Going Green: The Old Fashioned Reel Lawnmower
I made the decision to buy a human powered lawnmower. My decision was, in part, a tribute to my grandfather. I have beautiful memories as a child, lounging in a lawn chair and watching Grandpa mow the lawn. The gentle ‘swish, swish’ of the reel type mower would invariably lull me to sleep. Those pleasant memories led me to start investigating the possibility of switching to a reel mower.
The reel type mower, for those who have never seen one, is an open cylinder with a blade that turns within that cylinder. The blades rotate as the mower wheels turn as a result of a push by, you guessed it, a human. The old reel mower that Grandpa used had a long roller at the back, similar to a large rolling pin, which flattened the grass after it was cut.
First I set off on a search for Grandpa’s actual mower. None of the relatives had it – or at least none would admit it. One relative had a reel mower, but purported that it was so heavy that he was sure that I could not lift it into my economy car, much less push it across my lawn. So I hit the Internet researching the old fashioned mower. I was very pleased with the available variety of new reel mowers.
After much investigation, I settled on the Scott’s Classic reel mower, based in large part on customer reviews. The blades are said to stay sharp for two to three years. Images of me with file in hand, sharpening the mower blades, were somewhat out of focus (my childhood memories only go so far). I figured that two years down the road, I might be able to find someone to sharpen the blades. Since I was so anxious to check it out, I ran to my local hardware store and purchased one for $129.99 and headed home to assemble my new lawnmower. Assembly included screwing the handle together, putting the foam cushion on the handle (really tougher than it looked), and snapping the handle in place.
With the anticipation of a child at Christmas, I pushed the mower out onto the patio of my daughter’s and son-in-law’s house. Knowing that the heavy ‘city’ lawn of tall Zoysia grass was going to be difficult, I raised the blade to the full 3″ height, and pushed the mower into the lawn. Though it was a bit difficult, I mowed a lot of the back yard before my energy ran out. Since the mower was purchased for my weekend home, with ‘country’ grass, I was not discouraged.
Fast forward to the weekend. The mower fit very easily in a sub-compact car. The handle detaches and the mower lifts easily into a small space. I arrived on Saturday and quickly reassembled the mower and gave it the first push. It rolled much easier through the grass and ground cover at my weekend home. It was not much more difficult to push than a power mower. By comparison, a gas mower is heavier, but cuts more easily. The reel mower is much lighter, but creates drag when it is cutting the grass.
I love my new mower. It is now more than a year old and not as clean as it used to be. All of the downsides are workable. This mower will not cut tall grass such as crab grass. Anything sticking up very high will be pushed over instead of cut down. That has been easily taken care of with a little ‘weed and feed’. On occasion, I have been guilty of digging the Johnson grass by hand, but I can truthfully say that a year later, the lawn at my weekend home is a pleasure to maintain. While the gentle ‘swish, swish’ of the reel mower does not put me to sleep, I do find gentle sound relaxing. I can hear the birds sing, the dogs bark and my cell phone ring. I can mow until midnight if I choose to, and the neighbors have no need to complain about the noise. The blade adjusts easily from a 1/2″ cut to a 3″ cut.
Mowing takes about the same time as with a gas mower, if you account for the time it takes to fill a gas powered mower with fuel, clean the spark plug every once in a while, and clean the grass out from under the mower. None of that is needed with the Scott’s mower. The blade is still sharp and does a good job on my little country yard.
The pleasant workout, and the pride in maintaining my little country yard in an environmentally responsible fashion has made the switch to a reel lawnmower very enjoyable.
