[AT] sickle grinder

[Ronald L. Cook]

Mike,
	I am going to pick up a sickle grinder someday.  I have had my eye on 
it for awhile.  Smooth, sharp sections is what is necessary for grass 
mowing.  That is the only place the grinder would come into play. 
Serrated sections are not meant to be ground and it probably does little 
good.  They are best in stem type mowing, such as alfalfa, clover, 
weeds, etc.  The sickle in register and properly down on good ledger 
plates and pointed guards make them mow nice.  Then you and I go mow 
road ditches and there goes the sections and ledger plates and the 
occasional guard.<g>  Nothing looks any better than a nicely trimmed up 
road shoulder, however.
	Around here, the sickle mowers are just about a thing of the past. 
There are many new snazzy machines for mowing anymore.  If you can 
afford them.  I just use an old A John Deere with a No.8 seven foot 
sickle mower.  I don't even get upset when it plugs up like I did when I 
was a youngster.  Just something relaxing about doing it with old 
equipment that is up in shape to work properly.  I think they call it 
therapy. <g>

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

Mike Sloane wrote:

> 
> 
> Larry D. Goss wrote:
> 
>> FWIW, I remember that thread about the sickle bar knife grinder, Mike.
>> I thought of that as I "kicked" one on the basement floor of the
>> "Antique Warehouse" in Goodland, Kansas, this past Friday.  I thought
>> about buying it because "someone will need it" but the Jeep was already
>> full of family hand-me-downs that we loaded up out in Colorado, so I let
>> it go.  If anyone is traveling I-70, the antique mall is right next to
>> the grain elevator on 17th street, and the grinder is down the stairs
>> and to the right.
> 
> When I think about grinding the knives ("sections") on a sickle bar, I 
> really wonder why anyone would bother. In my case, the sections get 
> broken or badly notched long before they get dull. (But I am trimming 
> along roadsides and around ponds/ditches, not cutting hay.) Using a 
> rivet press, I can punch out a section and spin a new one in in less 
> time that it would take to fiddle with a grinder. And sections are still 
> pretty cheap. I seem to lose more of the old IH guards, due to bending 
> the ends, than I do sections, but the new generic guards seem to hold up 
> pretty well (even if they are painted green instead of red :-) and are 
> much thicker).
> 
> One minor problem is that I lost the outboard skid (and the support 
> bracket) from my IH 22 (Cub) mower last summer while clearing alongside 
> the road. I went back to try to find it where I thought it came off, but 
> I guess it buried itself in the rocks and debris. If anyone has one they 
> are willing to sell, please contact me off-line at 
> <mikesloane at verizon.net>.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mike
> 
>>
>> Larry
>>
> 
> Mike Sloane
> Allamuchy NJ
> mikesloane at verizon.net
> Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
> 
> He that is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell 
> and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death. -Thomas Paine, 
> philosopher and writer (1737-1809)
> 
>