I’ve not done anything to my front lawns, other than mow the grass. This year (2022), I thought I would invest some time in trying to get them looking better without the weeds and moss, by the way, I’m certainly no lawn expert!
After treating the lawn with a moss and weed solution and after scarifying and aerating, I needed to level out the surface of the lawn by using a Top Dressing comprising of a sand and soil mix in a 70:30 ratio.
Their are a number of tools which can be used to spread and level the lawn, these are a Drag Mat (or variant), and a Lawn Lute.
The cost of a manufactured Lawn Lute can be well over £100, so I decided to make my own.
The tools needed were:
- Welder
- 3.2mm 6013 Welding Rods
- Angle Grinder – Metal Cutting Disc
- Tape Measure
- 5.3m of 25mm x 25mm x 3mm Mild Steel Angle Iron
- 2.2m 25mm Galvanized Conduit
- 25mm Galvanized Threaded Coupling
The construction was fairly straightforward, once the angle iron was cut to length, the outer frame was welded and then the internal cross pieces were added.
The cross pieces are welded so that the ‘V’ is on the inside, meaning the ‘sharp’ edge is in contact with the ground when in use.
The hinge was made by using a small length of angle iron with the ends cut to allow a flap to be formed, this was then bent over and welded, 6.5mm hole was drilled in each end to the hinge and this was then lined up the two other lengths of angle iron which sit on-top of the cross pieces.
Once all ‘square’ everything was welded into place, the last step was to weld a 25mm coupling onto the hinge, as these are galvanized I needed to grind off this coating due to the fumes when welding.
The handle is a 2.2m length of 25mm galvanized electrical conduit which screws into the coupling when needed, but unscrews for easy storage.
The cost of construction was £44
- Welding rods (I did buy a big box for other projects) – £22
- Angle Iron – £12
- Cutting discs – £10
- Coupling and conduit already had
If you do zoom in, please don’t crucify me for my poor welding 🙂
