OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers Scott Bonnar Supercut advice

Hi members

Looking to purchase my first reel mower soon and have been doing a lot of research over the last couple weeks. Clearly the 45 would be the obvious choice but here in Melbourne they seem to be pretty rare or have been restored and are well over 1K, which is way more than an average punter like myself is prepared to pay.

I have come across a few supercuts thought and with a more affordable price tag its slowly becoming a more realistic option.

I love the look of them and the size as well but the only thing stopping me going pulling the trigger on one is lack of available parts and the weight.

Any supercut owners out there?

Would love to hear any opinions or advice.

Thanks

Hello Peter

In context, the Supercut was always a professional mower,
but some were made in domestic sizes. They quickly disappeared when
Scott Bonnar understood the new post-war environment.

The Supercuts remains the best statement of a reel mower built
in Australia in the 20th century.

Parts are an issue - but wearing parts should be readily available.

The main thing is to match the machine to your lawn.
A large Supercut will not work on a small lawn.

I would like to address your comment on weight.
The Supercuts represented the new school of thinking that
manifested post-war. They were deliberately made lighter
by extensive use of alloys.

Please keep us informed as to progress.

The more Supercuts saved, the better ... in my view.

Cheers
-------------------
Jack

HI Jack

Thanks for information about the supercut.
I do have some follow up questions about the SC, not sure your able to answer them.

Regarding the availability of parts, id always felt that with enough persistence and a little patience you could eventually find replacement parts
but my biggest concern of all was trying to find a new reel if i needed one.
Most SC I've seen don't seem to have much meat left on the reels and with little experience to date with reel mowers its hard to know how much actual use they have left in them,
or how much metal is taken off in a typical sharpening.
Does anyone actually make new replacement reels for the SC?

Also are there any key indicators i could look for to identify one of the "post war SC models?
I have seen some with what appears to be an aluminium chain cover but i haven't noticed any other component that appeared be aluminium.

thanks.

G'day Peter.G
Yes, that's my view with the Supercut.
This was a brilliant and stable design over decades.

This may be less-alarming than you think.

I have seen [and owned] reels a century old - with life in them!

If you have 10 mm of blade above the collars, webs, or spiders,
this reel will easily exceed your life span for regular [u]domestic[/u ]use.
[There is no single naming convention on what we call the things that hold the spirals].

At this stage I would like to add a caveat.
Choose carefully your reel and bottom blade re-sharpener.
The majority will act as agents.

Good grinding practice will require the least removal
of metal possible.

The second caveat is about method.
Older grind machines were adjustable in an undesirable way.

You want a grind parallel with the centre reel spindle.
Second, you want a surface grind of the top and front face of
the bottom blade. Do not accept un-grounds of pre-grounded
bottom blades. That is a big No-No! They need grinding too!

I would like to comment on weight.
Weight should not be an issue at all!

I have said that SB Supercuts were introduced post-war with a new
design philosophy that rejected the pre-war 1 and inter-war view.

Cast iron frames were always suitable for domestic use.
Golf greens machines were made lighter to embrace the
new understanding of golf and bowling green grass compaction.

I hope this helps.

Jack

Hi Jack

Thanks again for all your advice.
If I could ask one final question regarding the Supercut ?
Are you able to explain to me the history and the reasoning
behind the belt and the chain driven supercut models.
(Coming off the engine that is)
Was one an improvement over the other and if not do you have preference?

Cheers

G'day Peter
This is not an easy topic...
I am ignorant enough not to know about belt-drive Supercuts.

But, the same issue arose with the domestic Model 33.

The argument - from my perspective - was all about reel protection.
Belts offered shock protection that chains or gears never could.

With the 33, the downside was the mixing of belts and chains in the one case.
Chains love oil; belts do not.

Any help in explaining your topic would be helpful here.
It's a great question.

Cheers
-------------------
Jack

In the Supercuts, Belts were generally used on the Electrics, but yes some petrol powered units seemed to have belts fitted. I've never been able to work out any common denominator between the two.

Cheers,
BB.

The reel protection argument seem totally logical to me and in addition to that I would have thought a belt would be a lot cheaper to replace than a chain and sprocket.?

I've always been of the opinion that belts and pulleys are somewhat cheaper to manufacture than chains and sprockets and are generally quieter running.

But in the case of the Supercut there were so many different configurations made so as to suit a particular client that SB would've made whatever you wanted within the budget range. The Supercut was probably their most adaptable machine made as it was a Professional unit that was also sold as semi domestic, thus the smaller sizes produced eg. 14 inch variant.

Cheers,
BB.