Reel Mowers

[Eeyores Butterfly]

My neighbor just offered to igve me a reel mower for free for my new house! I'm excited about it because it won't cost anything to buy or in terms of gas (although blades will probably need to be sharpened), it's better for the environment, better exercise, etc.

I have no experience with them and was wondering what people's experiences are with modern reel mowers (not old fashioned ones which I've heard do not compare to modern ones in ease of use!) Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[TwinsinCA]

Our first house was in New Mexico and our lawn consisted of a teeny tiny patch of grass in the front yard. We bought one of those mowers because a gas mower seemed to be overkill. It worked well enough as long as the grass wasn't too long. But it was a hassle even for that small of a patch. I cannot imagine using one of those for a full yard.

When we moved to a house with more grass we bought a regular push mower and never looked back.

 

[Jcricket Fan]

Good luck with that! I bought one 10yrs. ago tried to get it through our grass and couldn't even budge it...and forget it if the grass was even a little wet.
I am a fairly stronge person but there was no way I was able to cut even a little bit of the yard never mind the whole thing.

We do have a thick lawn so perhaps fine grass would work better.?
Have a gas push mower now we may move to a battery powered mower in the furture.


Peace.
Colleen

 

[jesseiann]

We bought one for our yard a few years ago. It works fairly well if you just have grass and it doesn't get to long. It does not cut weeds at all. It does not cut as evenly as a powered mower and you may have to go over your yard more than once. You definitely don't want to get one if you have a large yard.
It is really quiet and less dangerous. We used ours for about a year before we got sick of it and got an electric mower. Since it's free, try it out to see if you like it, if not, you can always upgrade. I believe they sell sharpening kits for fairly cheap online.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I just bought one. I found that if the mower is set to low, it will take a big "bite" of the grass and make it very hard to push. I adjusted it up and it works fine.

The kind I have is self sharpining, but you CAN buy a sharpner for other types.

Make sure that you pick up all sticks etc. before mowing, as unlike standard lawn mowers, it will not mulch them with the grass!

WD-40 is your friend on these mowers!

 

[wvjules]

Had one.
Hated it.
Got a gas mower.
Happier now.

 

[minkydog]

There's a reason your neighbor is giving it away. We had a reel mower for a short time. I concur with the other posters, its a PITA. For one thing, you don't just get behind it and push like you do wiht a regular mower. You lunge it forward, then pull it back, then lunge it forward and pull it back.

If you only have a little patch of grass it will be fine. But if you've got a standard yard it's going to give you a major workout. We ditched ours pretty quick and got a gas mower. In an effort to go greener I'm buying DH an electric mower for Father's Day.

 

[winnapooh]

We bought one for our yard a few years ago. It works fairly well if you just have grass and it doesn't get to long. It does not cut weeds at all. It does not cut as evenly as a powered mower and you may have to go over your yard more than once. You definitely don't want to get one if you have a large yard.
It is really quiet and less dangerous. We used ours for about a year before we got sick of it and got an electric mower. Since it's free, try it out to see if you like it, if not, you can always upgrade. I believe they sell sharpening kits for fairly cheap online.

I agree...we have one that I bought when we lived in NC and had more clay than grass. It worked well for the actual grass, but it didn't cut the long weeds that came up through the grass at all. I had to keep going over the same spots to get it to cut more evenly. I do like the environmental aspects of it, but it didn't end up working for us.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Well, I'll give a different opinion. My lawn obsessed DH loves his. This will be its third season. He just sharpened the blades a couple of weeks ago because he could tell by looking at the grass that the blades needed sharpened.

He definitely bought it because of the way it makes his grass look. We aren't that environmental. He does mow about every three or four days. When we go on vacation for a week, he has to use his old one first because the grass is too high for his reel mower.

Our yard is a nice size. I wouldn't say huge, but the kids can play soccer or kickball in it. It is pretty thick with no weeds - again, lawn obsessed DH! My kids get brownie points for saying it looks like a golf course!

The reason I like it is because it is so quiet! I can send my youngest out when DH is mowing and know that he'll be heard if he needs my DH.