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SEEKONK - Amidst the dozens of idle mowers, the pile of belts, bent blades, motors and another thousand items that fill this whirring shop, Sylvester the cat peeks out from around the door at the kind, warm man who saved him.

"Somebody drove by here and threw him out the window. I got his license number and I turned him in," said Tim Wall, owner and repairman extraordinaire of Tim's Repair Shop, which has been a fixture containing hundreds of fixtures on Route 152 since the early 1980s. "The guy got community service and Sylvester is doing just fine."

A kind act and a kind word are also fixtures at Wall's popular shop. The Seekonk native is 66 but looks at least a decade younger. He could never count how many lawn mowers he's tuned up, fixed, sharpened or thrown out over the many hot summers that have seen a constant stream of customers stop by.

Wall is the only guy around who still sharpens the blades of wooden, hand-pushed mowers; the kind your grandfather had, before the age of plastic and thin stamped metal took over, "pure junk," as Wall calls them.

"You never know who is going to walk through that door," Wall said. "I'm just so fortunate to do what I like to do and make a living at it." SUN CHRONICLE: How long have you been doing this?

TIM WALL: Lawn mowers? Oh, God, it's over 30 years. I worked construction first, to put my kids through school. I consider myself very fortunate that I can make a living with my hands. I meet very nice people here, from all walks of life.

Inevitably, especially in summer, at some point, someone will need to have something fixed. When I first started, because of zoning and building inspections, they wouldn't let me put a sign up. That's when I started putting stuff (a lawn mower and other advertising items) on top of the fence (laughs).

SC: Did you cut grass as a kid?

WALL: I did for a while, but when I was a kid, no one would pay a kid to cut lawns (laughs).

SC: What was your first job, then?

WALL: Weeding carrots and beets on a farm for 10 cents a row, and that row looked like it was 200 feet long!

SC: Beyond mowers, what are the kinds of things do you fix?

WALL: I tell customers, 'I can fix anything but a broken heart.'

SC: So what have been the most challenging things you've had to repair? WALL: They come in with a lot of old stuff; stuff you've only seen in a magazine, but never actually seen, know what I mean? Usually, the people who bring this stuff in are the same age as the machines. They bought it new.

Or, it's the third generation of the family and they say, 'I don't care how much it costs to fix. I want to fix it.' How can you put a price on that? You never know who is going to walk through that door.

SC: Do you slow down in winter, well after lawn mower season?

WALL: In winter, I change motors, work on backhoes, Bobcat loaders, trucks. Work is work. That's the way I look at it. I've never taken a week's vacation in my whole life, but I'm actually going to do it this year. Really, for the first time.

SC: What's the best tip you can give someone to preserve their mower?

WALL: I tell them three things when they pick it up, 'Don't let anybody borrow it. Don't hit anything. And don't put water in it.' They leave containers outside out of neglect or casualness and water gets in with the gas.

SC: What's the worst broken thing you have ever seen?

WALL: (Points to a collection of bent blades). Every one of those blades tells a story. Things grow so fast, especially at this time of year. Bang, they hit something in the lawn and they hate it. But if it wasn't for people breaking things, I'd be out of business.

SC: Mr. Wall, how long are you going to do this?

WALL: Until my wife is ready to retire. She's younger than me. I can see myself being 70 years old and still doing this.

SC: So, has the lawn mower business changed a lot in 30 years?

WALL: I consider myself very fortunate to be born and brought up in the time I was. I never thought I'd see what I've seen. There were a lot of positives and a lot of negatives, but I've gotten to see it. I didn't think I'd live long enough to see all of it.

(Points to a plastic push mower). Look at this, plastic and tin. Junk stuff. I tell people, 'Go to a yard sale and find one of these with a wooden handle. I'll sharpen it, and it will be cutting grass for many years after you and I are gone.'