Congratulations To devans For Making Spring Member Of The Quarter!!

When it comes to the preservation of Gravelys, it's hard to not think of devans who has taken us through some of his journeys resurrecting Gravely machinery and giving them new life. As we have seen, there is no project that is too large or too small for devans as he has the devotion and expertise to restore all things Gravely.

It is with our honor to present devans with this award and it has been a great pleasure to learn a little more about his background and lifestyle as you will see below!

Here are a few threads of interest to visit as well:

http://www.mylawnmowerforum.com/foru...-gravelys.html

http://www.mylawnmowerforum.com/foru...wednesday.html

http://www.mylawnmowerforum.com/foru...wn-roller.html


1. What can you tell us about yourself?

Well I'm 18 years old with 33 years of experience. (that's 51 to the non-math types)I'm also a very big kid at heart. In case you haven't guessed.I'm married to my best friend for so far 32 years with a wonderful daughter and three fantastic grand kids. Two girls and a boy. And a son-in-law that's growing on me.I'm fortunate that while I was growing up I was able to experience many things that I've been able to apply to my love of old iron which I also found a love for at a young age.

I've done farm work, worked in my first step fathers welding shop, then step father number two's mechanical/body shop. All from the ripe old age of 8. I credit this time for starting me on a path to a career in the mechanical field. All these experiences taught me about hard work. At 18 I went to work in a shipyard building nuclear powered submarines. I quickly figured out I had an aptitude for nuclear work.I went after and qualified for everything I could because I have always felt the need to learn anything I could. At one point I took on the role of mechanical instructor and my last few years I was a supervisor in the nuclear repair section. I was there for 24 years.

Stress started taking its toll so the decision was made for a career change. Currently I'm a boiler operator and life couldn't be better. I'm also still a student, learning what I can from anyone willing to give me their time. I learn new things all the time here and at two of the sister forums I also belong to, MTF and SBF and I thank you all for the lessons.

2. Can you describe your property?

My wife and I have an alpaca farm on four acres. We have 20 alpacas. About a third of it is cleared the rest is wooded. I have to maintain the farm. It also gives me a good reason to tinker with the equipment. Win win.Along with the alpacas we have three dogs, two rabbits, some chickens and a pair of ducks.

3. What consists of your fleet?

Primarily I have Gravely machines, three walk behinds and a garden tractor. The WB's are a '63, '73 and an '83. All take various attachments for doing different jobs around the farm. The garden tractor is a '72 816, it also can take various attachments.

4. What do you do for a 9-5 job?
Currently I'm a boiler operator for a state college. The good, the plant is mostly automatic which allows me to bring in projects.The bad, it's not 9-5. There are four operators total, we work in pairs three on, three off, rotating shifts, twelve hour days.

5. What are your first memories of lawn mowers, or what got you started?


More a what got me started. I love working on old iron, making it run great and look good doing it. Working and restoring my gravelys keeps me happy and fills that need. I would love to do this for a living. And let's face it, small machines are cheaper to tinker with than collector cars and I'm not rich.

6. What was your first lawnmower and do you still have it?
A rundown 20” Briggs and Stratton powered push mower hand me down. And no.

7. Reel or rotary type mower and why?

While I love the cut of a reel mower my lawn just isn't good enough to have one so I have cub cadet rotary mower. However, I actually let my alpacas mow my lawn. The cub is used to clean up the lawn where the alpacas won't eat.

8. In a world where money is no object, describe your "perfect" lawnmower.

I never really thought about it but for now I love sitting on my patio with a nice beverage watching the alpacas do their thing.

9. What brought you to MLF and what do you like about it most?

I'd been a member at MTF for a while and found out about MLF. Came for a visit, liked what I saw and signed up.
What do I like the most? The willingness of the members to help others figure out their problem and the overall feeling of the group being one big family.

10. What are your other hobbies?
I build radio controlled scale model boats. Mostly submarines but I do also have some surface craft as well. Yes the submarines do submerge and if I did things right they surface too.
I also enjoy doing things to my truck to make it mine.