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I picked this up recently, it is a yazoo rider with a 12.5hp Wisconsin engine. It is a 60" deck and it is the original engine. Quite a quirky thing and I think it dates to the mid 50s. My plan is to get it up and running and keep it in the collection.

A bit more company for your cow's, these beauty's were in the field next to a small holiday cottage we rented.

As this project is nearing completion Ive decided its finally time to share it. This is one of the reasons why work on G621 has been very slow. Back in April I spotted this early Howard Gem on ebay, the photos below was all I had to go on. There was no serial number visable, but I was hopping I was right in thinking it was one of the short gearbox models (the first 400 made had a shorter gearbox and frame due to the clutch thrust bearing being on the outside rather than submerged in oil.) I made an offer as I felt the buy it now price was to high, and about 15 minutes later my bid was accepted. When it arrived back I found the serial number hidden under the rust and was pleasantly suprised to find it was G206, which makes it the 106th Gem ever produced (production started at G101). Ive been researching Gems for many years and prior to this the lowest number I had seen was G357, so at the present this is the earliest known Gem to exist. Realising how important this example is in the history of Gem's I decided to press on with the restoration. I will upload the photos as and when I have time over the next few days.

Lifes too short be be constantly moaned at with regard to such mundane subjects as " But what good is it " or " Why do want another one " . So i have taken steps to reduce the moans from the wife and purchased her her first authentic vintage hand tool . My hopes were high but not for long . The sudden realisation of the fact that i had given her the perfect ( and easily thrown ) means of anger management dawned . "Let sleeping dogs lie" sprang to mind , even iff they snore whilst doing so ..... But it looks nice after a dip in the electrolosis tank , followed by a quick buff up then a coating of Liberon Iron Paste ( Grapite paste ) to bring it back to life .

hi if its an inertia starter the cog may be stuck on the starter shaft spray the cog with wd40 and try tapping the starter with a hammer as you turn it over failing that pull the starter and see if you can free the cog

Starter bendix sticking? Take the motor off and see if the bendix is free. If not, dismantle it and clean in petrol. Assemble dry. DON'T oil or grease. Is the earth from the starter motor good?

Sounds like the Bendix Gear is not sliding out against the spring tension to engage . The splines probably need a clean and a small amount of Teflon Dry Lube or similar.

Been delivered today ( Saturday ) and they look like they should grip in anything .

It certainly is quirky. You're building up quite a collection, Harry.

This gem is now all but finished, if anyone is interested it will be at tractor world in a couple of weeks time.

I picked this bandsaw up yesterday for a rather cheap price, it works but needs a new blade.. You may also notice the legs are somewhat bent, twisted kicked about a bit.. Sooooo... Out came the grinder, "off with her legs".. Not wanting to have a bench top bandsaw I thought I should give it some legs back made from only the finest scrap steel I could find Back on the ground with the cutty bit bolted back on and a couple of wheels from a WH cutting deck to make moving it around easier.. Once I've rewired it and a new blade is fitted I can make a start building something with this lot... 64ft of pipe that came my way for free

Many years ago i statred off using Mounfields , but even though they use a B&S engine the Mounfields seemed to be plagued with broken rods through the case ? So i moved to Hayters .Using the same B&S engines but no problems ? All i could ever think of was blade timing being different . I am in no way a collector as i buy what i will use , but do like a nice old Suffolk engine for some reason . I think the oldest garden related machine i own and use is the Huffy lawn edger new oil once a year and it just keeps on going .It has an old B&S horizontal crank engine with the pull out tube choke on the carb .Looks the same engine as whats on my Templar rotovator just seems to look a lot older . I think the newely aquired Wolseley 500 with it's vertical pull start maybe older ? .At least engine wise . I do own an odd ball piece of machinery though it is more farm related , A Villiers engined winch on a sled / base plate around 30" long , i got it off a boat at Selby nr York .The guy said it had been a post rammer and he got it to fit as a heavy duty winch , it has a foot pedal that when pressed engages a rubber idler wheel between engine and cable drum .When you take your foot off , the drum lets go and i supose the hammer fell and did it's job on the post .Though i am not certain as modern sewer winches fitted to cable trailers bear a resemblence . So it may have started off on a cable trailer and ended up ramming in fence posts before it ended up on a 60' converted barge , then into my garage .... I just love to hear the sound of older engines ........

Needs a few more trips down south to build up the mileage.

Not me unfortunately. The Disco has just put 250,150 miles on the clock.

Unfortunatly it will be situated within easy reach for her as she actually wanted it , as i recently fitted a new - old cast iron fire place with tile side panels and she wanted it as an ornament to go with the fire companion set i got her , the poker on that is the thing of many a B&W who dunit film .With it's cast pocker with a long sharp spike comming out from it . mmmm thinking about it i think i will cancel my life insurance , just to put her off any idea's she maybe having .

If I gave my wife an iron she wouldn't know what to do with it!! It would make a nice vice fitted anvil as a suggestion to stop it being thrown at you

At a 1/4 mill it's barely run in Norm

Here's my late 1950's wacker plate.

More than probably is deadly in a womans hands ! But at least we can iron out our differences with regards to engines Just hope it's not my head being ironed ......

Heres the photos, not totally happy with the finish on the tool box so this will be redone.

Spent nearly 3 hours today fitting the rear rotor covers. Am a little disappointed with the quality of fit considering how much they cost. Took a lot of fettling to get lined up properly. Even had to resort to taking a grinder to it. Got the final decal from titch fitted and the Brass plate I had made a while ago. The chain was tensioned and instead of oil I used Pecker grease as I have on other Gems, its very messy stuff but saves the risk of leaks.

After the paint had a couple of days to set I started building her back up. With the selector rod refitted and adjusted I'm pleased to report all 3 gears and neutral seem to select. I painted the black bits on the various levers and fitted the closest match to the original handle grips that I could find.

A couple of weeks ago I finaly felt up to doing some more work on the old girl. I fitted a N.O.S oil filter that I obtained a few years ago. The starting handle pivot was freed up by getting it very hot. I also prepped and sprayed most of the small fittings. I hadn't been very happy with finish obtained on the rotor shields etc so these were re rubbed down and given another top coat. One of the missing parts on this Gem as mentioned was the chain cover. Early Gems had plain chain covers, going through my store I had a sound but battered one, so as they are like hens teeth I spent days straightening it and smoothing back the filler.

I lost most of June and over half of July due to a combination of having some time off work and also not enjoying the best of health. However the one thing that I did manage to do is to apply the truly excellent decals that Titch from Machinery Decals sent me. Thankyou so much Titch, they really lift the appearance of the Gem.

Heres the rotor shaft and shields painted.Sorry for the poor quality, they were taken on my phone.

Next up was the rotor shaft. Yet again a new bearing was needed. Most of the blades are a recent replacement however Ive managed to obtain a N.O.S set of genuine Howard blades, rather than the Dowdeswell ones that are available now. Note how the rotorshaft is almost the same as the earlier Howard Junior, rather than the more common gem type. Howard must of been using up old stock on these early machines. I purchased a new set of Rotor shields a couple of years back off Standen Engineering. I paid more for them than I paid for this whole machine! The rear soil flap wasn't used on these early machines and they both needed extensive modifying to look like the correct type, with pieces being let in and the seems being welded up.

I was now up to the end of April. A forklift proved a god send assisting with lining up the engine and gearbox. As you've probably seen in the other photos the gearbox flange was broken. As cast is hard to successfully weld, after recommendations I used J-B Weld to bond it in place. Then after rubbing down and prepping a respray followed. For the first time in nearly a month I actually felt like I was actually making some progress.

An initial assessment revealed that the machine was missing its magneto, silencer, chain cover, it also had the wrong wheels fitted. Luckily I also own the remains to G367,(pictured Below), another very early Gem but sadly this on is far to gone to ever restore, but ive been able to use it for some of the missing parts. After checking the factory records it was revealed that this example was built on 10/12/1941 and dispatched as part of a pair along with G207 to Trewartha Gregory & Dolge Ltd in Cornwall (they are still trading today) via LMS goods rail on the 15/12/1941.