Confessions of a Reel Mower Addict

I've used the old ones and have a Great States push reel, and as you say, it's worlds apart. If you keep your grass mowed on a regular basis, it's not that big of a difference, and you'll get the exercise of pushing the mower around all the time to boot. Good times!

We don't need grass. Unless you have sheep, cows or goats. Grass is a horrible waste of water.

Do you think a yard that's about 3/4 or 2/3 of an acre is too big for a reel mower? And can you keep the grass at 3" with one, or do they cut it shorter than that?

"We don't need grass. Unless you have sheep, cows or goats. Grass is a horrible waste of water."

Absolutely agree. And it's the first thing mentioned in the post too.

But if you look around, most people have. So in the meantime, they might as well stopped burning gas to mow it.

I rent a property where I'm responsible for cutting the grass; it doesn't get watered (except by rain) and I would rather replace it with native plants. In the meantime, however, I use a reel mower. It's lighter to move and does just as good as a job. The only downside is that they tend to just push the grass down if you let it go too long :(

Most people who ask me about it wonder if it's too much hard work for them. I usually let them try it out - it's not any more difficult than one of those Fischer-Price lawnmowers. I let the neighbor kid borrow it for his neighborhood lawn mowing business.

Short version: love it!

>Grass is a horrible waste of water.
If you have a native grass lawn it shouldn't use much water at all. I planted buffalo grass and blue grama and I only water if it has been more than a month since the last rain.

>Do you think a yard that's about 3/4 or 2/3 of an acre is too big for a reel mower?
If you mow the lawn with a push or self-propelled mower, then a reel mower wouldn't be any more work.

>And can you keep the grass at 3" with one, or do they cut it shorter than that?
My reel mower will cut from 1" to 3" and it adjusts in small increments.

>Grass is a horrible waste of water.
If you have a native grass lawn it shouldn't use much water at all. I planted buffalo grass and blue grama and I only water if it has been more than a month since the last rain.

>Do you think a yard that's about 3/4 or 2/3 of an acre is too big for a reel mower?
If you mow the lawn with a push or self-propelled mower, then a reel mower wouldn't be any more work.

>And can you keep the grass at 3" with one, or do they cut it shorter than that?
My reel mower will cut from 1" to 3" and it adjusts in small increments.

I bought a reel mower on good intentions, used it for several weeks but got rid of it when I realized that it didn't fit my needs. I found it wasn't a good choice if you have lots of weeds, let your grass get tall between mowing, or if you have a thick grass like St. Augustine.

Don't forget that reel mowers don't mulch, so the cut grass just lays on top of the lawn. If you collect your grass trimmings or if you just don't care, then this isn't a problem. Personally I found that I prefer a mulching mower.

Tall weeds get pushed over and won't cut very well with a reel mower. You have to run over them several times from different angles to cut a tall weed once it lays over, which is a lot of trouble. High or very thick grass will require you to cut the lawn twice, once high and the second time where you want the height to be. Or you can spend lots of muscle forcing the mower through high grass, which is slow and tiresome.

If you keep on top of your mowing, a reel mower is a good choice for fine bladed grasses like bermuda or zoysia. In fact it is the best choice for the fine bladed versions of zoysia, as does a much better looking job than the rotary bladed mowers. All in all it's a nice choice for small yards with a lawn that fits this kind of mower, but I would suggest trying one out for a little while before buying one.

I used an old heavy one for a time. I have no idea what it weighed, 40? 60pounds? You would have thought the same people who made tanks made these. They were even height adjustable.
I got rid of them and I have a Black + Decker Electric. It also serves to 'vacuum' up leaves and litter and other stuff.

It was cool to push it on cement to get the blades spinning really fast and then smash it into some tall grass. Stuff flying everywhere.

... Gas or grass, no one rides for free. I get the seeds but don't fertilize or dump chemicals. The good old dirt is fine. I hardly water and I keep what runs down the house gutters for a non-rainy day.
It's nicer to have a touch of green in Brooklyn than mean old dirt.
I agree too many people dump too much stuff and water onto the earth... especially when there are houses on the water with the manicured grass running down to the waterline. Where does all that stuff go... and how come the fishing is lousy these days? Hmmm.

vsk

We have been using a reel mower for a few months now, and as good as it sounds on paper, the reality is not nearly as rosy in many cases.

First, if the lawn is not perfectly flat, the cutting resistance will not be consistent and it will be very difficult to maintain smooth forward movement. In other words, it will be jerky, and any jerkiness may cause the wheels to slip, causing the mower not to cut a part of the grass, and will require backing up and going over the spot again.

Second, if the grass gets too long, you're in trouble. The reel mower just won't work, and since the point of the reel mower is to avoid having a push mower, what do you do? If you're me, you take the weed whacker you have for doing the edges the reel mower can't do, and use it to cut the lawn down to a height the reel mower can manage. This is much slower than even the reel mower is.

Third, I don't care what anyone says... it's a lot more effort to use a reel mower. Period. The push mower cuts the grass for you, so there is less resistance to moving forward.

To conclude, if I could go back in time, I would buy an electric push mower, without a doubt. It's only a bit more money, doesn't pollute, and it's MUCH easier to use.

However, as others have already said, a good solution may be to avoid having a lawn altogether. This is something I will consider in the future, but it's a HUGE job, for us anyway, with an almost quarter acre property.

We bought a house and it had a front and back yard with lots of grass. We had to get a mower and I was darn'd if I was going w/ gas powered. So, I found a Brill reel mower and haven't looked back, either.

The previous owners let the yard go, so its been a process. The reel mower does a great job except for crab grass. Then again, I don't know what does work well on that stuff. But, I find myself mowing in a cross hatch pattern and it works out fine. I'm phasing out the grass in the back yard and shrinking the front grass area, but we're always going to have a bit of a lawn in the front.

In response to the 3 inch question, there are mowers that have adjustable heights. Just have to find the right one. FYI, w/ most reel mowers, if you let the grass get too long, it gets pretty tough to mow. Takes a bunch of passes over.

grass is only a waste of water if you WATER it. we don't, so no water wasted. thing about grass is, it goes pretty much dormant during a drought, and revives when it rains again.

Does anyone have suggestions on a brand of reel mowers. I've heard the ones with plastic housings are terrible.

The thing is, is do they sell reel mowers at Home Depot or Lowe's? Because I never noticed any. And are they cheaper and easier to use?

Is it any more harder to gather the grass clippings?

Just wondering. I too would prefer not to have to maintain grass, but living in the suburbs means you need to.

If you live in a better neighborhood, not watering the lawn will put you in trouble with the homeowner's association and tempt possible legal action. And I can't blame them, as a nasty and uncared for yard decreases property values and is a sign of a deadbeat neighbor.

There is nothing wrong with having a lawn or watering it, if it is done responsibly. I use compost to fertilize, not chemicals. I pull weeds when I can. I rarely resort to weedkillers and I'm very careful and selective with the ones I use, preferring natural choices over chemical ones. I water my lawn to keep it green, but I try not to overwater. After all, water costs money.

Lawns are not inherently a bad idea. Lawns help to absorb CO2, and the green space they provide helps to moderate the heat problems caused by urban concrete and asphalt. Furthermore if a yard is not secured by some kind of vegetation, the soil erodes and degrades the water quality of nearby streams and rivers. Lawns are just a version of the grassland that would be there naturally. Not having one or not having an effective alternative is irresponsible. The only exception is if you can leave the land in a wild and undisturbed state, but this is generally not an option for the city dweller. A city lot left in a wild state becomes a haven for pests such as rats and snakes, as well as a magnet for litter and garbage.

What doesn't make sense is using treated water to water the lawn. It is not good for the lawn and wastes the energy used to purify and transport water that doesn't need to be pure. Instead we need to encourage widespread use of gray water systems and develop better technology to make those systems more convenient and attractive. That would lessen the sewage load and the treated water usage for a city, and keep our lawns green. Golf courses use gray water and cities will build them as a place to get rid of their effluent. We need to be doing the same on a smaller scale where individuals can benefit from the same approach.

I live in the Buffalo, NY area and my lawn is a mix of blue grass, rye, and fescue on a 3/4 acre lot. Six years ago I purchased a reel mower from the Brookstone catalog. I can't remember for sure the brand name, but I think it's "American". The logos have long worn off. It's all aluminum with self sharpening blades and probably around 20lbs.

First, it is just as easy to mow using the reel mower as it is with my 22 year old Honda self propelled mower when the lawn is of a normal height. If you're the lazy type (which I can be sometimes) and the grass gets pretty high, it is indeed quite a workout using the reel mower. But at 6'0" tall and 235lbs. I can could use the exercise. And I would imagine a lot of others out there could as well.

Second, I would love it if all of my neighbors used one of these things. We don't use air conditioning at our house, but are constantly forced to close the windows when neighbors are using their gas powered lawn mowers, gas powered trimmers, power washers, etc. And the noise seven days a week got old years ago. Apparently people can't seem to coordinate one or two days a week to make a bunch of racket, so we get to smell fumes and have conversations at the top of our lungs everyday. Oh and as an added bonus, my lawn has never looked better since I started using this mower.

The biggest thing holding back reel mowers is ignorance. People don't even realize they're still being manufactured. I get questions every week about this mower, the same kinds of questions I used to get ten years ago about my CFL bulbs. At least one person that I know of took the plunge and got himself a mower like mine. Only several dozen to go now...

All I can suggest is that if you are interested in buying one, try to find the widest cutting swath possible because no matter what it's going to be narrower than a gas powered mower. Self sharpening blades are a nice feature as well.

I love my Brill, and I have a gigantic yard. The first three times I cut it were drudgery and I was about to crank up the gas mower, but after that third time I realized I had simply been out of shape and the Brill was whipping my lazy ass into shape.

The Brill is super-light, but they do require some effort on your part to get moving.

I'm in great shape now and my lawn looks great. Don't listen to the detractors, go get a Brill and stop smelling like gas.

I love my "prison model" heavy weight reel pushmover. It does a great job on firming up the abs. I found a long handled clipper from Sears that is also manual and I am all set to mow and clip.

Do you need a weed wacker as well if you have a reel mower?

I bought one for $69 at Home Depot...they cost more now because they are in higher demand...about 8 years and will never go back. I hang it on a hook in my garage between uses so it takes up no floor space. I have it sharpened at the end of each season in preparation for the next (about $30/year at my local True Value). I have a small yard and mow my back yard twice a week because I don't like to cut it low. As for exercise, I for one swear it takes less overall effort than my old self-propelled push mower. My wife jokes that I'm a "speed mower"...the thing is so light and the blades so sharp that I can mow at a very fast-walk pace. My brother was over one day and tried it and swore it beat any of the many gas mowers he's had over the years (we both mowed many a lawn as teenage entrepreneurs). And yes, it's nice to be able to mow at 6am or 9pm and not worry about the noise.

I just don't get anybody who advises against the reel mower. Get a wider one, adjust the blade height, keep the blade sharp or get off your ass...it's not the reel mower that is the problem.

Great article to deter people from using gas powered mowers.

I have found that having a lawn doesn't necessarily mean a lot of work or water since reading this wonderful article: http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

I'd advice anyone interested in lawns, to take a look at it, it has some very common-sense advice that reduces considerably water or pesticide or care needs in a lawn, naturally.

Of course, if the same space can be used to produce edibles, much better. The above is for those that don't have or prefer that choice, though.

My parents had one of these when I was 9 and made me use it to cut their lawn because they were afraid I'd kill myself with the gas mower.

It would cut the grass, but I was too small and puny then to keep it moving fast enough to do a good job. I bet it'd do a lot better now, but I haven't seen one in a long time.

"We don't need grass. Unless you have sheep, cows or goats. Grass is a horrible waste of water."

But you need to cut it or the City fines you.

Yeah, the first photo is from our site:
http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/2006/03/those_inhouse_danes.html

Mine is a Scotts. It isn't easy, but it's worth it. I've been making a habit of mowing around the clover patches and wild violets. I'd be much happier if I didn't have any grass, so I'm trying to promote natural selection in my lawn.

Everything I would've said has been so I'll just share this link: http://www.bountifulbackyards.com/ which was probably also on treehugger.

This is the first professional landscaping company that I've seen do this. Between the reel mower and purposely growing an edible yard I have completely rethought the yard I will someday have.

I tried one of these mowers but it didn't go over my grass and the wheels kept slipping due to an uneven yard. We tried it for a week and barely got anything done. Brought it back to the store and got an electric, no problems since.

Yes, we need grass, at least Earth does, for binding soil and moisture.
When you cut grass, moisture escapes through cutoff grass blades.
Power mowers are almost always rotary, which mechanism tears rather than cuts, resulting in badly mangled grass tips and excess water loss.
Hand mowers cut, like scissors, creating a cleaner opening with a chance to close: less water loss.
You can smell the difference, after rotary mowing the smell of bleeding grass is strong.
Uneven terrain and/or tall growth? Learn to use a scythe.

I have one and its great, don't bother to water the grass and my grass is always greener then my nabobors that do water ... the reason is that it cuts the crass and doesn't tear the grass like a gas mower.

if you mow every week and don't get lazy then you don't have an issue and its easyer then a gas mower to push.

With a gas mower I was lazy, with a reel mower its not that much of a chore; it has no fumes choking you, its not heavy like a gas mower, and mine mulches just fine.

I'm the deadbeat neighbor with the knee-high weeds. But even I have found ways to use a reel mower! My yards are HUGE and more weeds than grass. I couldn't adjust the blades to cut high enough (the zoning code says to keep 'vegetation' below 6 inches, I would cut at 5 1/2 inches if I could), so I removed the back roller bar and bolted on two bicycle training wheels. Because the $1 training wheels were bald, I replaced their tires with lawnmower tires. Yes, I made my reel mower into an 'off-road' mower.

There is a blade-sharpening kit that's a cinch to use - it's just a gritty paste and a funny handle. You screw the handle onto the side of the reel, smear the paste onto the bar, and turn the mower backwards.

I recently bought a Scott's mower at Home Depot. Our front and backyards are both fairly small and they get watered naturally (we live in Seattle).

Pros:
Cheap.
Quiet.
Not much harder to push than our old electric.
Light (important since there are stairs both lawns)
No messing with electric cords or dealing with gas.

Cons:
Will cut high grass but you will need to make 2-3 passes.
Sometimes it pushes down the grass rather than cutting it so you need to make a second pass.
Doesn't mulch and if I let the lawn go the clippings will require raking.
Wheels make it more difficult to get close to edges so you end up having to finish the perimeter with a trimmer.
Won't cut unless you're moving at a decent walking pace. This makes it a little harder to cut in small spaces.

Got one from Sears some years ago, and it works well as long as I use it on a regular basis. If I let things go, I have to trim it down with a weedwhacker (which I use around the edges of the yard anyhow.) I also have a sickle, which works well with those errant weeds and doesn't require me to drag an extension cord around after me.

I want to tell myself I use the sickle and push mower to save the Earth, but really they're just more convenient. I get exercise from yard work: go through a wide range of motion, push, pull, get ab work from shoveling things, and always feel great afterwards.

I'm surprised at TreeHugger that no one has mentioned the Neuton: http://www.neutonpower.com/

I just got one a few weeks ago after about 3 years with the push mower. I don't have a very big lawn and I never used gas mowers (too noisy and pointlessly high maintenance) so the push mower did its job for the four summer seasons I used it for. However the manufacturer recommended never sharpening the blades and I think it finally has suffered enough that it just won't cut my natural lawn well anymore. So, the Neuton it was, and man is it awesome! Small and light which fits my lawn well and fossil fuel-free, although you do need electricity to charge the battery. It's funny because all the complaints with the Neuton used to always be coming from the gas mower addicts (although you can see that these days those complaints aren't warranted any longer), but from a push mower guy the Neuton is a huge step up. I actually look forward to mowing my lawn now.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with push mowers. They are infinitely superior to any type of fuel burning stinker and the exercise can't be beat. And I do agree that grass sure seems unnecessary: I'd just have plants everywhere if I could, but grass has just become a tenet of suburban life. I fully believe and support push mowers completely although they just no longer fit my needs the best. I completely accept that my model probably never was the greatest and you could do better, but look into a Neuton if you're in the market. Unless you're just completely set on a push mower the Neuton is the best combination of traditional blade mowing without the gas-powered nonsense.

I use the McClain push reel mower - the Ferrari of manual labor mowers (as I would joke). And it works great. I got it second-hand while renting a house with a lawn. A school kid walked by while I was using it and he asked, "Does that really work?" He was inspired by the simplicity, which was nice to see. I recommend a push mower to anyone stuck taking care of a lawn, but I would encourage using that space for growing something delicious instead. I moved, and I'm passing the mower along. I hope to never need one again. What a pain in the ass just to have curb-appeal!

Looks like great exercise!

One of my friends gave me his a while ago to try out. When i bought my house it came with a lawn tractor for my acre yard, I hated using it and cut the lawn rarely cause i had to buy gas for it, maintain it, smell it, and hear it. So i used the reel mower.

the first time was rough cause i let the grass grow too long. but after that go it did just about a perfect job when doing the lawn once a week. weeds if cut once a week generally get mowed over pretty easily, i found even better than grass depending on the weed.

Though i soon came to realize that cutting down the flowers and weeds wasn't in me either as i would be approaching a flowering weed and there would be a butterfly or bee sipping nectar from it. I also have large amounts of frogs in my yard and cutting the grass was always dangerous for them.

I ended up giving up cutting my grass all together except for a small patch next to my driveway to make the property look "kept". For some reason people think that you have to "control" your yard. I know its what people are used to but i think in time people may come to question what the point is in destroying the biodiversity of the land they own in the name of "upkeeping" your yard. I have finally come to this point, and now i cant believe it took me so long to realize the fallacy of the status quo.

After moving back in with the folks, I opted to get a cheap manual mower. Loving it! Today I mowed for the third weekend in a row, and I can vouch for the joy of doing the 2 tiny front and back lawns again. Fresh air, a bit of exercise, no noise (mostly), and sticking it to the oil man.

I live in the Bufalo area too, and am looking for a place that can sharpen reel mowers. Any suggestions?? (I know how to do it, but really prefer to have it done if possible!)
Jim W
Williamsville, NY

I do agree with Dilbert (yes, the cartoon!) on this: why have grass when you can have synthetic grass, just as the used on sports arenas? They don't need water, it's always green, and there's no bugs.

Hi. Lots to comment on, so here it goes:
1) Artificial turf grass - petroleum product? natural? pollutants involved in producing? What about erosion, artificial substance under a child's feet, etc...Balance that with the option of maintaining a lawn naturally & in my opinion a natural lawn wins.
2) Reel mowers are great but if you want to keep a healthy lawn that is cut at a height of 2.5 to 3 inches to help retain water in dryer climates and reduce weeds, a better choice is an electric mower (these can also mulch). Of course, electric mowers still use electricity but if you power them with renewable energy like we do at Clean Air Lawn Care, the effect on the environment is minimal. We use solar panels to recharge the mowers throughout the day and this works very well.
3) Having a lawn at all....xeriscaping is the best option where the climate is dry but even so, there are always parks with grass nearby that need to be cared for sustainably. So yes, perhaps it would be better for there to be no lawns in some environments but the fact is there are lawns all over America. They are not going away altogether and we need to care for them in an environmentally friendly way...no gas mowers, no loud gas blowers, no chemicals leaching into rivers.
4) Check out the Clean Lawn Calculator on Clean Air Lawn Care's website & you can calculate the emissions saved by using emissions-free lawn care equipment.

I was just using a reel mower at my friend's last night. A friend of his had salvaged the mower from someone's trash. It's not the best model, and the blades could use some sharpening as I have to make multiple passes to get the lawn looking neat. But I love using it because it's so easy, and my friend lives in a rural enough area that mowing the lawn never has to be a priority. As someone who works in an office all week, I find the reel mower great exercise too.

I grew up at the beach where most people had pebbles for lawns. For some reason we had a small grass back yard and a very old reel mower. My mother said it was her exercise and her peace...she cut the grass almost daily. Now I live in a complex where the landlord is on the ride-on all the time and wish everyday that I could take that old reel out.

It's strange how everything old is new again. I remember when I was a kid my mom used to mow our lawn with an ancient mower like this. (My father never mowed the lawn because "he is allergic to grass" though he does play golf every weekend.) I remember a lot of swearing on the part of my mother on lawn mowing days. I am thankful to live in a part of the world where grass doesn't really grow naturally, My yard has a lot of moss and ferns with some weeds mixed in. That doesn't stop some of the neighbors from fighting mother nature with their attempts to grow lawns.

@Ross

My parents bought one when they moved from a condo to a house with a very small lawn. It was a newer model and you could adjust the blade (and hence cut) height accordingly. So yes in theory you could adjust the length you cut.

My husband and I live on a 7 acre plot in the country on a hill. We have a fruit orchard and poultry we free range and Don't mow. The wild life love it too. We have our own little sanctuary. We are planting sunflowers and other wild flowers next year. At the price of gas now days it just isn't worth trying to mow anyway, and what e=we do mow is very little. We have free mulch delivered by the contractors that cut and trim the electrical paths to cover larger areas and we save on watering the orchard and fill the chicken coop with it too.

To the person that asked: yes, you can buy them anywhere. I got mine at Lowe's, but Home Depot also has them. They are inside in a little box, so you might have to ask.

I loved it on my little lawn and my neighbors were extremely interested. Lightweight and great for renters--who move frequently, and never know if the next place is going to require lawncare /have a lawn or not. Its a minimal investment and small enough to put back in the box and move/store for a while.

But when I finally buy my own home, I want it to be in the woods and no grass--just lovely wooded nature and privacy and maybe some veggies growing!

Reel Mowers vs. Real Mowers

I live in lovely Eugene, Oregon (Tree Hugger Central), but I am in fact NOT a tree hugger – I am a CEDIMM (Closet Environmentalist Double Income Multi-Millionaire). I frankly don’t know how much a gallon of gasoline costs – and I don’t’ care. But something struck me the other day; I was driving through Tree Hugger Central and I saw a gentleman mowing his lawn with a brand new push reel mower. Frankly I didn’t know one could still buy them.

So on this lovely Sunday morning in the Willamette Valley I am pondering push mowers and found your web site quite by accident. So I am writing to provide a perspective from the other side of the aisle and to pass along some of the information I have gleaned on the topic.

I live in an area where 90% of the people have gardeners, 50% have nannies and a few actually have PA’s . I love doing my own yard work for fun, exercise and as a creative outlet. And on more than one occasion I’ve had people think I was the Gardner and ask me if I was available – kind of a compliment and insult all rolled into one.

My input on Reel Mowers….

1. On the environment…

a. Even in upscale neighborhoods zero-maintenance landscaping (a better marketing term for the masses) is Kosher and in the long-run is easier to maintain than grass which takes a significant effort year-around to maintain. It is a hard to pull off if you have a big yard though (mine is .25 acres and ½ of that is grass).

b. In Oregon, where it rains 13 months a year, I still find myself having to fire up the sprinkles in July, August & September.

c. Unless you have solar panels bolted to your roof, your electricity is not free. Those of you that are using an electric mower to be eco-friendly are just shifting the pollution source. Economist rule #1: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

i. As of today it costs ~ $18,000 total gross capital outlay to retrofit an average home with PV solar panels (2KW system). PV solar cells are grossly inefficient today and the manufacture of the PV cells produce very toxic waste like Gallium arsenide (GaAs). Ever wonder why so many of our PV solar cells are made in China?

ii. Also of note, Oregon & Federal tax incentives will pay for $14,000 or the cost of installing solar panels (four year tax break). Do other states have the same incentives? That having been said, they are forbidden by my HOA.

d. As an Economist, the single most effective way to lower your “carbon footprint” is not to reproduce in the first place. In the coming years the problem of “Carrying Capacity” of the planet will have to be a topic we address - or it is not going to matter what kind of mower you use.

2. What is the downside of a reel mower?

a. Reel mowers ARE NOT recommended on Bermuda or Zoysia grass – they are just too thick for a push/reel mower.

b. I found a great web site that compares the various mowers and offers guidelines about what to buy:
http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/mower_compare.htm

3. Not your Grandfather’s push mower….

a. The new models can weigh as little as 13 lbs.

b. New reel mower blades will go 5 – 10 YEARS without requiring sharpening. So, where would you even take a reel mower to have the blades sharpened anyway? I’ll worry about that in 2018.

c. Reel mowers now offer grass catchers – no more raking or worrying about thatch build up.

4. Other interesting notes…

a. All golf courses use precision reel mowers to mow their most precious commodity - their greens (not push reel mowers, but reel mowers nonetheless). Reel mowers actually give a better cut and are less traumatic to the grass.

b. If you are a golfer, wear your golf spikes to mow the lawn for better traction. Old fashioned metal spike will even help to aerate while you mow.

Conclusion….

I am going to invest in a top-of-the-line German-made Brill push mowers (unless I can find one that is actually manufactured in the USA). I can listen to my iPod while I work (no more ear plugs) and I can mow guilt-free until 9pm without worrying about disturbing my neighbors. And frankly, I need the exercise anyway.

I'm not too concerned with environmental issues. But I have a reel mower and love it for several reasons.

1. Space- It hardly takes up any space in my small garage.

2. Gas fumes- I don't like breathing in fumes while I mow. Nor do I like the smell of gas cans in my garage.

3. Allergies- I used to wear a mask while I mowed with gas-powered mowers. They blew a lot of grass bits and dirt up in the air (especially when mowing near my fence). Hardly anything shoots up that high in the air with a real mower. I no longer wear a mask and no longer have sneezy fits for 2 days after mowing like I did before.

4. Noise- It's so quiet. I can mow early in the morning or later in the evening without annoying anyone.

5. Exercise- It's a great workout. I mostly have St Augustine so there's some resistance while mowing. It seems to work a wide range of muscles.

6. Grass- I swear my yard looks better. I don't know if it's the cut, or the fact that I leave the trimmings on it. But my St Augstine grass is spreading out to the areas that used to just be crappy crab grass.

7. Chicks dig it. Some woman down the street kept turning her head and starring at me and my reel mower. I'd like to think she's just checking out my hot body. But she's probably checking out the mower.

Environment? Ehh... who cares. I'm not sure if I buy the whole Al Gore thing. But who wants to keep using gas when it cost so much? Not me.

Reel Mowers - Some Additional Information

Some of the best reel mowers weigh more than you'd initially want and think, and for good reason, in my opinion. If the mowers are too light, they tend to bounce on uneven terrain.

Very sharp blades make the difference, no questions asked. You can sharpen a reel mower very easily using a method called back-lapping. Kits work very well. You can even skip the kits and get some grinding paste from your auto parts store and search the web as to how to do it. It takes 15-20 minutes to do the trick. But, still most experts, and golf greens attendants will tell you that nothing beats a true sharpening by a professional grinding machine meant to sharpen the reel blades and the knife bed. This should be done every 3-4 years, maybe more or less depending on use of course. Back-lapping should be done once a season at the beginning. Again, you may want to dot it more depending on how many times you use your reel mower.

Reel mowers promote a much healthier growth of lawn grasses (or weeds for that matter) than rotary mowers. When you use a rotary mower, not only are you usually noisily polluting the air, you are disturbing the soil and root system more than what was ever intended. Dirt flies into the air and the vacuuming effect pulls on the grass roots. A reel mower is so much gentler on the soil and root. The stress is much less obviously to the plant foundation and soil.

Noise is a major consideration also. That is understated everywhere. What's better than less noise? The world ought to think about a quieter environment also. I am not a proponent of whirling electric rotors therefore because they are loud also.

To those that think that groomed lawns are a waste, that's certainly your choice and opinion. If you can do without a lawn, great. But to all else, at least think about reel mowers if you are going to have a lawn. Reel mowers are much more earth responsible and many times more practical than a gas powered device.

I want to cut my grass at a higher level than the adjusters allow. has anyone tried swapping our the rear wheels to raise the height? any better options? not ready to by new mower.

How often do you have to sharpen the blades?

How do I remove the pin from the wheel of my Noma Reel Mower in order to do the back lapping (sharpening)?

This model does not have a C-ring but a pin which goes into the side of the wheel once the hub is removed.