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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Aerator or scarifier?

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I have the chance to buy a very nice B14 from 1981. More modern than my current B14 but in excellent condition, clean, serviced and with all the original accessories.

The deal breaker for me is whether an included attachment is an aerator or scarifier. Does anybody know which the attached is? I’m only familiar with issuing a hollow time aerator and not sure if this is one of those which put slits into lawn.

Many thanks.

sawleyman Tue, 16/07/2019

Attached

sawleyman Wed, 17/07/2019

It seems uploading images via mobile does not work for me, so trying again now with a desktop.

hortimech Wed, 17/07/2019

It is neither, there are actually two attachments, the wheels replace the front rollers when cutting longish grass and the other is a grass comb/rake to try and make the the grass stand upright to be cut (there should also be a couple of springs).

A scarifier is used to pull out thatch and moss and can use spring tines or star discs

An aerator is something that penetrates the ground to allow air into the roots, this again uses tines, which can be solid, hollow or slitting

sawleyman Wed, 17/07/2019

Thank you Hortimech. I understand the role of both items as I use manual versions of them, I'm just unsure of their adaptation for lawnmowers -- I couldn't determine the function from that picture as there were no springs and it didn't seem sharp enough for aeration.

So the rake attachment is a new one to me. Would it sit in front of the rollers and work trhough the grass blades before the cylinder hits them? Would be very useful actually if so.

 

hortimech Wed, 17/07/2019

The rake actually sits just behind the front roller, but yes, the tines drag through the grass, hopefully raising it upright for the cylinder blades to cut it