In article .com,
wrote:
In my yard there is a faucet coming up from the ground for a small
garden. I was mowing the lawn this morning and somehow in a moment of
stupidity I turned my mower around above the faucet and CLANG! the
handle is gone. It appears the handle stem that goes down into the
faucet has been cut clean. I'm good at fixing things usually, but when
it comes to plumbing I get nervous. Any suggestions?

Assuming that you have indeed broken the stem off, you will have to
replace the valve.

1) Turn off the water supply. This may be at the meter or elsewhere.
Open some other faucet to relieve any pressure.

2) Remove the old valve. Unscrew or unsolder as appropriate.

3) Take it to a hardware store and get a replacement.

4) Install the new valve, solder or screw on as appropriate. If screw,
clean the threads on the pipe with a wire brush and use teflon tape on
the threads. If solder, clean the pipe with a wire brush while hot,
apply flux and the new valve, run solder into the joint.

5) Turn on water supply.

The above assumes city water supply. If you have a well, adjust as
needed.

If the pipe comes up from the ground, you may want to also remove the
right angle fitting (aka "ell") and add 6 inches or so of pipe to get
the faucet higher and out of the way. Solder or threaded as needed.

Your mower blade likely has a major nick in it, and you may want to fix
or replace the blade.

--
Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L