Me And My Push Mower
A little bit of history…
When we moved into our new home in the late ’90s I used to cut the lawn using my Dad’s old electric mower - a Qualcast something or other. It was old, blunt and rather wobbly and sort of tore at the grass rather than cut it.
For whatever reason I’d always fancied an old fashioned push mower so about 3 or 4 years ago I started to look around for one. I’d decided that I wanted an old one rather than a new one though thinking back I can’t recall why that was!
After much fruitless searching, by chance I stumbled upon an advert in a copy of Loot and a chap was offering a used push mower. We didn’t live close to each other so we met up in a road outside Warrington. The chap was offering an old, sturdy Ransomes Ajax mower and was asking £50 for it. I started to haggle when he pulled out his trump card …he had a second Ransomes mower in the boot and would let me have both for £80! He twisted my arm and I handed over my money. It would have been a perfect deal but for the fact there was only one grassbox.
The photo on the homepage is one of those Ransomes and I’ve used it since to mow my lawns. It’s a lovely, sturdy mower and cuts my (not great quality) lawns well. It’s simple to use with no cable to look out for or cable to pull-start. The only downside is the split steel roller on the back as it’s rather heavy - todays models are more user friendly of course!
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5 Responses to “Me And My Push Mower”
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The ransom ajax 12″ mower is a phenomenal mower and as you have mentioned it’ll mow ropey lawns pretty well leaving them looking good. Mow the lawn a few times with one of these and look after the lawn and it turns into a very good lawn. This is an amazing bit of machinery and the weight of the thing because of the roller is an asset rather than an issue. I mow a cricket pitch with mine and have to walk 300 yards carrying the mower to get there, but it is so worth it - check out my blog.
Hi Dave
Thanks for commenting. You’ve got yourself a lovely mower there!
I’ll keep an eye on your blog.
Ha ha, my blog and my illicit mowing of the nearby virtually unused field is coming in for some sharp criticism from the blokes that use the website “Pitchcare.com”. Needless to say they’re all professional green-keepers and they cannot comprehend the fact that I mow a little bit of a football pitch in order that my kids and the local kids on the estate can play a game of cricket. The people that own/rent the field hardly ever use it - maybe 7-10 times over the whole of the winter for football training and the rest of the year it’s not used but they still cut it once a fortnight. When we use it through the summer the people that own/rent the field use the gym that’s also on the site and not once have they ever stopped us playing cricket or have ever come over and asked “Who cuts the wicket and can you tell them to stop doing so because it’s vandalism”. The club is a boys club set up to get boys playing sports and away from vandalism etc, so whether they put up with my illicit mowing because they realise that my agenda is similar to theirs - I’m not sure, but the pitchcare blokes are not happy!
Yeah you’re right it’s an amazing mower and over the winter I’m hoping to give it a bit of a clean up and new coat of paint, oiling and greasing. To think my Father in Law found it dumped in his alleyway and walked past it for several days before he decided that he’d take it in and look at it. He then used it over a summer but decided the cut was too short and was detrimental to his lawn. At the beginning of the summer he offered it to me just after I’d bought a qualcast panther, so I didn’t take up his offer. It then went out the back of his house for the bin and has sat there for the last 4 months and fortunately they didn’t take it. Then recently he mentioned it again for some reason and this time I was round his house and had a look. As soon as I saw it and the fact that it looked as though the cutting length was massively variable I took it and what a result!
hi can u give me some guidence in as ti grease and oil my 2 ransomes ajax im new to this. thanks garry
Hi Garry
Good to hear from another ransomes owner!
erm, to be honest, I’ve never oiled mine. The actual cyclinder rotates in ball bearing races and the gears are on the side behind the metal cover.
I’ll have to look into it myself.
Any other readers offer any guidance?