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Old 11-08-08, 08:41 AM   #11
Daox
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How wide do they make the reel mowers?

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Old 11-09-08, 01:20 PM   #12
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Nice find Tony. I always love those things that you find at someone's house that don't want it anymore, and all they need is a bit of fixing up. I think I may start doing some more garage sale shopping next summer to see the things I can find.
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Old 12-04-08, 05:41 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox View Post
How wide do they make the reel mowers?
I have a "Scotts" reel mower that is 20" wide and that is about the widest I've seen.

Another observation is that it is easier to mow the lawn when the grass is drier. Early morning dew/moisture seems to weigh the grass down, but dry grass is a bit stiffer and cuts easier.

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Old 01-13-09, 01:36 AM   #14
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11. Saves time on Nautilus machines.
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Old 06-08-10, 07:17 PM   #15
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I also have a Scotts "Classic" 20" push reel mower, and I also use a Gilmore 20" model. The Scotts model works better on very thick grass, but the handle is less than ideal -- it tends to twist an it helps to stiffen it with some additional tubes. It also require you to manually adjust the shearing contact between the reel and the blade, with the 2 screws on each side. This takes some trail and error.

The Gilmore has a spring tensioned contact between the reel and the blade, which is very easy! And it's handle is fine as is. It probably needs you to put a little LocTite on the bolts on the "spreader bar" that runs between the trailing wheels -- they tend to come loose as you use it.

Both mowers require/benefit from a liberal use of grease on the wheel shafts and the gears, etc. This should greatly reduce the wear and tear on the plastic wheels and makes them a bit easier to push.

As a point of interest, I used my new plug-in electric mower (which I got for when the grass grows too quick for me to keep ahead of with the reel mower) for 2 hours and 10 minutes, and the mower uses very little energy: a total of 0.84kWh. *I mowed about 1.3 acres, maybe a bit less, and much of it is *very* thick grass.* That is ~0.38kWh/hr (or ~380Wh/hr) on average.

Since 1 gallon of gasoline = 33.4kWh so each hour consumes just a little more than 1/100th of a gallon of gas! 12/1000nds of gasoline per hour is pretty amazing, I think.* In the 2 hours and 10 minutes I ran the mower, it consumed about 17 cents worth of electricity (.84kWh @ ~20 cents/kWh).
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Old 06-09-10, 05:44 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard View Post
Since 1 gallon of gasoline = 33.4kWh so each hour consumes just a little more than 1/100th of a gallon of gas! 12/1000nds of gasoline per hour is pretty amazing, I think.
Now why did that get me thinking about the MPGuino? OBDII gas mower with a ScanGauge, imagine that

I prefer mowing with something I can connect to a Kill-a-Watt, but I'd love a pushy. Unfortunately, reel mowers aren't popular here, so the few that are available are expensive. More expensive than a cheap electric, so that's one of the reasons they're not popular.
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Old 06-09-10, 08:32 PM   #17
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I think for about $160 per mower head you can get a multi gang reel mower if you need to mow a larger area, a friend of mine was using a 3 gang reel mower behind his horse for a while, now he's using his ElecTrack garden tractor to pull it.
I have a 20+ year old Scotts reel mower and a pair of Fisker hedge sheers that I use for around the edges and the tall sprouts that the reel mower misses.
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Old 07-14-10, 12:40 PM   #18
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I came across this posting about a month ago, and found it so intriguing I watched Craigslist for a reel mower. One finally came up at a price that was too good to pass up (almost free, and delivered!) so I got it. It is older, but does a great job. I plan on using it to mow the front yard, and use the riding mower to take care of the back yard.

When researching Reel Mowers, I came across some neat ones! There are electric ones that spin the reels for you ($350-$400), there are some innovative ones, like the one that Fiskers has come out with ($250) that addresses one of Darin's complaints, specifically wheels crushing the grass before you can mow it. It also has the highest cut height (up to 4 inches) of any reel mower I have found. There are also some that are small, for getting between things easier ($170). You can also get bags to catch the clippings. I plan on trying to make one so I can dump the clippings onto our compost pile.

My experience with the reel mower has been:
It's heavier than I expected, but it's not a problem because it pushes easier than I expected, and cuts well (tall grass is still tough, if I can keep up momentum I can usually get it in two passes). It could use a tune up (sharpening and alignment), so maybe it will do even better in the future!
It's a lot more work than using the riding mower, but with our front yard being as small as it is, it only takes twice as long for me to mow it as compared to the riding lawnmower (with a 42 inch deck).
It doesn't kick up dust! Another good reason to use it in our front yard. A couple weeks ago, I mowed the front yard, and wound up having to wash the cars afterward! It also doesn't throw rocks, or spew grass clippings out onto the driveway or onto the vehicles.
By far the coolest thing about it is my wife is excited to be able to use it! Next time the yard needs mowed, she is going to try to mow the front yard. I hope she likes it, she has enjoyed using the weed whip a couple times, but is too intimidated to try the riding mower or the string trimmer (both gas).
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Old 07-14-10, 12:41 PM   #19
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I came across this posting about a month ago, and found it so intriguing I watched Craigslist for a reel mower. One finally came up at a price that was too good to pass up (almost free, and delivered!) so I got it. It is older, but does a great job. I plan on using it to mow the front yard, and use the riding mower to take care of the back yard.

When researching Reel Mowers, I came across some neat ones! There are electric ones that spin the reels for you ($350-$400), there are some innovative ones, like the one that Fiskers has come out with ($250) that addresses one of Darin's complaints, specifically wheels crushing the grass before you can mow it. It also has the highest cut height (up to 4 inches) of any reel mower I have found. There are also some that are small, for getting between things easier ($170). You can also get bags to catch the clippings. I plan on trying to make one so I can dump the clippings onto our compost pile.

My experience with the reel mower has been:
It's heavier than I expected, but it's not a problem because it pushes easier than I expected, and cuts well (tall grass is still tough, if I can keep up momentum I can usually get it in two passes). It could use a tune up (sharpening and alignment), so maybe it will do even better in the future!
It's a lot more work than using the riding mower, but with our front yard being as small as it is, it only takes twice as long for me to mow it as compared to the riding lawnmower (with a 42 inch deck).
It doesn't kick up dust! Another good reason to use it in our front yard. A couple weeks ago, I mowed the front yard, and wound up having to wash the cars afterward! It also doesn't throw rocks, or spew grass clippings out onto the driveway or onto the vehicles.
By far the coolest thing about it is my wife is excited to be able to use it! Next time the yard needs mowed, she is going to try to mow the front yard. I hope she likes it, she has enjoyed using the weed whip a couple times, but is too intimidated to try the riding mower or the string trimmer (both gas).
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Old 07-14-10, 02:55 PM   #20
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My girlfriend's reel mower was rather dull and I realized that mine could use a sharpening as well so after failing at finding anyone in town that sharpens them I ordered a $15 sharpening kit, it has a small tub of lapping gel for the blades, a crank to turn the balds, instructions and a small cheap paint brush for the lapping gel.
Valve lapping compound is said to work too, but the stuff I have is rather thin and the gel is nice as it stays in place and instead of using the crank I hooked up my 1/2" chuck drill, the blades on the one mower were so bad that they had a large space in the a few spots while rubbing hard on other spots, a few minutes and a 2nd application of the lapping gel and it's smooth and cutting all the way across.

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