Hand Powered Reel Mowers - good bad, what are your thoughts

[Laz]

I am thinking of purchasing a reel mower (a Fiskar Momentum). I currently am using a Toro rotary mower. My lawn isn't large - it takes me about 1 & 1/2 hours to mow the front and back yards with 2 passes. I imagine that with a push mower, if would take a little longer and require a bit more muscle. From the research I have done on the web, it sounds as if this is a good mower and I can purchase it at Lowe's for about 200$. My biggest concern is the type of grass - I have St Augustine which can be tough on a push mower.

Anyone have any experience with push mowers? What are your thoughts? Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Chimensch]

I haven't used a push mower since I was a kid in the Middle Ages. It's certainly the healthy, ecological and tightwad choice but I hate mowing the lawn, so anything that takes longer wouldn't attract me. But mowing the lawn made me a scientist and philosopher. It taught me the true meaning of relativity. I can explain it to you with this "thought experiment": imagine that an observer on another planet, say Mars, is looking down at the earth through his telescope and he sees two homeowners mowing their lawns. To the objective observer on Mars, one lawn is twice as big as the other and takes twice as long to mow, but to each homeowner, his lawn seems to be infinitely big and to take forever to mow. That's relativity. Do you know the difference between a homeowner and a farmer? They both prepare the soil, plant, fertilize and harvest but, at the end, the farmer has a crop to sell and the homeowner has waste he has to pay the city to take a away. Better than buying a push mower, why don't you make a really big patio?

 

[Laz]

I did do some gardening for the first time this past year and have planted a pomegranate and avocado tree. Living in Los Angeles area I see enough cement and man made structures to appreciate the bit of green I have.

 

[Laz]

As far as push mowers goes, it is one of the heavier ones. I am not all that mechanically inclined and my current mower probably doesn't have much life left in it. I am hoping that I can learn how to take care of a push mower.

You're right, I need to check into the sharpening procedure.

 

[King Bongo]

I used a push mower at my place r the past few years, different make/model than the one you are looking at. It did do a good job on the lawn and was much more environmentally friendly. My concern, and this may just be my area, was getting it sharpened. So definitely look in to that issue before you purchase yours. Otherwise, I have no real complaints.

 

[Laz]

Did either of you have St Augustine grass?

Apparently it can be a problem for push mowers. In reading reviews of the above model some with St Augustine said it was great, while others complained that the grass was too hard to cut. I may have to look at the return policy and give it a try. I hate to spend money on something that just can't do the job properly.

 

[jzono1]

Did you consider a battery powered electric mower? They handle thick & sturdy grass well, with almost no need for maintenance. You only need to clean it every now & then, and charge the battery after each use.

Lawn mowing with a silent mower is much more enjoyable than it is with a normal gasoline powered mower. With the two lawns I cut every now & then, I use either a John Deere JS63, or a Bosch Rotax 37li. The big gasoline mower is an efficient tool, but it's noisy & heavy - nothing like the featherweight electric one.

 

[HCSchluge]

I haven't used one since like the 60's when I was a kid. They work really well if you keep a couple things in mind.

- Mow OFTEN. You do not want to try to shove that thing through 6" of growth.
- Before you mow, make sure to clear your lawn of ALL debris - rocks, sticks and even twigs. These things will get stuck in the blade and will stop you cold. On top of that they will dull your blade.

When I was a kid, my next door neighbor was retired and repaired various lawn mowers for some extra cash. I used to hang out in his barn watching him all the time. Learned a lot from him. Anyway, he had special tools and grinders and whatnot to hone the blades for both manual and powered reel type lawn mowers. The one thing I wonder about modern reel mowers is blade maintenance. Not a trivial thought. The blade on a reel type operates more like a pair of scissors. The edges actually slice against a static bar to cut the grass. And once a season or so the blades need a honing. There aren't too many places that have the right equipment to hone reel mowers anymore.

I see from the advertisement that the blade is self honing. Um ok, as long as you never hit a rock or even a small twig you should be fine.

I have been wondering about these as well so if you get one, please post back with your experience. Thanks!!

 

[Shave Cave Dweller]

I just got one this past spring and they are NOTHING like the old rotary mowers our grampa's used. SWMBO works in hardware and told me they have twice as many barrings now than in the old day.

I really enjoy it. It's a way for me to get a little more exercise in. It's a lot like shaving though, multiple passes are required for a BBSL (Baby Butt Smooth Lawn).

 

[AlanL]

Did you consider a battery powered electric mower? They handle thick & sturdy grass well, with almost no need for maintenance. You only need to clean it every now & then, and charge the battery after each use.

Lawn mowing with a silent mower is much more enjoyable than it is with a normal gasoline powered mower. With the two lawns I cut every now & then, I use either a John Deere JS63, or a Bosch Rotax 37li. The big gasoline mower is an efficient tool, but it's noisy & heavy - nothing like the featherweight electric one.

+1 on electric. When my last gas mower gave up the ghost, I accepted an old electric from a friend. (Except for my razor ) I've gone electric in all my outdoor tools: lawn mower, snow blower, hedge clipper, chain saw. The upside: no maintenance, and they always start. The power of each is limited, that's true, so I just have to be sure not to let things get out of hand.

As jzono said, an electric is lighter, but if you really want light weight, go with a cord instead of batteries, so you're not pushing around an extra hundred pounds of lead. A cord isn't as much a hassle as you might think, it just requires new habits in your mowing pattern; it's sort of like vacuuming. But this isn't really an option if you have to mow more than a couple hundred feet from an electrical outlet.

Other advantages of electric: no exhaust to inhale, no running out of gas, quieter, no oil, cheaper to run, easier to store (doesn't have to be upright), and will last a long, long time, etc.

 

[gaseousclay]

when my wife and I bought our house we decided we wanted to try and be more environmentally friendly, so we purchased a Scott's push mower. the first year was fine but our yard has slopes so the grass was often uneven after finishing the lawn. It's also more physically exhausting and I decided that summer that it wasn't worth the sweat to push this thing around and have a crappy looking yard. so, I did my research and wound up buying a cordless Ryobi 42v electric mower from Home Depot and it's paid for itself and then some. It has power, it's self-propelled, it's fairly quiet compared to gas mowers, it cuts well, the battery lifts out and it holds its charge pretty good. not to mention I don't have to worry about gas, oil or any other messy liquids to get the thing running. do yourself a favor and ditch the push mower and get an electric.

 

[King Bongo]

Did either of you have St Augustine grass?

Apparently it can be a problem for push mowers. In reading reviews of the above model some with St Augustine said it was great, while others complained that the grass was too hard to cut. I may have to look at the return policy and give it a try. I hate to spend money on something that just can't do the job properly.

Sorry Laz, no experience with this St.Augustine grass, and don't really know what type of grass I have. I do know its green, that's about it. Good Luck!

 

[craig87c]

My parents had St. Augustine grass. I can't imagine using anything on it but a big gasoline powered mower. That stuff gets thick in the summer! Plus all those little shooters everywhere. Brings back memories of cutting the grass almost twice a week in the summer.

 

[Laz]

I haven't looked into an electric mower, but i like the sound of less maintenance. I have to get an electric weed whacker because the gas one is simply way too noisy - right ear rings every time I use it.

 

[demaro]

I have a reel mower . I have a small yard , it takes me about 10 minutues to cut it with the reel mower. It brings back fond memories when I used to cut the grass with one of those as a kid growing up on Long Island NY.

 

[CraigarTA]

I have a Fiskars mower that you are looking at and it works great for me but I have a typical Pacific Northwest lawn, basically a mix.

As for yours there is a brand perhaps a bit more suited for you The Mascot 6 bladed mower is more suited and it has the same silent cut system as a Fiskars and Brill Mowers. It does cost a bit more but I couldn't afford it.

This guy has a pretty nice review
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic5X8j1vRJk[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Laz]

I have a Fiskars mower that you are looking at and it works great for me but I have a typical Pacific Northwest lawn, basically a mix.

As for yours there is a brand perhaps a bit more suited for you The Mascot 6 bladed mower is more suited and it has the same silent cut system as a Fiskars and Brill Mowers. It does cost a bit more but I couldn't afford it.

This guy has a pretty nice review
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic5X8j1vRJk[/YOUTUBE]

That was a good video. I have heard that more blades is better for cutting St Augustine, so the 6th blade is a plus. Since the blades on this one are like the blades on the Fiskar, I imagine that they will have to be professionally sharpened when they get dull. Fiskar claims that their blades will stay sharp for 6 to 8 years, but because of the material and method of sharpening, they cannot be sharpened with a kit or with paste.

 

[CraigarTA]

Actually the Mascot is sharpened the same way as the Scotts, Sears, etc.

http://www.reelmowersetc.com/Sharpening%20Kit Instructions hand and power.pdf

If read that you can use valve grinding compound, a small quantity of used oil and a pan to hold the oil compound.

But since its a non contact bed knife sharpening is something not needed for a few years

 

[Amer]

Funny occurrence, I read this thread yesterday and then while working on the yard last night a guy down the street comes home and pulls one of these out of his car. His wife is standing there and she starts trying it out. Neither looked to thrilled with the performance and the guy went inside while the wife kept going at it. Honestly their grass looked a little talk to be using one of these on it. I bet the wife was thrilled.

 

[Laz]

Actually the Mascot is sharpened the same way as the Scotts, Sears, etc.

http://www.reelmowersetc.com/Sharpening Kit Instructions hand and power.pdf

If read that you can use valve grinding compound, a small quantity of used oil and a pan to hold the oil compound.

But since its a non contact bed knife sharpening is something not needed for a few years

Thanks for posting the sharpening info. That is a plus for this mower.