Frost & Wood Sickle Bar Mower - Oliver, British Columbia - Old Agricultural Equipment on Waymarking.com

Frost & Wood Sickle Bar Mower is on display at the entrance to the Quinta Ferreira Estate Winery. In addition to this mower there is a well preserved horse drawn wood wagon and a McCormick Deering sickle bar mower.

Though somewhat unfamiliar with some farm equipment this one is obvious to its intended use. Complete with the sickle blade, it is interesting to note that this blade is about 6 feet in length which was fairly standard on most Frost & Wood early mowers. I think this might be model 8, as the seat raises well above the axel.

Frost & Wood was the first Canadian manufacture of agricultural implements. In 1839 Ebenezer Frost moved from Vermont to Smith's Falls that year to found a blacksmithy and foundry. They manufactured plow tips, stoves, and plows. In 1846 he and Alexander Wood formed a joint company. After 116 years of serving farming communities across Canada they went out of business.

Sickle Mower
Sickle mowers, also called reciprocating mowers, bar mowers, sickle-bar mowers, or finger-bar mowers, have a long (typically six to seven and a half feet) bar on which are mounted fingers with stationary guard plates. In a channel on the bar there is a reciprocating sickle with very sharp sickle sections (triangular blades). The sickle bar is driven back and forth along the channel. The grass, or other plant matter, is cut between the sharp edges of the sickle sections and the finger-plates.

The bar rides on the ground, supported on a skid at the inner end, and it can be tilted to adjust the height of the cut. A spring-loaded board at the outer end of the bar guides the cut hay away from the uncut hay. The so-formed channel, between cut and uncut material, allows the mower skid to ride in the channel and cut only uncut grass cleanly on the next swath. These were the first successful horse-drawn mowers on farms and the general principles still guide the design of modern mowers"
Source: Wikipedia

"Quinta Ferreira Estate Winery

Our winery is owned and operated by John and Maria Ferreira; both born in Portugal, immigrated to Canada with their families at a young age. We purchased this estate in 1979 as an orchard where we grew cherries, peaches and apples. Coming from a Portuguese heritage our passion of wine led us to convert our orchard into a vineyard after 20 years in production and packaging of fruit. The conversion of fruit to wine was done over a three-year period with the first merlot and chardonnay grapes being planted in 1999, additional varietals followed."
Source: Quinta Ferreira