Granite State Lawnmower Wrench

[rusty]

Don't ya just love a tool that tells you exactly what it is for?
(Tho, perhaps, not which model....)

[Stoney]

I love lawnmower wrenches.

[Wrenchmensch]

Granite State lawnmower wrenches have maybe lasted longer than the mowers. As a kid in the 1940s, lawnmowers were important according to my family's values, e.g. at age 9 I was assigned lawn mowing responsibilities, using an old style maple-handled cast steel mower.  My Dad finally bought a yellow Clemson mower which was the best hand-powered mower I ever used.

That said, has anybody ever heard of F. & N. Lawn Mower Company, or their products? They left behind at least two wrenches as proof of their existence. The smaller 5 1/2" wrench's OE is 1/2-inch, and the larger 7 3/4" wrench's OE opening is 5/8- inch.  The larger wrench has a Williams "Diamond W" boss on its backside.

 Are there any different F. & N.  wrenches out there?

[Stoney]

Wrenchmensch I think I have a F.N. pony mower.  I look tomorrow.  If I do I'll post pics.

[rusty]

For what seems to have been a fairly large concern, there aren't many pictures L: (

"F. & N. Lawn Mower Company.—Richmond has a world-wide reputation as a lawn mower manufacturing center. Finley Newlin commenced the manufacture of lawn mowers in 1887 and conducted the business until Nov. 1, 1895, when the present incorporated company was organized, with J. M. Gaar president, Howard Campbell vice-president, D. G. Reid treasurer, and J. M. Lontz secretary. The business has been successful and the output now goes to all civilized countries of the world."

Their big claim to fame seems to have been self adjusting blades that self sharpen, so the poor slob using the lawnmower doesn't have to keep adjusting the bearing spacing on the mower every week...

[Wrenchmensch]

Thanks, Rusty.  the information on the F&N Lawnmower was interesting to this former lawnmower connoisseur. As I reflect back on my career as a boy lawnmower operator, it seems to me that Richmond, Indiana was an improbable sourcing location for local Schenectady lawnmower dealers. The cast steel lawnmower first in service at our house was probably made somewhere in New York State, e.g. anywhere north of Manhattan's five boroughs.

The story on hand-powered lawnmowers in the late 1930s was that there must have been hundreds of lawnmower manufacturers throughout the Northeast, South, and Midwest. Most of these have probably since failed, don't you think?  The only people that buy these mowers today around here seems to be the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, and one or two other Anabaptist religious groups. 

[rusty]

>Richmond, Indiana was an improbable sourcing location for local

Yes...and no...

The reasons why it makes sense are convoluted tho. The iron wan't in indiana, the iron was in the great lakes states, iron ore is half rocks, so you build steel mills where the iron is, but for processing the iron into other things, the transportation is more important, so you build the rolling mills in indiana where the railroad tarifs are equal going both east and west.

And where you have a rolling mill, you have cheap sheet metal, so you build your stamping mills there also. And lawnmowers are 90% stamped steel parts....

There were lawnmower companies all over the place, a few of them failed, but oddly, I found most of them got bought by other lawnmower companies, untill there were just a couple left, some of which remain, tho they make gas lawnmowers these days....

(I wonder if the Amish do in fact have hand lawnmowers, a mown lawn is kind of a vanity thing, and a goat does the same thing and you can eat it afterwards...the Amish are very practical...)

[Wrenchmensch]

We live in Amish country, and it is a commonplace experience to see younger Amish women mowing their front lawns with hand mowers on Saturdays in their bare feet.  They also sweep their driveways in their bare feet on Saturdays. Other women, in the Amish homes, do the laundry on Saturday mornings and hang it out on long clotheslines to dry.

[amertrac]

 My Dad finally bought a yellow Clemson mower which was the best hand-powered mower I ever used.

clemson lawn mowers were made in middletown ny about 20 miles south of me. they were the biggest mfg plant around here along with star expansion who made hack saw blades,also several shoe factories .there was a major highway( ny 17) and rwo railroads ( 0 & w) ontario and western and erie railroad. boy did a moment of remberance just hit me   lol   bob w.

[Wrenchmensch]

Bob,

You didn't say whether or not you had used a Clemson mower.  They were 75% easier to push for those of us who still had to reach 100 pounds in weight!

Route 17...  I remember driving to New York City and back from Ithaca, NY on Route 17.  A well-off fraternity brother had an Austin-Healey that had been prepared for Italy's Mille Miglia road race. It was loud, with two tailpipes coming out under the left-hand door. You could hear that car two or three blocks away in New York City.  For me, it was an experience in learned covetousness.  Some years later I bought a new Series BJ-8 Healey. It would do 130 mph on a straight road, but was manifestly unreliable on curves, wet roads, and icy roads. As a dependable commuter car, it was a flop.  I parted with the  Healey after two years.  I believed at that time, as I do today, that the Austin-Healey was a perfect example of 1930's vintage automotive engineering with beautiful body panels.

[Branson]

>It would do 130 mph on a straight road, but was manifestly unreliable on curves, wet roads, and icy roads.

That was my experience with the Austin Healy 6000.  Broke loose from the road with no warning.  I decided that my mother's Corvair was a lot safer, back when I was 17.

[Wrenchmensch]

Branson:

Coincidentally, when I sold the Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III, I bought a new 1969 Corvair 140 HP convertible, with a manual top, 4-speed manual transmission.  I also found it much more roadworthy than the Healey.  It was a bit slower (115 mph). I had 2 problems with the Corvair. The first  was that it burned out its exhaust valves guides.  Seems I should have used Sunoco 260 instead of top grade Amoco.  The second problem was that it tended to track "ruts" left in hot asphalt by trucks on hot summer days on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  This came as a surprise the first time it happened.

[Papaw]

Had an MGA that was slow but reliable except for the "Prince of Darkness" electrics. Those narrow track vehicles were not made for the old asphalt highways at all.

[Branson]

Now that you mention it, I remember the Prince of Darkness electrics!  My first car was a 1954 Sunbeam-Talbot.  Also, nobody I knew then had Whitworth wrenches.  What a mess trying to fix anything.

[johnsironsanctuary]

I drove 40 miles into downtown London in a 1935 MG PA that I had owned for two days. (1966) I made the trip with a piece of sewing thread attached to the points on the SU fuel pump. I pulled the thread with my finger to make the points open and close. This was an epic piece of multi tasking. Pulse the points, drive on the wrong side of the busy streets, find your way through London, shift with your left hand, double clutch and look for the SU repair depot. Thankfully, I found the repair depot, got a fuel pump and didn't hit anything.