Lawn Mowing

[PantsOnFire]

Unfortunately in my situation, a reel mower would take forever.  I like the idea, maybe even buy several a put together some way and use as a pull behind (?).  I have a very large yard.  It is 3 or 4 acres on an old family farm.  So to be somewhat mustachian, I share the mower with my brother who also has a very large yard.  We have a commercial mower we bought used with fairly low hours on it.  Hope it will last many many more years.  I liked the idea of sharing tools.  My brother is a carpentry guy, so he has lots of tools available.  Works for us.

Don't take this as an attack, but why are you mowing 3-4 acres of land?  I never could understand why people with extremely large tracts of open land decide to make it all into "lawn", thereby incurring all that extra upkeep.  What about leaving 3/4 of it as a meadow? 

[Spork]

Unfortunately in my situation, a reel mower would take forever.  I like the idea, maybe even buy several a put together some way and use as a pull behind (?).  I have a very large yard.  It is 3 or 4 acres on an old family farm.  So to be somewhat mustachian, I share the mower with my brother who also has a very large yard.  We have a commercial mower we bought used with fairly low hours on it.  Hope it will last many many more years.  I liked the idea of sharing tools.  My brother is a carpentry guy, so he has lots of tools available.  Works for us.

Don't take this as an attack, but why are you mowing 3-4 acres of land?  I never could understand why people with extremely large tracts of open land decide to make it all into "lawn", thereby incurring all that extra upkeep.  What about leaving 3/4 of it as a meadow?

I can't speak for the OP...  We have a few acres we try to leave as meadow, but I've been having to mow it to (attempt) to control grass burrs.  The hope here is that if we can keep them from seeding for a season, we might get rid of them.  That's probably overly positive thinking.

I'd rather have meadow with whatever native flowers will volunteer.

[Rollin]

I was reading this thread over coffee early today before work. I got inspired and decided to take a look on Craigslist. Long story short, this evening I am the proud owner of a nearly new Fiskars reel mower. I picked it up 17.5 miles from my house for $80!!

When I got home it was dark, but I had to try it under the streetlight out front. It worked awesome and did not of course disturb anyone!

The Fiskar has some really good features/advantages.  The blades are heavier and wider and provide momentum for tough areas. The drive wheels are tucked behind the blades and therefore allow mowing closer to edges and less needed overlap (the blades cut the grass before grass encounters the drive wheels).

I would have paid a higher price for a Fiskar (had made up my mind to go with this model) over a different design at a lower price, but I did not have to.  Very pleased with my find.  The guy I got it from got it for his B-day, but he just wasn't into it. My gain.

[George_PA]

yeah since the reel mowers are so quiet, there have been instances in the fall that I start mowing after work and before I finish it gets complete dark outside. When this happens, I will bust out a flashlight to finish the job; I will hold the flashlight in my left hand and guide the reel mower in my right hand;

The nighttime reel mowing experience is truly a unique experience to try at least once; it can be a bit of fun at times and definitely changes things up from the usual routine.

[tfordon]

+1 for the reel.  I had some struggles adjusting the cutter bar early on.  Now that I have it down, I don't want to go back to the smelly, noisy gas mower.

Earlier this season I let the grass grow to high for the push reel.  I ended up using a grass whip to get it down to a point I could mow.  Definitely easier to just keep up with mowing.

They are easy to repair and follow the "muscles over motors" rule; Reel mowers are awesome!

[clutchy]

I pushed around an old mower that blew oil like crazy.  I got it for free, but I ended up going out and buying a self-propelled honda... after spending $600 on a lawnmower I'd never use anything else again for my lawn.  We have 1/3 of an acre w/ probably 15 vertical feet of elevation change.  A good part of the back is completely wild and weeds grow quickly.

the honda just brutalizes through them and climbs up the hill.

reel's are fun if you can use them.

my friend tried but gave up.  Grass grew too fast and if the lawn was at all wet it wouldn't get traction... he ended up sprinting back and forth to get it to work properly... odd.

[Spork]

I pushed around an old mower that blew oil like crazy.  I got it for free, but I ended up going out and buying a self-propelled honda... after spending $600 on a lawnmower I'd never use anything else again for my lawn.  We have 1/3 of an acre w/ probably 15 vertical feet of elevation change.  A good part of the back is completely wild and weeds grow quickly.

the honda just brutalizes through them and climbs up the hill.

I did the same except I went ridiculous MrMoneybags and got the top-of-the line commercial Honda for about $1200.  It lasted 3 seasons before it threw a rod.  I did a bit of an autopsy on it and ... they may make some good stuff, but they just don't put a penny into engineering thought.  They are destined to die.  I'll accept a Honda engine on a generic mower, but I won't EVER pay extra for the privilege.

The rebuild parts for the motor was abut $600 (more than actually buying the engine outright).

I went back to $25 garage sale oil spewers.  It doesn't have to last long to beat the cost of the Honda. 

[BlueMR2]

I did the same except I went ridiculous MrMoneybags and got the top-of-the line commercial Honda for about $1200.  It lasted 3 seasons before it threw a rod.  I did a bit of an autopsy on it and ... they may make some good stuff, but they just don't put a penny into engineering thought.  They are destined to die.

A little OT, since it's not about mowers, but a quick, biased (all my own personal experiences and opinions, which may not be representative of the larger reality) rundown of the Japanese auto suppliers:

- Mitsubishi will build a design that requires 3 bolts, and use 3.  You'll break stuff periodically, but parts are cheap.
- Toyota will build a design that requires 3 bolts, but be conservative and use 4.  It's very hard to break their stuff, but when you do it will cost a fortune to replace.
- Honda will take that 3 bolt design, only actually use 2, and then charge you extra for the hole, calling an enhancement...  When you break something, it's time to just throw the whole car away.

As much as the Honda fanboys like to claim spectacular things about them,  I'm totally unimpressed.  I've seen a number of bent engine rods, and guess what, every single one was from a Honda engine.  Rods really shouldn't bend, ever...  :-)

[clutchy]

I pushed around an old mower that blew oil like crazy.  I got it for free, but I ended up going out and buying a self-propelled honda... after spending $600 on a lawnmower I'd never use anything else again for my lawn.  We have 1/3 of an acre w/ probably 15 vertical feet of elevation change.  A good part of the back is completely wild and weeds grow quickly.

the honda just brutalizes through them and climbs up the hill.

I did the same except I went ridiculous MrMoneybags and got the top-of-the line commercial Honda for about $1200.  It lasted 3 seasons before it threw a rod.  I did a bit of an autopsy on it and ... they may make some good stuff, but they just don't put a penny into engineering thought.  They are destined to die.  I'll accept a Honda engine on a generic mower, but I won't EVER pay extra for the privilege.

The rebuild parts for the motor was abut $600 (more than actually buying the engine outright).

I went back to $25 garage sale oil spewers.  It doesn't have to last long to beat the cost of the Honda.

that's pretty amazing actually. 

My dad still has a honda mower from atleast 25 years ago.  I used it to start a neighborhood lawn business when I was 12 and it still plugs along with almost no issues.  Although now that I'm thinking about it he did have it serviced last year for the first time and it was like $300.  It escapes me what happened.  Maybe the auto-drive or something. 

I've always been under the impression that simple honda engines are bullet proof.  I guess we'll see.

[Spork]

 
  It escapes me what happened.  Maybe the auto-drive or something. 

I can tell you exactly what happened:
* little shear pin was made of the finest hardened steel.  Infucking destructable.
* the Honda mulching kit is made of not one, but two blades that are serious hardened steel.  SERIOUS.  If you bend one, heat it to red hot and pound with a sledge hammer, you will not even make a mar on it's surface.
* the crank is made of tinfoil.  Okay, not tinfoil, but it's not a hardened carbon steel.

Now: you've got 11 inches of leverage (half of a 22 inch cut) made of a doubled up hardened carbon steel that is spinning at 2100 RPM.  If you hit ANYTHING... you have the leverage to bend the crank.

The repair dude at the Honda store was all "oh, that happens with any mower."  Um... No.  It does not.  I've got close to 40 years of mowing lawns on me and I've hit every sort of immovable object there is.  The worst I've ever done is bend a blade or break a shear pin (which is supposedly named on it's ability to shear first).

[Rollin]

Update on using the Reel mower. My first use was discussed above.  So after knocking the grass down to a managable height last Saturday I completed everything last night. It was pleasant to say the least.  It was a bit harder than the gas mower, but not by much. For those of you that are Paleo I was able to go barefoot and not worry about loosing a toe!

I got a compliment from a passing neighbor/dog walker about not making noise. He complained about the neighborhood noise on Saturday and he couldn't enjoy any peace.

Another funny outcome was my wife couldn't locate me to tell me dinner was ready.  No noise from the gas mower and she thought I was near the pool.

One thing that is truly astonishing to me, and that was hard to picture without actually experiencing it, was the quiet involved!  Shhhhhh..... And no ear or eye protection needed,

[BlueMR2]

And no ear or eye protection needed,

You'll still want the eye protection.

I was in a hurry and didn't throw my sunglasses on last time I mowed.  Wouldn't you know it, my reel mower managed to launch a small stick into my eye.  Luckily, I saw it coming and the natural reflex to close my eye means I didn't end up with a scratched eyeball.  However, a stick impacting even at that low speed still hurts!  Keep using your safety glasses!

[Rollin]

Oh, its definately not for every situation. In fact, the grass must be under control before you can really get it right.

I think sharing tools is awesome.  I do that with friends when it is specialized and I am only needing it on occasion.

3 to 4 acres with a reel mower is doable, but it might be like large bridge painting, by the time you finish you go to the beginning and start over!  Just kidding, but compared to a ride on and 30+- inch wide blade it would be quite a time consumer.

[cdub]

I bought a rechargable electric on Craiglist for $100 - works like a charm! :)

[George_PA]

the only thing more remarkable than the quietness of a reel mower is the fact that this discussion still continues

[FrugalAussie]

We brought a house with front and back lawns.  The front we converted to a native garden (we live in Western Australia) and did have some weed/grass issues at first but after applying lots of layers of free mulch (from the Shire) we have only the occasional weed.  We don't water it, even during our long, dry Summers and never use fertilizer. We slowly added the plants as we got them free - from my partner's work once a year, transplanted from the back yard, from the Shire and as gifts.  We're now looking to add some Bush Tucker (native food plants) which we'll have to pay for but we'll purchase them small so the cost should be minimal.  So basically, the front yard cost us nothing to convert and very little time to maintain and we didn't have to pay $ for a lawn mower.

The back yard we are converting into a food garden with chickens.  It's a long term project that does take time and money, though we're doing it on the cheap.  It's our hobby and a passion we both share so we consider the work fun, certainly more fun than mowing, fertilizing and watering a lawn. So far we have about 15 fruit trees and lots of greens growing. We've had lots of disappointments but that's the nature of gardening, it make us really appreciate the successes and we keep learning so hopefully production will increase.

[Rollin]

the only thing more remarkable than the quietness of a reel mower is the fact that this discussion still continues

Fixed it for ya...

Yes, we talk about new ideas here, and share some of our successes and excitement, learn from others and possibly improve our situation(s), but I guess we ought to just keep to ourselves.  Matter of fact, you don't even have to read these silly posts either.  In fact, why the heck do we even post anything in the first place.  Someone please shut this forum down!