Mow Like Your Grandpa
by Brett Kate McKay
The
Art of Manliness
The
push reel mower: Fun for the whole family!
I recently
became a homeowner and along with my first house came another first:
my very own little piece of land to tend. And since Kate and I had
been living in apartments for all our married life, I needed to
buy a mower to take care of our lawn. Like most Americans, I grew
up using and being surrounded by gas-powered mowers. The sound of
two-stroke engines firing up around the neighborhood was the unofficial
soundtrack of my boyhood summers.
But despite
my immersion in the cult of Lawn Boy, I’ve always been intrigued
by old-fashioned manual/push reel mowers. Maybe my curiosity about
them came from flipping through old magazines depicting a happy
1950s suburban dad mowing his small patch of green heaven. Or maybe
it was from watching groundskeepers use giant reel mowers to mow
the infield at baseball stadiums.
Whatever the
reason for my lifelong pull towards the manual reel mower, when
I was in the market for my own mower, I decided to look into whether
the old-fashioned push reel mower was a viable option for my lawn
mowing needs. To my great surprise, I discovered that the reel mower
isn’t just a viable option, but is in some instances superior to
its gas-powered cousins.
How
a Push Reel Mower Works
Your typical
power rotary mower has a spinning blade that chops off the top of
the grass as it rotates like a helicopter, resulting in torn and
shredded turf. Instead of tearing and chopping your grass, a reel
mower cuts your grass just like a pair of scissors. It’s easier
to understand how this works when you can see the mower, rather
than just describing it, so check out the video below for a full
explanation:
Oh, and it
goes without saying, but unlike a power mower that requires gas
or electricity to work, you provide the power to your manual
reel mower.
Choosing
a Push Reel Mower
Mowing
with my Fiskars Push Reel
The
basic construction of a reel mower is pretty much the same across
brands. They mainly vary in characteristics like:
- Weight.
How heavy will it be when you’re pushing it? - Cutting
width. The longer and bigger the mower is, the heavier it
will be, but the less passes you’ll have to make back and forth
on your lawn, and thus the faster you’ll get the job done. - Cutting
heights. What’s the range of heights you can adjust the blades
up and down? - Direction
of grass spray. Does the grass spray behind the mower or
out in front? Obviously the latter has an advantage in not covering
your feet with clippings.
When I was
looking for a reel mower, I did a lot of research and finally brought
home the Fiskars
Staysharp Max Push Reel Lawn Mower. This thing isn’t your grandpa’s
heavy old contraption. The folks at Fiskars have taken the old manual
reel mower design and updated it for the 21st century: it’s 60%
easier to push than other manual mowers, boasts twice the cutting
power of competitors, sprays the grass out in front of you, and
the blades only need sharpening every 5-10 years (that’s
the “StaySharp” bit). It’s fast, powerful, and maneuverable. Not
to mention kind of fun to use. After mowing with my Fiskars for
nearly two months, I can confidently say that it’s given me the
best mowing experience I’ve ever had. Kate and I even fight over
who gets to mow the lawn now (the compromise: I mow the front; she
mows the back). I can’t sing the mower’s praises highly enough (and
I don’t have any affiliation with the company whatsoever, by the
way – just a very happy customer).
Look at that
beautiful cascade of grass.
If your only
experience with a push reel mower was using a heavy clunker in your
youth, I highly recommend giving the Fiskars a try. It will change
your mind about manual mowers.
The
Benefits of a Push Reel Mower
Push
reel mowers are better for your grass’ health. This was
my biggest motivating factor for purchasing a push reel mower as
opposed to a power rotary mower. As mentioned above, power rotary
mowers cut the grass by chopping and tearing your grass, while reel
mowers cut the grass by snipping it cleanly like a pair of scissors.
Torn and shredded grass leaves your lawn vulnerable to disease and
insect attacks; grass that is cleanly cut with a reel mower heals
faster and is less vulnerable to those maladies.
Push
reel mowers make your lawn look nicer. Not only are reel
mowers better for your grass’ health, they leave your lawn looking
professionally manicured. Again, it all goes back to the scissor-like
way the reel mower cuts the grass. Clean and even cuts make for
a clean and even-looking lawn. The reel mower’s superior cut is
the reason why groundskeepers at professional baseball stadiums
and golf courses use large reel mowers pulled by tractors. The reel
cut makes the grass look purty.
Push
reel mowers are quiet. One of the things I hated the most
about the old gas-powered Lawn Boy of my youth was the noise. First,
it’s just grating to have to listen to a loud and obnoxious two-stroke
engine for extended periods of time. Second, because the thing was
so stinking loud, I couldn’t mow the grass too early or too late
in the evening, lest I disturb the neighbors. That’s not a problem
if you live in, say, Vermont, where summer days are pleasantly warm
and idyllic (if it’s not raining). When you live in hot and humid
Oklahoma, however, mowing your yard during the day with the sun
beating down on you is downright miserable.
The push reel
mower solves both of those noise-related problems. The only sound
it makes is a satisfyingly quiet “snip-snip-snip” as the mower cuts
the grass. I love hearing that sound. It’s actually rather soothing.
And because my manual reel mower is so darn quiet, I can mow my
lawn early in the morning without waking up the neighbors. Goodbye
107-degrees-with-a-heat-index-of-a-115 lawn mowing sessions!
May
25, 2012
Copyright
© 2012 The Art of Manliness