTD 42" mower and had to keep an extra set of blades on hand. I mowed a couple other places as well so was always "finding" stuff besides the rocks that somehow surfaced from time to time. I've hit everything from baby birds and rabbits to sewer cleanout caps, dog tie-out stakes, sprinkler heads, snakes, hand tools, rope, wire and fire ants, lots of fire ants. Even found a cast iron skillet once, glad the blades missed it! I'd take off one set, replace them with new or repaired blades 2-3 times a year. Mower is gone but still have a stack of blades lying around in case I decide to do a knife project some day. I only mow my place now and have pretty well cleared everything so the blades last longer these days.

lol I'm not the only one! I've broken 2 sprinkler heads so far from them not retracting back into the ground fully. My blades can last a good 3-4 sharpenings before they are unbalanced and just nicked up too much to use. Compared to the cost of a new mower picking up 1 each , a qt of oil, filter, sparkplug, and blade is dirt cheap.

[Storydude]

If you figure a 3000 RPM blade speed, that means a blade tip speed of 36" * pi * 3000 RPMs / 12 in/ft / 60 sec/min = 471.24 fps which could very well be the speed of the object thrown by it.

Yeah... That could hurt...

Commercial mowers are in the tip speed around 16,000Feet per min to 18,000. Have to spin blades fast to eat 4+' of grass at 5-6mph.

And that 36" toro has 2 blades. Each 18"

New commercial mowers have overdriven blades. E.G, 4" motor pulley spinning at 3200rpm, going to a 3.5" on the spindles.

[mold maker]

My mowing days were in the mid to late "50s, and paid $.50/hr..
Newer commercial mowers may have 2 blades, but the one I used had a single 30X3.5X3/8" bar with rivet on blades at the ends for a 36" total. After a full day behind that beast, I had to either sharpen or replace the blades for the next day.
After several years they bought a "drag" (flat metal platform with rolled up edges) that you stood/road on. Much later they bought a "Sulky" which was a seat mounted on wheels that I road sitting.
To turn it you applied weight to the handles to raise the front wheels off the ground. It gave you muscles in places you didn't know could hurt.

[John Allen]

I was mowing high brush the other day and had the muffler come off the tractor it went right under the brushhog and of course came out in a 1000 pieces.

[NavyVet1959]

I was mowing high brush the other day and had the muffler come off the tractor it went right under the brushhog and of course came out in a 1000 pieces.

Mow over it a couple more times to destroy the evidence... :)

[OS OK]

Your in rare form today Navy!

[woodbutcher]

:D Hi mold maker.Was that an old Gravely?Those things are like the "Energizer Bunny".They just keep going and going and going.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo