Mentioned in this thread, I was wanting input from folks who have used reel mowers.
I’ll repeat what I said in the other thread: We’ve recently moved into an older home with a very small yard. This little yard is populated with a lot of ivy, rock gardens, patio, herb gardens, and moss, so there is not much actual “lawn”. We’ve been thinking about getting a reel mower, and this is a great time to ask folks who have one how much they love it (or hate it)…and if the Craftsman brand one at Sears is a respectable model.
I estimate that we have maybe 700-800 square feet of lawn to mow.
Well, I use one. I don’t know what kind, but since we didn’t buy it at Sears, I know it’s not a Craftsman.
I don’t mind it at all. It’s not as heavy as a power mower, and it rolls pretty well. We only have about 1200 square feet between the front and back yards, so we have a little more than you, but it’s still manageable. In a weird way, it’s kind of nice to get a little exercise pushing the thing around; and since it’s not as loud as a power mower, I can easily hear my wife asking if I’d like a cold beer when I’m done.
I’ve used it from time to time. When my electric died a few years ago, my father-in-law leant me an old one of his. If it’s kept oiled it’ll do a good job.
I have one! I bought it at a garage sale really cheap and it was practically new. My husband thought I was crazy but it comes in handy in certain places where we can’t use the regular lawnmower.
Like RealityChuck said you have to keep it clean and oiled. You do get quite a workout using it.
Since I brought it up (kinda) in the other thread, I’ll mention a little about mine.
I think that if I didn’t get the one I have, I’d buy a new one. The one I have was found in my great-grandparents tool shed years after my parents bought the house. My father cleaned it up and he brought the handle down to me and we made a new one out of some old boards. It just took a little time with a dremel to make the handle, plus I have a spare in case something happens to it.
I think the most important thing is to keep it well-oiled (as mentioned) and keep the blade sharpened. If you don’t mind the slight workout, it’s great. I enjoy it just because I need the excersize, but it does a good job on my yard.
Of course, I think Oakminster is right, and I find that I have to stop and pull the weeds that are in random little spots. Of course, it’s not a big deal in my yard because it’s pretty well all the same grass.
Another thing is that it throws a lot of grass (which is kinda obvious) but that is not a problem for myself. Mrs. Small can’t even be outside when I’m using it, or at least not for long, because of allergies. She did have trouble with a regular push-mower as well, so it’s not a complete suprise. Just something to consider if you have bad allergies.
I might be using mine a lot this year. We have/had an electric mower and I had a little bit of a tantrum with the ivy in our yard. I pulled all the ivy (hard work) and when I saw that it grew back I got mad and plowed through it with the electric mower and burnt the motor out.
I used to have a reel mower and loved it. It was so much nicer than a loud, odiferous gasoline-powered mower. However, I could only use it in the backyard, which had been seeded and had fairly fine, soft blades. The builder-installed sod in the front was too thick for me to make any progress at all (of course, I’m a hundred-pound weakling).
I had one . . . note the past tense. I have a smallish yard and thought it would do the trick when I first bought the house. The grass was pitiful at the time, thin, thatchy, not good . . .
Things were ok with the reel for the first year. Not ideal, but ok. Small twigs would get caught in the reel and jam it – this thing found twigs I couldn’t see. If the grass got a little tall, it was a bear to get through. I should say I’m a girl, and pretty strong for a girl, but it gave me more than a workout.
The second year I hauled the reel mower out, things had changed. I had a dog, who had “fertilized” the back yard. The grass grew fast and strong. I had to delay the first mow due to flooding issues in the back, and all I can say is :eek: and it took me forever to do the back yard. I threw my back out. It also jammed on tiny little twigs the trees had shed over the winter.
Let’s just say the neighbors learned my entire sailor vocabulary that spring. They also witnessed me hurling the mower in frustration, kicking it where it landed, and hurling it again. I’m sure I set a record for mower-flinging, midwest division.
Suffice to say there was no third season. I bought myself an el-cheapo gas mower and have never looked back. The neighbors would rather hear the roar of a mower than multisyllabic diatribes and sailing reel mowers.
I had a gas mower in NJ, where I had a big yard, but didn’t move it, and have a reel mower in CA with a dinky yard (though large for around here.) 11 years old, and never a day of trouble. Light, easy to store, needs no gas, not dirty, and I can feel smug about not polluting. Yeah, I stop to pull weeds, but I’m a bit obsessive about them, since it is a constant battle, and I don’t put weed killer where the dogs go.
It gets oiled when it gets sharpened, and that’s about it.
Have had one since I bought this house in 1990, and love it. (My lawn is a circle about 15’ across, so it takes less than 5 minutes to mow it.) Only problem: it doesn’t deal well with sproingy grass/weeds that grow straight up – so once a month or so I mow, then do a quick pass with the weed whacker.
But, I won’t argue with any of the complaints. Twigs do jam it (I give the yard a quick eye sweep first for small twigs). It throws grass, probably doesn’t mow as evenly as a gas.
But none of that is too much of a hassle if your yard is small.
And, I have a pair of hand operated grass shears to get weeds, and long grasses at the edges that remain. I mow, then go over it with the grass shears. It just takes a couple minutes, and I kind of like doing it anyway.
But, it’s easier getting it in and out of the house. I live on a quiet street, and (to me) the couple of people who use gas & electric sort of stand out.
Keep it sharp. It will probably come with instructions, but. . .
I really like ours. It’s a japanese model, and the blade is only about 10" wide, so it takes a little while to mow our tiny yard, but it’s quiet and works well.
The newer ones are wonderful compared to older ones. Much lighter and more effective - I believe gears allow the reel to turn faster but I’m no mechanic.
A while back we had a rechargeable electric. One spring it wouldn’t hold a charge, and while it was in for repairs I bought a cheap Sears reel. Worked just fine. Used it until my son started mowing the lawn - then my wife bought him a gas mower. I objected, but did not prohibit it.
IME, it is only an effort to push if you let the grass get too long. So you might need to mow it a little more frequently than with a power mower. But I agree that any anconvenience attached to a reel mower far out weighed by the pleasure of not assaulting yourself - and your neighbors - with the noise and pollution from a gas mower. Also, it generally will take up less space in your garage/shed than a power mower.
I had the same disappointing experience with my reel mower that Stinkum had - and I no longer have my reel mower, either. On the tough, thick grass, the mower was very difficult to push and on the springy weeds, it would just bend the weeds and you would have to go back and pull them up. The small twigs, mulch and other natural debris in the yard would jam the reel so often that I routinely carried a small chisel around with me to unjam the reel. True, it was quiet and fume-free but not worth the frustration and extra time I had to spend re-doing the yard.
My grandfather used to have one… I tried it out on his backyard grass one day when I was a teenager.
Keep in mind, that at this point, I was 17, 6’1", 240 lbs, and the starting center on my high school’s football team. I was neither weak nor small.
That damn push mower was very hard to push through the grass. Granted, it may not have been sharp and/or oiled, but even if doing that lessened the effort by 25%, it would have been a pain in the ass to use in coastal Texas during the summer. I suspect I’d have had to mow 3 times a week to keep it reasonably easy, with the frequent rain and rapid growing St. Augustine grass.
Give me a good old gasoline powered push mower any day
I guess what it boils down to for me is that the reel mower isn’t like some quaint antiquated thing that people still use for nostalgia’s sake or it’s cool factor. . .like a straight edge razor or a Model T. Maybe that’s what the OP is getting at.
They’re still widely used where I am, and make sense for some properties, but not all. They have drawbacks, but for my money, the advantages outweigh them.
Also, maintenance on a mower isn’t something to overlook, and I’ve used my current reel mower for 7 years, and I’ve never done anything except sharpen it. I don’t even oil it.
Yes, I wasn’t looking to buy one for the cool factor, and my mother suggested a keiser blade (think sling blade) if I wanted to get really old-fashioned.
My reasons can be summed up thusly:
This is an old (historic) neighborhood, and I do see noise pollution as a problem.
The yard is very small, and not thick/luxurious at all. It’s actually kind of sparse under all these oak trees.
3)My husband and I have not had good luck with the gas powered mowers. Something always seems to be wrong and we’re forever taking it to have grass blown out of the lines or some such. I think they’re a hassle and smelly.
There’s the added “green” benefit
Thanks for all the input, Dopers, and I think we’re going to give it a go with the reel mower. Who knows, we may change our mind, but after years of mowing an unlevel 1/2 acre with a gas push-mower, this sounds very doable.
