Thinking about a Reel Lawn Mower

[Mtns2Skies]

I moved to a new place that has a pretty tiny amount of grass I need to mow. I'm not sure I want to deal with increasing my cylinder index for what would amount to 30-40 minutes of mowing once a month. I also looked into corded electric mowers, but it looks like dragging around an extension cord is a real PITA. Cordless electric mowers would do the trick, but they're far more money than I wanted to spend.

Does anyone have experience with reel mowers? Any model they would recommend if any?

 

[Greg Bockelman]

I used one for awhile on a postage stamp sized lawn we once had. It worked well as long as I didn’t let the grass get too tall. I don’t remember what make it was. Seems like it was a Craftsman. Other than that, I wouldn’t be able to say one model was better than another.

 

[JoeSelch]

Used a Craftsman reel mower on my lawn for several years. It was fine and I'd use it again if my lawn guy ever bails.
But, I never bothered to have it sharpend; so, after awhile, it seemed more like it beat the grass into submission than cut it.

 

[Ted]

A friend of mine gave me an old reel mower back when I was in Pennsylvania. Of course, my property was way, way too large for a reel mower, but I didn't like think it worked out very well. You have to keep on top of your mowing for it to work well. Of course if you had a newer/gooder one it would be a different story, but my general opinion is that it sounds like a good idea but doesn't work out that way.

A small gas powered pusher mower is ultimately going to be very little maintenance and probably less fussing around than you'd end up with on a reel mower. Reality is you can go years without changing the oil. We have a 52" riding mower we bought new in Pennsylvania (Snapper brand), so I guess it's about 9 years old. We've got something like 400 hours on it according to the Hobbs meter, changed the oil once, sharpened the blades a few times. Worked for PA, Ohio (of course that was a small yard) and now works in Kansas, although we don't use it for the entire property, mostly for around the house and whatever else Robert feels like mowing with it.

 

[Kevin Holbrook]

I love manual reel mowers. There is something about the sound and the satisfaction that the mowing is all you, no gas or electric.
Most can't get too close to walls or trees etc so take that into account

Fiskars StaySharp and Scotts make good basic models in the $150-200 range. I have had good luck with both of them. I used to have an imported (think German or Swedish model) that had originally cost about $800. Very fussy to keep adjusted. I gave it away.

No reel mower is good for tall grass or (especially) irregular ground.

 

[Half Fast]

Oh, come on. Embrace your inner Tim Taylor! Mowing done in <1 minute.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

Oh, come on. Embrace your inner Tim Taylor! Mowing done in <1 minute.


View attachment 84420

It sure seems to be the Wisconsin way... Weigh 300-400lbs and then ride your riding mower on your postage stamp of grass shirtless. It's just a staple of WI.

 

[Brad Z]

I've seen a lot of folks around here buy reel push mowers and use them for a week or two before going out and buying a $200 gas mower. Save yourself the trouble and just get the 20" gas mower.

 

[Bill]

I have a small yard, I use a basic Scotts reel mower and then use an Ego cordless trimmer to clean up. Combined it takes me maybe 30min. I've debated getting the Ego electric cordless mower, but it's pretty big bucks and I actually don't mind the exercise. As others have said, you need to keep on top of the mowing, as they don't do well with really tall grass.

 

[Bill]

I've seen a lot of folks around here buy reel push mowers and use them for a week or two before going out and buying a $200 gas mower. Save yourself the trouble and just get the 20" gas mower.

People told me that, and also told me that I'd commute to work (3.5mi each way) by bicycle for a few weeks before giving up. Nope, I still hand cut the grass and still bike to work, but I value the exercise, sweat be damned. I also am totally gassless, no gas cans, no going to the gas station. Glad to be rid of the hassle of maintaining gas equipment actually.

 

[kyleb]

I had a house with a 5,000 SF lawn for about a decade. I cut it with a reel mower and thought that was faster than using a power mower - you never fought to get it started, you never added gas, etc. OTOH, I did have to pull it apart to sharpen the blades a couple of times a year.

As others have mentioned, reel mowers don't work well on taller grass, so instead of mowing weekly back in the day, I mowed about every 5 days. And I kept a beater power mower for the occasional time where I was out of town for 10 days or rain kept me from cutting in the 5 day window...

 

[Ted]

People told me that, and also told me that I'd commute to work (3.5mi each way) by bicycle for a few weeks before giving up. Nope, I still hand cut the grass and still bike to work, but I value the exercise, sweat be damned. I also am totally gassless, no gas cans, no going to the gas station. Glad to be rid of the hassle of maintaining gas equipment actually.

There are definitely benefits. With all the stuff I have, getting my tractors ready for the season is a full day's worth of work with the oil changes, changing a filter or two at some point. My tractors are old so they've tended to require some level of extra maintenance throughout the season or at the beginning. And the hydraulic cylinders on the front end loader leak, and the are a couple of minor leaks on the bulldozer as well. So I have to keep after it. And the bulldozer burns some oil.

Then carbs. The carb on the 25cc pole saw was bad. $10 for a new one on Amazon, put that on and off it went. But more work. I'm also an engine guy so I don't mind that work so long as it does what I need it to when I need it. Got a set of spark plugs for the 9N that I need to put on.

Of course I have enough stuff that I just get it all done at once. In some ways probably more aggravating to only have one or two things to take off.

Thing is, with 11 acres of property, you basically need the gas powered stuff.

 

[Brad Z]

People told me that, and also told me that I'd commute to work (3.5mi each way) by bicycle for a few weeks before giving up. Nope, I still hand cut the grass and still bike to work, but I value the exercise, sweat be damned. I also am totally gassless, no gas cans, no going to the gas station. Glad to be rid of the hassle of maintaining gas equipment actually.

The thing about a reel mower is you need a good one ($$) that is properly lubricated and sharpened. The surface has to be uniform. You have to be moving in order to be cutting, so its hard to trim corners and tight spots. The grass can't be too tall, damp, etc. The ground can't be too soft or you'll leave ruts from pushing down on the wheels for traction. If you have the right patch of grass it can work, but there's a reason rotary mowers took over reel mowers.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

There are definitely benefits. With all the stuff I have, getting my tractors ready for the season is a full day's worth of work with the oil changes, changing a filter or two at some point. My tractors are old so they've tended to require some level of extra maintenance throughout the season or at the beginning. And the hydraulic cylinders on the front end loader leak, and the are a couple of minor leaks on the bulldozer as well. So I have to keep after it. And the bulldozer burns some oil.

Then carbs. The carb on the 25cc pole saw was bad. $10 for a new one on Amazon, put that on and off it went. But more work. I'm also an engine guy so I don't mind that work so long as it does what I need it to when I need it. Got a set of spark plugs for the 9N that I need to put on.

Of course I have enough stuff that I just get it all done at once. In some ways probably more aggravating to only have one or two things to take off.

Thing is, with 11 acres of property, you basically need the gas powered stuff.

Ain't that the truth. I've got 14 acres, and I've got a riding lawn mower and 3 tractors (more to tinker with than use). But I mow about 7 acres of it, around the house with the mower, and the pastures with either a flail or a rotary cutter, depending on how I feel at the time.

Speaking of reel mowers, I've seen people take an older riding lawn mower that the deck is trashed on, and weld either a gang of reel mowers behind it, or better yet, weld multiple push mowers together to run behind it.

 

[Ted]

Ain't that the truth. I've got 14 acres, and I've got a riding lawn mower and 3 tractors (more to tinker with than use). But I mow about 7 acres of it, around the house with the mower, and the pastures with either a flail or a rotary cutter, depending on how I feel at the time.

Speaking of reel mowers, I've seen people take an older riding lawn mower that the deck is trashed on, and weld either a gang of reel mowers behind it, or better yet, weld multiple push mowers together to run behind it.

Out of our tractors, 2 are working tractors, 2 are for fun (although we might put a finish mower behind them when the kids get bigger) and then there's the dozer, which works. But there's work that goes into all of them - the 9N was the most work since I rebuilt the engine on that which took forever.

The gang reel setup was something I thought about in PA, but my ultimate conclusion was it was more hassle than it was worth.

 

[cgrab]

I built a gang mower from reel mowers when I had a five acre lot and pulled it with my lawn tractor. It worked great as long as I did it frequently. When we were in a small rental place between duty stations, I used a weed whacker to mow the lawn. You can get a battery weed whacker for not much. Just make sure you have two batteries.

 

[weilke]

I have a Fiskars brand reel mower. If properly adjusted, the blades dont actually touch and and you can push that thing at normal walking speed without much effort. The cutting wheel has some inertia to it and you can get into corners by picking up speed and reversing in and out. My last home had a small flat front-yard, hand mowing it with the Fiskars was good exercise and left the grass looking really nice. As it 'cuts' the blades rather than 'chop' them, there is no appreciable yellowing. Also the cut blades just fall down and dont bunch. Between our decision to look for a different house and the eventual sale, I turned that front yard into golf green level turf. All-out chemical warfare and frequent mowing with the reel mower did the trick.

Now I have 2.5 acres of hilly 'meadow' around the house, not much use for the reel mower.

 

[pmanton]

I's rather use a reel mower than a fake one.

 

[Everskyward]

I used a reel mower on a suburban-sized lawn that was probably a little too big for a reel mower. But it was good exercise.

Actually it worked better than I thought it would, and I would definitely consider one again for a small grass area.

 

[SoonerAviator]

I'd just save the effort of having to mow more often and get a regular 22" mower like a Toro. I've used a McLane reel mower a few times, and while it was great for those who want to try and make their lawn into a putting green/fairway, it's too much work for me. I don't have the time to ensure that my lawn gets mowed every 4-5 days, not to mention that my yard is sloped and has several spots not conducive to using a reel mower.

 

[kyleb]

If I had a lawn that could be mowed in 20-30 minutes, I'd look at one of the cordless mowers. No trips to the gas station, no oil changes or level checking, no hard starting, no worries about gas with ethanol, etc. Sure, it is more up-front money, and you probably have to replace a battery every couple of years, but that's not frustrating (like a failure to start) or a maintenance issue like gas/oil/filters...

 

[skier]

I’ve been happy with our Fiskars reel mower. We’ve had it for 2 years now and I use it most weeks on our .5 acre lot. Takes about 2 hours to do the lawn vs. 45 minutes with a ride on.

I figure why use a noisy powered one and then go for a run/bike ride when I can just get the exercise mowing the lawn. Same amount of time either way and this saves me money on gas and a gym membership.

 

[Ted]

it's too much work for me.

This is really a point worth noting. Austin, you have a lot of activities you enjoy doing, plus you're young and married. I enjoy mowing the lawn but I enjoy it when it's not a burden.

 

[mondtster]

I've seen a lot of folks around here buy reel push mowers and use them for a week or two before going out and buying a $200 gas mower. Save yourself the trouble and just get the 20" gas mower.

That’s exactly what my friend did. Moved to a house with a small yard and bought a reel mower. He was bragging to me about it and how he wasn’t going to have to maintain another engine. I think the reel mower lasted him two months worth of mowing before I saw he had a gas mower sitting there.

I think it turned into more work than he was expecting.

 

[murphey]

Used a Craftsman reel mower on my lawn for several years. It was fine and I'd use it again if my lawn guy ever bails.
But, I never bothered to have it sharpend; so, after awhile, it seemed more like it beat the grass into submission than cut it.

Same here. Eventually the dog destroyed all the grass and I saw no reason to mow weeds. 50% of the very small yard is now green outdoor carpet and I use the weedwacker to destroy the weeds on the other 50%. The key is keeping the blades sharp.

 

[Ghery]

I think I played with a push mower (reel) decades ago for a short period of time - when I was a kid. We had an electric mower for a number of years because it was lighter than the gas powered mowers and some of the slopes on the lawn at my parents' house were so steep that you mowed them by lowering the mower on ropes, so weight mattered. We had a gas powered mower here while we still had a lawn. The lawn was so small that a single catcher bag load would do quite nicely. When we re-landscaped about 15 years ago we did away with that lawn, so I haven't owned a lawn mower in about 15 years. Much nicer! I'll second the recommendation above. Regardless of what you get, keep it sharp. Much less work that way.

 

[Jim K]

...mowing once a month...

Once a month? I'd have to have one these if I let it go for a month:

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Out of our tractors, 2 are working tractors, 2 are for fun (although we might put a finish mower behind them when the kids get bigger) and then there's the dozer, which works. But there's work that goes into all of them - the 9N was the most work since I rebuilt the engine on that which took forever.

The gang reel setup was something I thought about in PA, but my ultimate conclusion was it was more hassle than it was worth.

Like I said, I've got 3 tractors. None of them are 100% correctly function, but they do the job. Deciding to tear into one is the next project. Tear into the Massey Ferguson 150 and figure out why the 3 point works funky is one option, or tear into the Massey Ferguson 205 compact, and figure out why the high range doesn't work. Neither sound like a good time.

 

[Ted]

Like I said, I've got 3 tractors. None of them are 100% correctly function, but they do the job. Deciding to tear into one is the next project. Tear into the Massey Ferguson 150 and figure out why the 3 point works funky is one option, or tear into the Massey Ferguson 205 compact, and figure out why the high range doesn't work. Neither sound like a good time.

Yeah, the working tractors are just that - working machines. I do the minimum truly required on those to keep them running although I did convert them to an alternator. If the gas engines blow up I might try to find a diesel to throw in.

 

[A1Topgun]

We have a couple of Brill mowers. My wife uses the reel mower and she weighs under 125. They give you a piece of shim stock to set the blade to cutter bar, so the blades never really rub the cutter bar.
Pretty easy to push.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Yeah, the working tractors are just that - working machines. I do the minimum truly required on those to keep them running although I did convert them to an alternator. If the gas engines blow up I might try to find a diesel to throw in.

Thankfully those are both diesels. Interestingly enough, my gas tractor (a Ferguson TO-30) is the one that's the most correct in terms of running well.

 

[Arm3]

I used a corded Black and Decker electric mower for 9 years at our last house. I didn’t find the cord added a significant amount of time to mowing. The trick I read and used was to coil up the cord on the side of the yard where you started and then continuously work away from it. Worked really well for the small yard we had.

The house we are in now has about twice the yard which made the corded mower impractical. I bought one of the E-Go battery mowers from Home Depot and been happy with it.

 

[Ted]

Thankfully those are both diesels. Interestingly enough, my gas tractor (a Ferguson TO-30) is the one that's the most correct in terms of running well.

I'm actually fine with these being gassers. They burn more fuel but are more straightforward to fix externally. Really as long as the bottom end holds up I should be fine. Just that if one of them broke and I had to tear into it, I would probably look for a diesel that I could throw in. The Allis Chalmers front end loader is about the most useful thing we own. The Massey could be more easily replaced if it blew up, but the Allis I think we'd go to heroic efforts to keep going.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

I used a corded Black and Decker electric mower for 9 years at our last house. I didn’t find the cord added a significant amount of time to mowing. The trick I read and used was to coil up the cord on the side of the yard where you started and then continuously work away from it. Worked really well for the small yard we had.

I think that's the way I'm going to end up going. Electric mowers with cord are cheap and probably will last forever. My small plot of land is hilly and somewhat wooded so I think that would cause issues with debris.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

I'm actually fine with these being gassers. They burn more fuel but are more straightforward to fix externally. Really as long as the bottom end holds up I should be fine. Just that if one of them broke and I had to tear into it, I would probably look for a diesel that I could throw in. The Allis Chalmers front end loader is about the most useful thing we own. The Massey could be more easily replaced if it blew up, but the Allis I think we'd go to heroic efforts to keep going.

The Perkins diesel in my 150 is darn near bullet proof, and super easy to get parts for, should the need arise. Getting parts for a Toyosha 1.1L 2 cylinder diesel (from the 205) is a total pain. If I was serious about having the tractor long term, I'd be looking at having a parts machine or two out back.

 

[Ted]

The Perkins diesel in my 150 is darn near bullet proof, and super easy to get parts for, should the need arise. Getting parts for a Toyosha 1.1L 2 cylinder diesel (from the 205) is a total pain. If I was serious about having the tractor long term, I'd be looking at having a parts machine or two out back.

I've basically taken the attitude with these of "They last as long as they last" at purchase. And for the price I've paid (and what I have into them) it's been very worth it in terms of capability vs. price. Especially with the front end loader being so useful on the Allis.

On the Massey (which is primarily a mower), the big R1 ag tires in back and 3-rib in front, I think that once we have the runway built we will want a mowing machine that'll be easier on the ground. So that one may be on the chopping block, although it is really useful for the bush hog.

 

[Brad W]

i haven't used one in 30 years or more. My dad came across a manual non-powered one & I used to occasionally use it to do small parts of the yard.
I don't remember such issue with long grass but I can imagine it being a problem. What I remember was it absolutely did not like debris such as sticks, so not great under messy trees, and the thing did an absolute fantastic job and cutting...looked finely manicured.
If I had a small and clean yard to do I'd certainly get one.

 

[NoHeat]

Reel mowers aren’t all manual.

They’re also available gas-powered and electric. The advantage over rotary blades is a cleaner cut, they say. But I haven’t tried them.

 

[kyleb]

Reel mowers aren’t all manual.

They’re also available gas-powered and electric. The advantage over rotary blades is a cleaner cut, they say. But I haven’t tried them.

They cut like scissors with a rotary blade cutting the grass against a fixed blade.

 

[GRG55]

I moved to a new place that has a pretty tiny amount of grass I need to mow. I'm not sure I want to deal with increasing my cylinder index for what would amount to 30-40 minutes of mowing once a month. I also looked into corded electric mowers, but it looks like dragging around an extension cord is a real PITA. Cordless electric mowers would do the trick, but they're far more money than I wanted to spend.

Does anyone have experience with reel mowers? Any model they would recommend if any?

Once a month?
Don't you live in Wisconsin? Where in summer the grass grows faster and taller than the corn in Iowa (unless you have a dairy herd to mulch it)?

All my memories of a reel mower are bad. My parents had a massive yard, with some significant slopes, and my Dad wouldn't spend the money to buy a power mower. So one of my chores as a kid was to spend all bloody weekend mowing the lawns with the reel mower. Hated that thing. And as I (faintly) recall, if you let the grass get too tall the reel mower won't cut it easily, nor will it cut the grass if it is too damp from the last rainfall.