Wrekin lawn roller renovation

[vhgmcbuddy]

I’m starting renovation of a Wrekin lawn roller – its handle is missing and there are traces of green paint just below the handle and on the lozenge with the company details on it. I wonder if anyone can help with details of how the handle should look and how exactly it should be painted.

Many thanks
Val

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[charlie]

An interesting old roller well worth preserving. A google search has found a couple of references to the makers James Clay(Wellington) and Wrekin Foundry
The key to painting is the preparation, rust removal by sand blasting, wire brush or chemical rust removal is the first stage. Before doing this get a colour match to the green paint that remains, this may have faded with time. What the handle should look like is more of a problem. What shape are the holes in the top of the frame? There are several references to James Clay in the archive at MERL (Museum of English Rural Life), it may be worth searching these to see if there is anything showing the roller and what the handle may have looked like. Do any other museums have imformation, eg Black Country museum. The Garden Museum at Lambeth may be another source of information.

[vhgmcbuddy]

The holes in the top plate for the handle are square, and in the bottom plate in the frame (both semi-circular) are round.

[charlie]

If I have understood your description correctly and looking at the photos I would say the handles were round and the two bolts in the photo go through to hold the handles in place, although they may not be the original ones as they appear to be too long. The square holes are for the square under head of bolt.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I too think the handle was round, and would have been about 60cm long – held in place at the centre by the two bolts. You set me thinking with your comment about the bolt length, and I’ve been wondering if in fact the bolt length indicates what the diameter of the handle was. I’ve offered up dowel with varying diameters and I think a handle of about 35mm diameter would need bolts that long. (If I put the top domed metal plate with the square holes directly on top of the dished bottom half with the round holes which is attached to the frame, it makes an ellipse, not a circle so that makes me think there was a gap between them, and in fact that allows for a handle/dowel diameter which looks beefy enough to be strong enough to pull the roller.)

[charlie]

I think you are right about size of handle and how it is attached. Round stair hand rail might be about the right size or it could be a job for someone with a wood turning lathe.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I’m working at a scything weekend at the local National Trust property this weekend, and the green woodworking group attached to the property will be there – so I thought I’d see if I can commission an acquaintance who is a member. Otherwise, I’ll look into a stair hand rail.

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