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Best mower for cutting old graveyard

Hi all, I have been offered a contract for weekly spring / summer cut of a smallish size graveyard, >5000m2 very old and some very uneven land with graves currently covered in grass due to neglect of previous incumbent. Any suggestions on what type of mower would work best, they don't require grass collection, I was thinking of a petrol howler as i5 would be easy to move around and less chance of damaging a grave. Appreciate any advice you can offer, thanks in advance.

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  • Heading should be BEST 👍 bloody autocorrect 😡

  • Hi, I do one monthly using a Toro 22". They are quite light and manoeuvrable for a good size mower and the side eject is useful. They are not everyone's cup of tea but I like them 

    • Thanks for that, it looks a right pain in the a@@e but good money and regular. I guess you get quicker  as you get to know the best route and areas to go with caution.

    • Is this what you have or similar, was looking at these, don't want to go too expensive just in case a catch the blade on anything 🤪 https://www.ronsmith.co.uk/toro-recycler-20944-petrol-lawnmower.html

       

      Toro Recycler 20944 Lawnmower - Ron Smith & Co
      A petrol pedestrian lawnmower with a 46 cm cutting width and 3-in-1 mowing function for small to medium lawns. UK delivery or collection from Worcest…
      • Almost, mine is a 22" (53cm I think) with a side eject, usually around the £550 mark.

  • PRO

    Graveyards will take about 5 x longer than you think and beat the life out of any machine. Mowing is often awkward as the graves arent in rows or at standard spacings, Allow for strimming or weedkilling (if allowed) around headstones. The choice of machine round here for years was the Hayter Hayterette with swinging blades - not sure I would want to push one round 5000m2 (approx 1.25 acres) though!

  • Very lucky to be offered weekly cuts for a Cemetary.

    We had one for years of around 6,000sq.m. and were given 6 cuts a year, spaced as we thought best, so we would use 3 cuts April - June and 3 cuts July-October and it was a struggle at times.  We used Hayterette with swinging blades which 'sythed' longer grass than the lift blade machines.  It was a full day for two men.

    Once a week cuts would be easy, but you would still need a lightweight machine.  We had a Clippo for years, which was very robust, manouverable and had sideway adjusting handles, which were useful.

     

    • Thanks for that, they only want someone there three hours a week or so so want it cut in quadrants so to speak on a rotational basis, have to say the feedback and responses have been excellent. What a community 👍🥃

      • As it's so neglected it sounds to me like it needs a one-off massive session to sort it out first and then that regular maintenance might be feasible. The grave yard contractor here is one guy on a zero turn ride on plus another guy strimming. That is in a badly laid out church yard also but hand mowing must be too slow to make the low amount paid worthwhile, the finish is not great but having it done to a high standard would cost a fortune i guess

  • Andrew , we used to cut 5 churchyards, it's very difficult to make a decent margin, hope you've priced it we'll! 

    We used a combination of an old ride on side discharge, a an old wheeled Honda pro and strimmer, I certainly wouldn't buy a decent mower as inevitably you'll hit buried headstones etc. The Honda pro has a blade designed to bend if you hit anything so doesn't right the machine off by with a damaged crankshaft, buy a cheap one off eBay .

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