On 9 Apr 2005 08:46:55 -0700, wrote:


MM wrote:
Having studied pictures of metal-framed levelawns (Google) I decided
to save myself around 80 quid by making one from 2" x 1". I assembled
a rectangle (four pieces) 100cm x 40cm with a cross-bar in the middle
to attach a broom handle to. Corner joints were glued and dowelled
and
flat triangular bracing plates fitted to each corner. The broom
handle
was attached via a door hinge.
[...]
Anyway, if anyone's interested I'll make a photo and whack it up to a
web page.

Good lad! You're my kind of gardener! You could have gone even simpler
with a five- or six-foot length of 6ish x 1 (piece of old floorboard)
with a suitable handle -- rake length, rather than broom length -- in
the middle. This would break the craftsman's heart less when it needs
to be made into something else or (perish the thought!)chucked away.

I was reminded by an earlier message that this thing is rather
improbably called a "lute": perhaps because it accompanies your singing
while you work. (Actually, I've checked the Oxford Dictionary, and it
seems to refer to "skimming", which makes sense: it says Cheshire and
Staffs salt-workers skimmed the brine with a ladle they called a
"loot"; our word appears in OED only as an American usage for a tool,
like the one I describe, used to level the earth floor for making
bricks.) I first saw one being used on the trial grounds at
Aberystwyth.

Yes, I, too, was initially puzzled over the 'lute' moniker. I still
don't know where the term 'levelawn' came from. I just kept banging
phrases into Google, till it eventually came up with tools used on
maintaining golf courses. Someone in an earlier thread mentioned the
term 'levelawn' to get me started. Apparently, a lute is used
primarily when applying top dressing to an already established lawn. I
believe lutes are also used to smooth gravel on the driveways around
posh country houses, and smooth recreational sand areas (playpits?
dressage?).

MM