I am 72 years old and I have used one of those types of mowers A LOT. The key for taller grass is that you have to "chunk" it a bit of it at a time. Also, they cut a lot better if the blade and scythes are just barely hitting each other like a whisper - which is what it sounds like with that one out of the box. Good for getting some exercise and cutting the grass. Yes, you need to rake before and after.
I am 41 and when I was a child we had a reel mower and I use yo now the yard with it but ours had a Grass catcher on it. I currently have 2 reel mowers one from the late 60s and a new one and still use them both on occasion along with my riding mower and my other gas push mower
With proper sharpening, a reel mower works really well. My grandfather kept one that he used every once in a while. I used it several times myself. The first task is always walking around the yard gathering up sticks. You have to remember, people took pride in the little things. That included a well maintained lawn. When you are dedicated to doing something well, it will be easier to keep it up.
When I was 13, I hated mowing the lawn. So, I drained all the oil out of the mower and ran it until the head cracked. Dad made me borrow the old cajun neighbor’s lawnmower and he broke out one of these rotary bad boys. Dad had the last laugh for sure.
There are wider and heavier duty versions of those. The good ones gear up the speed of the blade and those can go through small sticks and taller grass with no problem. You are correct about them being designed for a maintained lawn. growing up there wouldn't be a leaf or stick to be seen on our front yard lawn thanks to our lawn service (my sisters and I) picking those up every day.
I get so much tree leaves, seed pods, sticks small and large, and bark. Right now we’ve just about finished bark, and onto leaves and sticks galore next. I clean it up 1-3 times per week and fill a 60 litre bin with it each time. We get a break from it in winter. I keep it as clean as I can (but it’s never spotless 😂) and that way I can use the reel mower, it’s a quick way to mow with no fuss just get it out, mow, clean it off, and put it away.
It's a decent reel mower, you will get a bit of a workout cutting the grass, but do it twice a week, you'll get your workout in and the lawn will look beautiful. I had one of these a couple years ago, and the first time I used it I fell in love. It's quiet, doesn't emit greenhouse gases, doesn't make the air smell bad, makes you stronger too.
I love it when Tyler discovers something that's been a thing for years (like metal ice trays). My neighbors had a powered reel mower (Toro brand) in the 60s. Their entire lawn was like a putting green.
My grandfather, my cousins, and myself manicured a driving range and putting green on a few of his acres. We had a set of tractor pulled 5 reel mowers that we used at least twice a week on the range, and he would use the hand-powered one every day on the putting green. These are meant to manicure a lawn, not cut grass once a week.
I own that mower and can confirm the blades don't come sharp enough (you do have to sharpen them which is difficult to do) and the bar on the front does negatively affect it's cutting capability. Still, when your riding lawn mower is being repaired, this little push mower does come in handy. (Also it's great for burning calories)
No. They don't give a cleaner cut. They actually cut instead of ripping. The clean cut is better for the grass. I actually have a self propelled version from the '50's.
@@tylerwestman5258 as long as you do it regularly and don't let the grass grow for more than a few days (like they do at golf courses). If you have a little townhouse or something with like 50 square yards of lawn, this is all you need.
Watching tyler work is like watching a bunch of mokeys fornicating a football... geesh read the assy instructions. To install the handgrips you need to soak in soapy warm water and that lawnmower produces no carbon
My aunt had one of these when I was a kid, and it was actually easier to use and cut better than a standard push mower, when it was sharpened properly.
I suspect this is one of those you get what you pay for things. Some old mechanical instruments can work extremely well, if you buy quality, and you properly maintain them. If you get junk, they won't work well unless you can fix it. Like this might work well, if you sharpen it.
@@jamesbyrd3740it seemed to work very well actually. Reel mower just do not deal well with sticks and long grass at all simply by virtue of their design. If you have medium-length grass and rake your yard beforehand (or just don't have trees), it's the best cut you csn get.
I agree but if you live in south Florida where the grass grows 6in every week and you have to mow in 100 degree weather, Self propellant is necessary. When I lived up north I used a push mower all the time.
Lucky... I was 7 and my mom expected me to use the one she got at a yard sale (that was rusted to siezure). It hade tire marks in the grass that wasn't a foot tall... we just took the fines until I convinced her to get a gas one 😂
Yup! I use a reel mower for my small yard/yards just because of it's simplicity and nostalgia from when i was a little kid. Works great when maintained properly! Just one of those things that you can't really cheap out on too much
I work on a golf course and most of our mowers are still reel mowers. They just carry multiple cutting units. So, one mower will have between 3 to 5 separate reels at 1 time. They provide a fantastic quality of cut and are difficult to maintain
Golf courses still use reel mowers for all there greens tees and fairways at least, some gas powered push reel mowers others drive on real mowers, reel mower quality of cut is unmatched
I have the same mower, except years old. The edges will collect grass, you do need to maintain it, and it doesn't do detail work. Works good enough. Got tired of motorized mowers failing, requiring gas etc, and I'm not an engine mechanic, so this solves the problem, zero failure rate. PS, the faster you push, better it works, less clog. Also, you can manhandle the sticks and clogs, just pick it up and slam them out, or rake the sticks before mowing. It will do high grass better if you do HALF swipe passes instead of a direct swipe. Whatever the issue, you will pick up tricks as you use it.
reel mowers are actually used very widely .. for precise looks and cut... theyre used more than you'd think.. when used correctly and actually the right way and in the correct application.. its not meant for tall grass like that
@@thanasis-_- Nah. You just trim the grass down a bit with a weed whacker (or strimmer as we call them here in the UK), then go over it with the reel mower to get it shorter.
used one last year. Mine was a Scotts version. Did a 1/2 acre with it. You have to mow every two days or it just gets too thick of grass. Also, lower it one level at a time until you hit the lowest setting. Then maintain it every 2 days. They cut great and the lawn looks great. Time consuming though and to be honest more work than most want to do. I did it because my lawn tractor caught fire and I could only afford the Scotts mower for a replacement. Now I saved and got a John Deere Zero turn mower. Never going back. Grass grows faster when you use a reel mower than if you use a rotary mower. The grass recovers easier. So cut the blade of grass with a reel mower and pull it up to look at a piece of it then cut another spot with a rotary mower. The grass gets more torn than cut with a rotary mower. So the grass will have a cleaner edge if you use a reel mower than a rotary mower. Typically though most folks want less time consuming lawn care.
I still use one of these to this day because it kinda forces you into a routine of mowing your lawn frequently. When the grass is long it can still work but you have to go back and forth multiple times as you've shown, but it's so monumentally exhausting. But the greatest thing is how quiet it is, for my own ears as well as my neighbours thanks to suburban population density these days. Another good thing is you can con the kids into doing it for you seeing as it looks like the toys they used to play with and you're teaching them good life lessons. I'm 29 by the way and only started using this when I moved out of home where my mother had a petrol mower, which was a literal piece of garbage; loud as hell, the pull string broke constantly, ran out of fuel, motor had to be replaced many times, you could only use it at certain times of the day because of the noise and the storage! It took up a whole section of the garage that I could barely park a small car and motorbike in there comfortably. With these, less than a metre of total area and you can lean it against the wall in the corner. Sharpening is cinch though, just use an old file.
If you find one of these not doing very well, it's very worth it to sharpen the blades. This style mower is great for small yards as long as you keep the blade sharp.
Yes, but keep in mind that sharpening these blades on a reel mower is nothing like sharpening them on a rotary mower. You have to smear everything with grinding compound (ceramic corrundum grits mixed with grease) and run the reel backwards against the knife. And you have to set the knife tension to just barely contact the reel.
I need one for a sloppy side of the lawn. Would it cut 1 foot tall grass( I a farmer, I have lots of grass to mow ) . On this slope I don't want to use my tractor or mower.
I have a 1950s one, found it in an old barn. It was covered in weeds, dirt, spiders, etc. and rusted to hell. A little wd40 and it was back to working and works great, I use it every now and then
I used to use a push mower for years when still living with my parents. And they had a huge back yard. If the grass was too tall my dad used a scythe first. So funny to see Tyler look at that thing as if he has seen a ufo...😂
I mean I'm only 32, but I certainly know what a reel mower is and their intended use. Wonder how blown away this guy would be if he saw how golf course greens are mowed 🤯
These are popular in my neighborhood. We use them all the time. The trick is to not let the grass get too tall. They work great (and even better than motorized) if you're just going to trim and shape the lawn. Go over it once a week during spring, and then like once or twice a month during other seasons.
I've seen one before, but even my grandpa had a gas push mower. He only brought out that bad boy reel mower for me to use when I'm being punished. It easily gets 105 with 90%+ humidity here. When the grass grows 10 feet every week, you'll wish you had a gas mower.
Yeah I know. I'm almost 30 and I've seen and used one of these manual push mowers. When I was about 10 my Mom and I moved into a place and my Grandpa's Brother gave me an old one to mow our yard since he knew we were poor at the time. I loved the thing for the novelty factor when mowing the lawn. Mowing a neighbors lawn sucked though.
Due to being a renter and space constraints, I bought a reel mower. Works well, just gotta stop at times to move sticks and pine cones out of the way. Just mowed today actually!
Growing up we used to have one of those. My dad would always try to get me to mow the lawn with it, BUT because the thing was so freaking heavy and old with this huge basket on the back to catch the grass, i could barely push it. Lol. So i would usually get out of mowing the lawn, unless he was in a bad mood and made me. 😂 This one is alot nicer then the one we had.
i do landscaping and sometimes even normal lawn mowers miss things and i've actually used one of these before and honestly if you don't want to spend money on gas and you dont mind push mowing then its a great option
I was gonna comment, all the landscapers I know have these but a more newer version. also, it's good in places where elderly live and they have small lawns, nice and quiet for elderly.
Fact, reel mowing is actually healthier for your lawn compared to a normal mower because you have the reel and then you have a thing called the bad knife, and when the grass comes in contact between those two surfaces, it cuts the top off like scissors, and compared to a rotary mower which has the blades it causes blunt force trauma to the grass blade and makes it hard for the grass to survive or it stresses it out These are types mowers meant for like golf greens and fairways on golf courses, or in some matters, There are powered reel mowers and some homeowners use like, for example, I have a greens mower for cutting golf greens, and I cut some portions of my lawn, down to 3/4 of an inch.
I grew up using one of these mowers with my dad in the backyard because we couldn’t afford one of those “expensive gas mowers.” 😁 Thanks for bringing back some great old memories, Ty.
Yep, same here. Most people either buy these mowers for the exercise or out of absolute necessity. Growing up we went with a reel mower for probably 6 years, until my mother finally landed a semi-decent paying job and could afford something better.
Tyler you should do a sharpness test on that mower and then sharpen it as much as possible and do another sharpness test, then test it again and it'll probably go through those sticks and tall grass like butter.
Reel mowers notoriously do not do well with sticks or long grass. Their design simply doesn't work well for it. A "regular" lawnmowers hits the grass, so it doesn't really care about sticks, and outside of the deck clogging up, doesn't care about about the length of grass. A reel mower pulls the grass and snips it like a pair of scissors between the reel and the blade. Long grass will often avoid being caught by the reel, and sticks... well, have you ever tried to cut a stick with a pair of scissors? Doesn't work too well. You might be able to sharpen it enough to get through the real small stuff, but you aren't cutting through many sticks with it. On the upside, reel mowers simply cut the grass better. That scissor motion leaves the grass cut clean as opposed to frayed.
@@TheMorbidHobo Yeah, they're good for maintaining already decent grass but when you get into reconditioning land with it you're shit out of luck. They don't do well on hills either just by the nature of you having to do all the work although a lot of greens use mechanical ones, typically ride on that can easily go through smaller sticks but they do still gum up on larger stuff and as you said, long grass just slips under it. I still have a push one I use if I don't want to make much noise.
As a retired professional gardener with over forty years of experience I have to say how much I enjoy this channel. Many thanks ! Greetings from the UK.
My kind of rig!! Doesn't break your pockets, doesn't need gas, doesn't need electricity. Does not perturb my neighbors, minimum costs on the long run and also give you a good workout. Nice 👍🏻🙂
I think they are making a comeback, have seen a few people use these old rotary push mowers, again on a flat and manicured lawn, just for a quick cut to keep it short like a bowling green, that's why they don't have height adjustments, though i have seen them with grass catchers or grass bags, so bit of a step up for them
My electric mower packed up a couple months back, got a reel mower for around £30 and it's amazing! Taller grass needed a once over with the strimmer first but it's so much easier to just whip out the reel mower and give it a quick once over every couple of weeks without the faff of extension leads and trying not to get tangled in the wire! Grass is looking healthier, and mine has a little basket on the back to collect the grass, height adjustable, I'd rate it over a cheap electric rotary one any day! Great video as always anyway💪
Reel mowers are awesome. The trick is to clear the lawn of debris, and regularly mow. The lawn will actually improve over time as long as you're not trying to scalp it.
I have two of those old reel mowers. One of them a Craftsman. 18 inch cut, I believe. They are old. Not just old-fashioned. Back when I was working in lawn care, I had one tiny yard that was more hassle and took more time to unstrap and unload the powered equipment off the trailer, than it did to mow the lawn. Especially because the yard was up on an elevated area and the only way to get anything heavier than a weed-whacker up to it was to go around back and squeeze through a little path between the building and and fence. So I brought the Craftsman reel mower one day. Just grab it out of the truck, lift it up 2 1/2 feet to the top of the wall to the lawn, plop it down and push. No gassing up, no yanking 50 times on a rope. None of that BS. just set it down and off you go. After the second week, that tiny yard was the best looking lawn on my route. Almost like a putting green. When properly adjusted, maintained, and cared for, these reel mowers are amazing on a regularly kept lawn. Especially if the mower was made back when "build quality" had a meaning, rather than the modern of "pump out enough chinesium junk and push them out the door as fast as possible." If you can, I would suggest findin an old-timer who still has his old reel mower and ask him to show you the ins and outs of it and try to use it. I love my old reel mower. After mowing with it, I kind of felt like it was cheating to pull out the 2-stroke gas powered Shindaiwa weed whacker and do a quick buzz around the edges.
reel mowers like this are mostly used for cutting freshly seeded grass that is being used to be cut short. like the sort of length you see on a golf course. so theyre designed to cut off small amounts of grass and be very light so that they dont damage the grass when cutting it. theyre not really made for tall grass, even when the height has been taken all the way up. people like ryan knorr use them when first establishing their short cut turf
Ah yes, this was the mower I first learned to use. Actually really good. We don't always need the conveniences of self-propelling and more power. The instances where Tyler stated that gas mowers would just mulch over twigs and sticks and branches... I mean, yeah... to a degree. But that is not their purpose. Get a mulcher for that lol. To be fair, a good practice to learn is to scan the yards before mowing for any objects or obstacles so you don't dull or possibly even ruin a perfectly good mower. But with this mower right here, it just replaces the horsepower your gas gives you with your own horsepower- not something too many people are willing to do in this age where convenience is more common.
We have the same type of lawnmower but from a different company. Seems to be a bit more solidly built. Our lawn is about the size of a medium sized living room so this type of mower is perfect. We could almost do it with scissors. Very compact, we just spray it with a garden hose sometimes to remove any dirt and debris. The trick is to go crisscross with a some overlap and with good speed. Also giving it a good push at certain locations to get the reel spinning fast helps. And yes it still gets stuck on small sticks sometimes and misses some stiffer weeds. If grass gets taller we sometimes just cut the grass again the next day when the grass has raised up again. Takes a few minutes. It does have adjustment screws for height. Probably yours does too. Some of our neighbors who have similar lawns have opted for a battery powered mowers. But these seem much bigger. I haven't found a more optimal solution yet. We don't really put it away during summer, we just keep it close at hand which eliminates having to dig the mower out of a shed or utility room for regular mowing. Doesn't have any sensitive components and is not expensive either so why not.
When i was younger,i absolutely hated mowing the lawn and edging,but now that im older,i love mowing the lawn,something about fresh cut grass smells so good,and having the best looking lawn on your street is a great feeling,plus it gets you away from the gf/wifes
I own one, it has a collection bay to help, however consistency is its requirement, which means dont let grass get too long, go at a pace that doesnt vary much and it will work great, they also cut the grass more cleanly (like a siscors vs just wack-ing it with a spinning blade so the grass blades that are left are a bit more healthy) but yeah however not too heavy compaired to a gas mower, it still is a workout to push, good for teens making a few bucks, and those with small yards that are healthy, not for us with bad backs, bad knees generations. I now use an battery powered lawn mower and love it, lighter than the reel mower, doesnt bog down, easy to push. and for my lawn takes less than half the battery to do.
I've been in the lawn care business for twenty plus years. You're supposed to do a grounds check before each mow. Check for trash,rocks,sticks. You're not supposed to just run over sticks it dulls and damages your blade.
I think I follow you. Probably shouldn't go after the chest high ones with that 😂. But they do work, my grandma had one in the 90s. And I see one of my elderly neighbours use one to this day. She mainly has flowerbeds and lil grass paths between. Low maintenance and gives her a lil workout. So it does work n quite well actually. Ya may need to rake before, if there are sticks and after the mow, if the grass was longer, because it doesn't mulch. But if done regularly the cut pieces are small enough to just fall between the grass blades n it's just normal groomed grass. May also need to do 2 passes, but it's easy to just pull back a step or 2 n cut what it missed on the first pass. I might actually get myself one, think it'd be easier to maneuver around bushes and trees than a powered one.
Need to loosen the bedknife , get a feeler gauge amd set it at about .002 clearance and get some backlapping compound and back lap it it will make a world of difference . It'll also be easier to push , I keep do the maintance on all of our reel mowers at our golf course, a good sharp ,properly adjusted reel will cut better than anything else you'll ever find . Set it down to about 3/16s of a inch and you can have your own putting green lol
Growing up we had 2 of theses. They still use this type mower in power form on golf courses. It is actually cuts much better than a rotary mower. I remember when cutting with ours we would use a push pull and move the mower in degrees. They work best and easiest if you don't let the grass get to tall. If I had a small yard I would consider using one. Just due to how simple they are and not having to deal with ethanol fuel and the damage it does to small engines.
I've used one of those in the past and I actually prefer them over motorized mowers. As long as you mow regularly and keep the blades maintained, reel mowers are great. As for sticks and other debris that could obstruct a reel mower, it's better to go through and clean up that kind of debris prior to mowing anyway, regardless of whether you're using a motorized mower or a reel mower. It's rough on the blades of any mower to chew through that stuff.
Great video. I ordered one of these (although a little bigger with more blades). I'm psyched to get it. You confirmed what others have said: 1. not for tall grass. So once you get rid of your tall grass, your weekly cut should be easier. 2. yep, sticks stop it in it's tracks. So again, once you go through and get rid of those you should be good. 3. and my most favorite part was at the beginning when you stopped after 10 feet and noted how surprised and impressed you were.
I had this exact make and model mower a few years ago. It’s great for small lawn for sure if you don’t care about mulching. Eventually just upgraded to a small gas mower. It definitely gets the job done for cheap.
When I was a kid I saw plenty of these, including one that cut forward and back. Also before gas weed trimmers, we used sickles. Some of them are amazing, and for heavy brush field work pretty amazing. But seriously the best thing about gas lawn mowers and deck mowers on tractors.... is the suction. The strong updraft by the blades and canopy that allowed the air to rise and then shoots away, leave a lawn looking amazing. With all of the grass pulled up to an even height, before cutting, well is just hard to beat.
@TylerTube As a golf course mechanic(10 years) there are several things you need to be aware of. First off imma use simple terms rather then the technical terms so people can better understand 1- the spinning part is the reel (this is what ACTUALLY does the cutting!!!) 2- the flat metal piece under the reel is the bedknife 3- BOTH the reel and the bedknife wear out over time 4-you need to understand that the bedknife and reel adjustment( aka "contact") need to be maintained evenly on both ends or the cut will suffer and lead to really bad cuts/uneven cuts. 5- as they get dull the cut will look more n more like shit! 6- there are ways to make the reel spin backwards to do what is called "backlapping">>it requires a lapping compound and a even consistent speed while spinning in reverse 7-Because of ^6^ some Reel mowers require special tools to do this. 8- Reel mowers are best for low cut... anything above 2.5- 3 inches a regular rotary mower is actually better. 9-DO NOT THINK you can sharpen a reel OR bedknife with a angle grinder like a regular rotary blade..it wont work out for it! 10- Cut your yard 2-3 times per week in the growth season to have the best cut and results and looks 11- Understand what all this means and then go enjoy a yard that will look amazing 12- oh..in order to get 11 Have a blower or rake a tarp or trashbags (Unless you have a higher quality reel mower that has a "bucket" to catch the clippings) cut grass aka clippings sit on top and will build up so they need to be removed how ever you can
Other than the rough, reel mowers are what golf courses use on fairways and greens because it offers a very precise and short cut that a flat blade mower could never achieve. But as you figured out, once the grass gets tall it will struggle a bit. I worked at a course for many years and would help sharpen these once and a while using lapping compound.
Learned to mow grass at my grandparents house with one of those in the 70s. They had two, one like that one, and another that had a blade release controlled by a hand leaver. It allowed you to get some inertia going before engaging the cutting blade against the reel. That was the nice one and you always wanted to use that one for the exact problem you were having. It can also do that when the grass is damp and the wheels slip and don’t turn the reel. That’s probably why the really nice ones had an engine to run the reels. I suggest you get rid of this before you cut a toe off with it, every time you tried to get it going I was waiting for the blood to flow. Either that or wear some actual shoes.
Or lose fingers. These mowers are deceptively dangerous to anyone who forgets that just because the blade isn't motorized it's still a sharp bit of moving steel.
This type of lawnmower is what I have always used. The premium push-mowers can be as expensive as brand-name gas powered mowers. The trick is to swiftly do the lawn quite often such that it never get terribly tall. Reel style mowers gives you the most beautiful turf by the way and is what lawn-geeks use. Not that I am a lawn geek, I just inherited grandpas mower and it’s never failed to start. 😄
1400 try the 70's I remember people using them they were on the way out most people had gone to petrol mowers, but the Reel mowers (as in bobbin reel) work for small lawns but hell I've seen them used for big lawns. You probably do want to be the sort of person that cuts you lawn regularly as they work best for maintaining a neat lawn true you may need to give the lawn a rake before hand. they are quick easy and wont disturb the neighbours just keep them sharp and greased they work a treat and last forever
I currently own four mowers that I've collected over the years. They are two self-propelled gas Husquarna rotary mowers, one manual Fiskars 18" reel mower, and the newest addition, a YardForce electric 20V reel mower with grass catcher. I enjoy my Fiskars reel mower but will not cut below one inch. The YardForce will cut the lawn low as 3/4". Why do I own two rotary lawnmowers? Well, my backyard is an incline grade of 30-40 degrees. My first 21" Husqvarna 6.5 HP is an FWD and would not move up the hill with a grass catcher attached. So purchased a 21" AWD Husquarna 7.5HP which solved my problem. Also of note, Husqvarna isn't manufacturing non-commercial gasoline rotary mowers anymore. I plan on giving these two mowers a lot of TLC!!
I bought a Reel mower when i bought my first house, normal yard but had a half acre behind the house that was trampled dirt. They do work well as long as you keep the blade sharp and have the spacing right. The house I have now is a half acre of lawn that I mow with an electric push mower (ryobi), but I'm thinking of investing in a riding mower. I can walk it but in the heat we've been getting that doesn't seem too smart. Sorry for the ramble 😎
When I had a smaller lawn, I used to mow it with one of these, and it was great. You should take it apart and do a sharpness test. I really think if your blades were sharper you wouldn’t have an issue with those twigs. Mine would chomp through those easily.
At 27, I mowed the lawn for the first time ever today with the smaller version of this same motor. I know nothing of motor powered push mowers, other than that the sound of them makes me want to commit arson (I have sensory issues, eapecially with loud noise), so this mower was a blessing for me. It's about the same volume as a vacuum cleaner, so I can just put on my regular headphones and be fine. I did have to go over some spots a couple times to get it trimmed correctly, but I would take that any day over those loud monsters everyone else has.
When sharpened these mowers do a pretty good job, I've used them before- gas mowers are far superior though. You can also get mowers like this that have little electric motors that help keep the blades spinning without needing so much inertia- my neighbor has one and it does a surprisingly good job. These are great for very small lots, but this is not practical for even medium sized properties.
1. Reel mowers are for short grass 2. Your lawn needs to be free of debris 3. If it gets stuck, just move the blade backwards with your foot to get the debris out 4. For taller grass, just move it back and forth many times. In a few cuts, you will get all of the tall grass 5. The cut, if the mower is setup correctly, is superior to any rotary mower
“It’s kind of like where going back too…….. I don’t know 1400’s or something” Omfg Tyler, I really can’t tell how much of a character you’re putting on but it is hilarious
For less than $60 in the UK you can get one with a better handle and a collection box. Used regularly they are a cheap and efficient mower, especially if you have a small lawn. Also easy to service
My grandmother still had one of these at her house in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One of her sons would use it once a week and it did the job. It won't cut as effectively as a gas-powered mower, but a reel mower cuts fine. They've made a bit of a comeback because they're "green." Just sharpen the blades at the start of the season and oil the moving parts once a year and it's all good.
A tip for putting on and removing handgrips, on bicycles from my experience, is rubbing alcohol. The higher percentage, the better. Saliva or water can take too long to dry, and just end up lubricating them instead, which is what you don't want to happen. The alcohol is volatile, so it will dry up quickly, resulting in virtually no lubrication after it dries. It should have the least amount of water in it, like 91% isopropyl alcohol.
I mow my yard with mine every week. Tips: Don't use it on wet grass and keep your grass short. If you do those two things reel mowers make your yard look amazing. Also helps your grass fill in better.
Here in the Netherlands we don't really do gas powered consumer power tools, so our lawn mowers are all either electric or this style hand mower. You're meant to push them ahead with force, then take a step, then push them again, instead of trying to keep a constant speed. I've mowed grass that was a good 10 inches tall with these, once you get the rythm down it's pretty easy.
We had one of these growing up. We always raked the sticks and leaves out of the yard first and then mowed the lawn. Our mower also came with a grass clipping collection attachment, so it left the yard looking nice.
Our entire lawn is the patch of grass between the curb and the sidewalk on our corner lot (in the dense downtown-ish part of the city) so I use one of these mowers and its perfect. Dont need a loud heavy gas mower to waste money on, dont need to spend a lot on an electric one and need to charge batteries... just pull out the reel mower and its done in like 10 mins. Yeah it gets clogged up sometimes, and small sticks will stop you once and a while, but its great. Kinda want a new one like this though.
my grandma use to have one of these, truth be told, if you paid attention to your lawn an mowed it in the right time while having your blades sharp these were great!
I'm going to look for a good-quality one of those to mow the paths in my garden where my big zero-turn can't get, and get rid of my push mower- which just takes up a lot of space in the shed, when all I use it for is mowing the little garden. Used one when I was a kid, once. They cut beautifully, and there's just something so nice about doing things manually, and not making a racket.
I unironically have and use one of these. I don't necessarily recommend it because any stick immediately jams it which is *extremely* frustrating. But, my reasoning was this: I didn't want a gas mower. The electric mower I do want is the Milwaukee because I use their tools, but their mower is very basic and NOT worth anywhere close to the 1-1.2K USD asking price. This doesn't use gasoline OR any batteries I don't have and it was dirt cheap! (Mine was $90 but slightly wider I think, and orange, but the same brand.) I have a really small front lawn though, and my back lawn isn't grass, so it's fine.
Dandelions are it's greatest weakness. Tall grass you can get through with some effort but dandelions it just rolls right over but when conditions are right it is actually a very enjoyable experience
I am 72 years old and I have used one of those types of mowers A LOT. The key for taller grass is that you have to "chunk" it a bit of it at a time. Also, they cut a lot better if the blade and scythes are just barely hitting each other like a whisper - which is what it sounds like with that one out of the box. Good for getting some exercise and cutting the grass. Yes, you need to rake before and after.
'Whisper' is the perfect word.
I am 73 and have used one of those A WHOLE LOT and I agree with everything you said
As soon as I heard that "whisper" sound I was transported back to 11 year old me mowing my Grandparents lawn.
They have a bag attachment that hooks on to the hooks on the rear of the lawn mower.
I am 41 and when I was a child we had a reel mower and I use yo now the yard with it but ours had a Grass catcher on it. I currently have 2 reel mowers one from the late 60s and a new one and still use them both on occasion along with my riding mower and my other gas push mower
With proper sharpening, a reel mower works really well.
My grandfather kept one that he used every once in a while. I used it several times myself. The first task is always walking around the yard gathering up sticks.
You have to remember, people took pride in the little things. That included a well maintained lawn. When you are dedicated to doing something well, it will be easier to keep it up.
When I was 13, I hated mowing the lawn. So, I drained all the oil out of the mower and ran it until the head cracked.
Dad made me borrow the old cajun neighbor’s lawnmower and he broke out one of these rotary bad boys.
Dad had the last laugh for sure.
You were an evil kid haha
I wouldn’t have been allowed out for the rest of the summer.
Did you pay for a new one?
@@653j521 I never again got the 15 bucks Dad paid for mowing the lawn after that.
He let you live?
same same, as my dad would be on the sit on one and I'd be handed a edging tool and trimmer, it was lame.
There are wider and heavier duty versions of those. The good ones gear up the speed of the blade and those can go through small sticks and taller grass with no problem. You are correct about them being designed for a maintained lawn. growing up there wouldn't be a leaf or stick to be seen on our front yard lawn thanks to our lawn service (my sisters and I) picking those up every day.
Great excercize
I get so much tree leaves, seed pods, sticks small and large, and bark. Right now we’ve just about finished bark, and onto leaves and sticks galore next. I clean it up 1-3 times per week and fill a 60 litre bin with it each time. We get a break from it in winter. I keep it as clean as I can (but it’s never spotless 😂) and that way I can use the reel mower, it’s a quick way to mow with no fuss just get it out, mow, clean it off, and put it away.
I just LOVE the sound of these mowers.
Brings back memories of my Grandpa mowing around his beloved strawberry patch. ❤
It's a decent reel mower, you will get a bit of a workout cutting the grass, but do it twice a week, you'll get your workout in and the lawn will look beautiful. I had one of these a couple years ago, and the first time I used it I fell in love. It's quiet, doesn't emit greenhouse gases, doesn't make the air smell bad, makes you stronger too.
I love it when Tyler discovers something that's been a thing for years (like metal ice trays). My neighbors had a powered reel mower (Toro brand) in the 60s. Their entire lawn was like a putting green.
Condescending much?
@@mtnman8783 How?
@@mtnman8783what?
@@mtnman8783 Your adult emotions should grow in some point. Hold in there bud!
My grandfather, my cousins, and myself manicured a driving range and putting green on a few of his acres. We had a set of tractor pulled 5 reel mowers that we used at least twice a week on the range, and he would use the hand-powered one every day on the putting green. These are meant to manicure a lawn, not cut grass once a week.
I own that mower and can confirm the blades don't come sharp enough (you do have to sharpen them which is difficult to do) and the bar on the front does negatively affect it's cutting capability. Still, when your riding lawn mower is being repaired, this little push mower does come in handy. (Also it's great for burning calories)
Yeah as Child Punishment. When Grandpa wanted to Punish Us, He got out a Mower just like this...
I actually like using reel mowers, they work really well as long as you don't let the grass grow too much.
Reel mowers actually cut lower then a propeller mower and give a cleaner cut
No. They don't give a cleaner cut. They actually cut instead of ripping. The clean cut is better for the grass.
I actually have a self propelled version from the '50's.
@@tylerwestman5258 as long as you do it regularly and don't let the grass grow for more than a few days (like they do at golf courses). If you have a little townhouse or something with like 50 square yards of lawn, this is all you need.
Watching tyler work is like watching a bunch of mokeys fornicating a football... geesh read the assy instructions. To install the handgrips you need to soak in soapy warm water and that lawnmower produces no carbon
I thought I was the only one with a chain-driven self-propelled reel mower before all safety was thought of and common Sense was pretty common
there’s something peaceful watching you cut grass with this mower. surprisingly calming
My aunt had one of these when I was a kid, and it was actually easier to use and cut better than a standard push mower, when it was sharpened properly.
I suspect this is one of those you get what you pay for things. Some old mechanical instruments can work extremely well, if you buy quality, and you properly maintain them. If you get junk, they won't work well unless you can fix it. Like this might work well, if you sharpen it.
@@jamesbyrd3740it seemed to work very well actually. Reel mower just do not deal well with sticks and long grass at all simply by virtue of their design. If you have medium-length grass and rake your yard beforehand (or just don't have trees), it's the best cut you csn get.
I agree but if you live in south Florida where the grass grows 6in every week and you have to mow in 100 degree weather, Self propellant is necessary. When I lived up north I used a push mower all the time.
Lucky... I was 7 and my mom expected me to use the one she got at a yard sale (that was rusted to siezure). It hade tire marks in the grass that wasn't a foot tall... we just took the fines until I convinced her to get a gas one 😂
Yup! I use a reel mower for my small yard/yards just because of it's simplicity and nostalgia from when i was a little kid. Works great when maintained properly! Just one of those things that you can't really cheap out on too much
I work on a golf course and most of our mowers are still reel mowers. They just carry multiple cutting units. So, one mower will have between 3 to 5 separate reels at 1 time. They provide a fantastic quality of cut and are difficult to maintain
Reel mowers are actually really good mowers for getting a perfect lawn.
Golf Green type lawn.
Good to use when setup proper.
Golf courses still use reel mowers for all there greens tees and fairways at least, some gas powered push reel mowers others drive on real mowers, reel mower quality of cut is unmatched
I have the same mower, except years old. The edges will collect grass, you do need to maintain it, and it doesn't do detail work. Works good enough. Got tired of motorized mowers failing, requiring gas etc, and I'm not an engine mechanic, so this solves the problem, zero failure rate. PS, the faster you push, better it works, less clog. Also, you can manhandle the sticks and clogs, just pick it up and slam them out, or rake the sticks before mowing. It will do high grass better if you do HALF swipe passes instead of a direct swipe. Whatever the issue, you will pick up tricks as you use it.
reel mowers are actually used very widely .. for precise looks and cut... theyre used more than you'd think.. when used correctly and actually the right way and in the correct application.. its not meant for tall grass like that
You have to have a perfect lawn in order for it to be useful
We use reel mowers at the golf course for greens and fairways. They definitely leave a precise look and cut like no other.
But the golf courses have the tractor sized version. I have a similar mower to this because I have a small front yard.
@@EightPieceBoxwe use push gas powered reel mowers for our tee boxes, everything else we have ride on
@@thanasis-_- Nah. You just trim the grass down a bit with a weed whacker (or strimmer as we call them here in the UK), then go over it with the reel mower to get it shorter.
used one last year. Mine was a Scotts version. Did a 1/2 acre with it. You have to mow every two days or it just gets too thick of grass. Also, lower it one level at a time until you hit the lowest setting. Then maintain it every 2 days. They cut great and the lawn looks great. Time consuming though and to be honest more work than most want to do. I did it because my lawn tractor caught fire and I could only afford the Scotts mower for a replacement. Now I saved and got a John Deere Zero turn mower. Never going back. Grass grows faster when you use a reel mower than if you use a rotary mower. The grass recovers easier. So cut the blade of grass with a reel mower and pull it up to look at a piece of it then cut another spot with a rotary mower. The grass gets more torn than cut with a rotary mower. So the grass will have a cleaner edge if you use a reel mower than a rotary mower. Typically though most folks want less time consuming lawn care.
I still use one of these to this day because it kinda forces you into a routine of mowing your lawn frequently. When the grass is long it can still work but you have to go back and forth multiple times as you've shown, but it's so monumentally exhausting. But the greatest thing is how quiet it is, for my own ears as well as my neighbours thanks to suburban population density these days. Another good thing is you can con the kids into doing it for you seeing as it looks like the toys they used to play with and you're teaching them good life lessons. I'm 29 by the way and only started using this when I moved out of home where my mother had a petrol mower, which was a literal piece of garbage; loud as hell, the pull string broke constantly, ran out of fuel, motor had to be replaced many times, you could only use it at certain times of the day because of the noise and the storage! It took up a whole section of the garage that I could barely park a small car and motorbike in there comfortably. With these, less than a metre of total area and you can lean it against the wall in the corner. Sharpening is cinch though, just use an old file.
Yes Tyler, Reel mowers are a thing. They are ideally used for Bermuda grass lawns. They work very well for that type of grass.
If you find one of these not doing very well, it's very worth it to sharpen the blades. This style mower is great for small yards as long as you keep the blade sharp.
Yes, but keep in mind that sharpening these blades on a reel mower is nothing like sharpening them on a rotary mower. You have to smear everything with grinding compound (ceramic corrundum grits mixed with grease) and run the reel backwards against the knife. And you have to set the knife tension to just barely contact the reel.
I need one for a sloppy side of the lawn. Would it cut 1 foot tall grass( I a farmer, I have lots of grass to mow ) . On this slope I don't want to use my tractor or mower.
@@gregorymalchuk272 thank you for knowing how to do that as well, thought I was the only one
@@riverocean4380 this is meant for maybe 3 to 4 inches of grass
I have a 1950s one, found it in an old barn. It was covered in weeds, dirt, spiders, etc. and rusted to hell. A little wd40 and it was back to working and works great, I use it every now and then
I used to use a push mower for years when still living with my parents. And they had a huge back yard. If the grass was too tall my dad used a scythe first.
So funny to see Tyler look at that thing as if he has seen a ufo...😂
I mean I'm only 32, but I certainly know what a reel mower is and their intended use. Wonder how blown away this guy would be if he saw how golf course greens are mowed 🤯
My grandmother still had one of these from decades ago just before she died. Tried for use it once but it was rusted to oblivion.
These are popular in my neighborhood. We use them all the time. The trick is to not let the grass get too tall. They work great (and even better than motorized) if you're just going to trim and shape the lawn. Go over it once a week during spring, and then like once or twice a month during other seasons.
Tyler not knowing about manual lawnmowers is the funniest thing to me 😂 I’m 22 and my parents had one
I've seen one before, but even my grandpa had a gas push mower. He only brought out that bad boy reel mower for me to use when I'm being punished. It easily gets 105 with 90%+ humidity here. When the grass grows 10 feet every week, you'll wish you had a gas mower.
Yeah I know. I'm almost 30 and I've seen and used one of these manual push mowers. When I was about 10 my Mom and I moved into a place and my Grandpa's Brother gave me an old one to mow our yard since he knew we were poor at the time. I loved the thing for the novelty factor when mowing the lawn. Mowing a neighbors lawn sucked though.
@@point-five-oh6249I wish I had a self propelled mower when we had a push gas mower.
I'm 25, my grandmother and uncle had one of these. Though theirs was so old and rusted I couldn't even push it through short grass.
Due to being a renter and space constraints, I bought a reel mower. Works well, just gotta stop at times to move sticks and pine cones out of the way. Just mowed today actually!
Growing up we used to have one of those. My dad would always try to get me to mow the lawn with it, BUT because the thing was so freaking heavy and old with this huge basket on the back to catch the grass, i could barely push it. Lol. So i would usually get out of mowing the lawn, unless he was in a bad mood and made me. 😂 This one is alot nicer then the one we had.
i do landscaping and sometimes even normal lawn mowers miss things and i've actually used one of these before and honestly if you don't want to spend money on gas and you dont mind push mowing then its a great option
I was gonna comment, all the landscapers I know have these but a more newer version. also, it's good in places where elderly live and they have small lawns, nice and quiet for elderly.
Fact, reel mowing is actually healthier for your lawn compared to a normal mower because you have the reel and then you have a thing called the bad knife, and when the grass comes in contact between those two surfaces, it cuts the top off like scissors, and compared to a rotary mower which has the blades it causes blunt force trauma to the grass blade and makes it hard for the grass to survive or it stresses it out These are types mowers meant for like golf greens and fairways on golf courses, or in some matters, There are powered reel mowers and some homeowners use like, for example, I have a greens mower for cutting golf greens, and I cut some portions of my lawn, down to 3/4 of an inch.
Tyler has managed to get paid, for doing chores.. Respect!
This is how Report of the week cuts his grass
I grew up using one of these mowers with my dad in the backyard because we couldn’t afford one of those “expensive gas mowers.” 😁 Thanks for bringing back some great old memories, Ty.
Yep, same here. Most people either buy these mowers for the exercise or out of absolute necessity. Growing up we went with a reel mower for probably 6 years, until my mother finally landed a semi-decent paying job and could afford something better.
@@Coonotafoo all we had to do was glimpse the old sling blade in the barn to make us feel like we had it made with the reel mower lol.
Expensive gas mower was a self propelled one. The ones you have to push are the cheap ones for budget homes
Tyler you should do a sharpness test on that mower and then sharpen it as much as possible and do another sharpness test, then test it again and it'll probably go through those sticks and tall grass like butter.
Good idea
Reel mowers notoriously do not do well with sticks or long grass. Their design simply doesn't work well for it. A "regular" lawnmowers hits the grass, so it doesn't really care about sticks, and outside of the deck clogging up, doesn't care about about the length of grass. A reel mower pulls the grass and snips it like a pair of scissors between the reel and the blade. Long grass will often avoid being caught by the reel, and sticks... well, have you ever tried to cut a stick with a pair of scissors? Doesn't work too well. You might be able to sharpen it enough to get through the real small stuff, but you aren't cutting through many sticks with it.
On the upside, reel mowers simply cut the grass better. That scissor motion leaves the grass cut clean as opposed to frayed.
@@TheMorbidHobo Yeah, they're good for maintaining already decent grass but when you get into reconditioning land with it you're shit out of luck. They don't do well on hills either just by the nature of you having to do all the work although a lot of greens use mechanical ones, typically ride on that can easily go through smaller sticks but they do still gum up on larger stuff and as you said, long grass just slips under it. I still have a push one I use if I don't want to make much noise.
I second this idea
@@TheMorbidHoboyour not supposed to run over sticks with a regular mower either its awful for the blade
As a retired professional gardener with over forty years of experience I have to say how much I enjoy this channel. Many thanks ! Greetings from the UK.
Ahh yes the joys of getting in a good rhythm and then almost eating the handle bar when hitting one stick 😂
My kind of rig!! Doesn't break your pockets, doesn't need gas, doesn't need electricity. Does not perturb my neighbors, minimum costs on the long run and also give you a good workout. Nice 👍🏻🙂
I have one of these, but a Bosch brand one. I love it. So convenient. No hassle with power cables or fuel. And it's lightweight.
I think they are making a comeback, have seen a few people use these old rotary push mowers, again on a flat and manicured lawn, just for a quick cut to keep it short like a bowling green, that's why they don't have height adjustments, though i have seen them with grass catchers or grass bags, so bit of a step up for them
Speed is the key for those old reel mowers.Go fast and it wont get seized as easy.
Cut often is what I found. A reel mower is great for around pools. It keeps clippings out of your pool.
Gotta walk at it like you mean it
My electric mower packed up a couple months back, got a reel mower for around £30 and it's amazing! Taller grass needed a once over with the strimmer first but it's so much easier to just whip out the reel mower and give it a quick once over every couple of weeks without the faff of extension leads and trying not to get tangled in the wire! Grass is looking healthier, and mine has a little basket on the back to collect the grass, height adjustable, I'd rate it over a cheap electric rotary one any day! Great video as always anyway💪
Reel mowers are actually really good. Doesn't use much gas at all. It's also one of the oldest known mower designs.
lol doesn't use much gas? how about it uses NO gas as it's all powered by muscle
No gas
@@TheJeracuda So technically....
@AtticusJacksonASMR the guy is still wrong
@@noneyabizz8337 there are gas powered reel mowers.
Reel mowers are awesome. The trick is to clear the lawn of debris, and regularly mow. The lawn will actually improve over time as long as you're not trying to scalp it.
I had one of those when I rented a small house with a tiny yard. I mowed it and got $25 off my rent. It works well for small places.
I have two of those old reel mowers. One of them a Craftsman. 18 inch cut, I believe. They are old. Not just old-fashioned. Back when I was working in lawn care, I had one tiny yard that was more hassle and took more time to unstrap and unload the powered equipment off the trailer, than it did to mow the lawn. Especially because the yard was up on an elevated area and the only way to get anything heavier than a weed-whacker up to it was to go around back and squeeze through a little path between the building and and fence. So I brought the Craftsman reel mower one day. Just grab it out of the truck, lift it up 2 1/2 feet to the top of the wall to the lawn, plop it down and push. No gassing up, no yanking 50 times on a rope. None of that BS. just set it down and off you go. After the second week, that tiny yard was the best looking lawn on my route. Almost like a putting green. When properly adjusted, maintained, and cared for, these reel mowers are amazing on a regularly kept lawn. Especially if the mower was made back when "build quality" had a meaning, rather than the modern of "pump out enough chinesium junk and push them out the door as fast as possible." If you can, I would suggest findin an old-timer who still has his old reel mower and ask him to show you the ins and outs of it and try to use it. I love my old reel mower. After mowing with it, I kind of felt like it was cheating to pull out the 2-stroke gas powered Shindaiwa weed whacker and do a quick buzz around the edges.
I enjoyed going to my uncles house and just roaming around the yard with that. Oh how I miss the Good ol days
reel mowers like this are mostly used for cutting freshly seeded grass that is being used to be cut short. like the sort of length you see on a golf course. so theyre designed to cut off small amounts of grass and be very light so that they dont damage the grass when cutting it. theyre not really made for tall grass, even when the height has been taken all the way up. people like ryan knorr use them when first establishing their short cut turf
Ah yes, this was the mower I first learned to use. Actually really good. We don't always need the conveniences of self-propelling and more power. The instances where Tyler stated that gas mowers would just mulch over twigs and sticks and branches... I mean, yeah... to a degree. But that is not their purpose. Get a mulcher for that lol. To be fair, a good practice to learn is to scan the yards before mowing for any objects or obstacles so you don't dull or possibly even ruin a perfectly good mower. But with this mower right here, it just replaces the horsepower your gas gives you with your own horsepower- not something too many people are willing to do in this age where convenience is more common.
I have a self propelled version of this mower. A Craftsman from the 50's
We have the same type of lawnmower but from a different company. Seems to be a bit more solidly built. Our lawn is about the size of a medium sized living room so this type of mower is perfect. We could almost do it with scissors. Very compact, we just spray it with a garden hose sometimes to remove any dirt and debris. The trick is to go crisscross with a some overlap and with good speed. Also giving it a good push at certain locations to get the reel spinning fast helps. And yes it still gets stuck on small sticks sometimes and misses some stiffer weeds. If grass gets taller we sometimes just cut the grass again the next day when the grass has raised up again. Takes a few minutes. It does have adjustment screws for height. Probably yours does too. Some of our neighbors who have similar lawns have opted for a battery powered mowers. But these seem much bigger. I haven't found a more optimal solution yet. We don't really put it away during summer, we just keep it
close at hand which eliminates having to dig the mower out of a shed or utility room for regular mowing. Doesn't have any sensitive components and is not expensive either so why not.
Tyler: 'How can I naturally transition into my Manscape sponsor?'
Amazon: 'I gotchu fam.' *Lawnmowers appear in Suggested/Recommended*
When i was younger,i absolutely hated mowing the lawn and edging,but now that im older,i love mowing the lawn,something about fresh cut grass smells so good,and having the best looking lawn on your street is a great feeling,plus it gets you away from the gf/wifes
I use to have one of these no motor lawn mowers cause our lawn was so small and very close to other houses and I loved it
I own one, it has a collection bay to help, however consistency is its requirement, which means dont let grass get too long, go at a pace that doesnt vary much and it will work great, they also cut the grass more cleanly (like a siscors vs just wack-ing it with a spinning blade so the grass blades that are left are a bit more healthy)
but yeah however not too heavy compaired to a gas mower, it still is a workout to push, good for teens making a few bucks, and those with small yards that are healthy, not for us with bad backs, bad knees generations. I now use an battery powered lawn mower and love it, lighter than the reel mower, doesnt bog down, easy to push. and for my lawn takes less than half the battery to do.
Tyler being utterly perplexed by a manual lawnmower is just amazing. Like... how has he never seen one of these before?
I've been in the lawn care business for twenty plus years. You're supposed to do a grounds check before each mow. Check for trash,rocks,sticks. You're not supposed to just run over sticks it dulls and damages your blade.
One of the best mower ever made no battery no gas just man power and made easy for storage
I should try to mow a yard with it 😂
Yeah😂
I think I follow you. Probably shouldn't go after the chest high ones with that 😂. But they do work, my grandma had one in the 90s. And I see one of my elderly neighbours use one to this day. She mainly has flowerbeds and lil grass paths between. Low maintenance and gives her a lil workout.
So it does work n quite well actually. Ya may need to rake before, if there are sticks and after the mow, if the grass was longer, because it doesn't mulch. But if done regularly the cut pieces are small enough to just fall between the grass blades n it's just normal groomed grass. May also need to do 2 passes, but it's easy to just pull back a step or 2 n cut what it missed on the first pass.
I might actually get myself one, think it'd be easier to maneuver around bushes and trees than a powered one.
Need to loosen the bedknife , get a feeler gauge amd set it at about .002 clearance and get some backlapping compound and back lap it it will make a world of difference . It'll also be easier to push , I keep do the maintance on all of our reel mowers at our golf course, a good sharp ,properly adjusted reel will cut better than anything else you'll ever find . Set it down to about 3/16s of a inch and you can have your own putting green lol
Every single video with something sharp I keep thinking the same thing in the back of my mind "God, please don't let Tyler lose a finger"
or a toe! Trying to unjam the blades with flip flops and socks. :-)
I have never seen anyone mow wearing only socks
Growing up we had 2 of theses. They still use this type mower in power form on golf courses. It is actually cuts much better than a rotary mower. I remember when cutting with ours we would use a push pull and move the mower in degrees. They work best and easiest if you don't let the grass get to tall. If I had a small yard I would consider using one. Just due to how simple they are and not having to deal with ethanol fuel and the damage it does to small engines.
This was the lawn mower I had to use when I got into trouble🙄
I've used one of those in the past and I actually prefer them over motorized mowers. As long as you mow regularly and keep the blades maintained, reel mowers are great.
As for sticks and other debris that could obstruct a reel mower, it's better to go through and clean up that kind of debris prior to mowing anyway, regardless of whether you're using a motorized mower or a reel mower. It's rough on the blades of any mower to chew through that stuff.
Tyler “idk what a push mower is” Tube
Great video. I ordered one of these (although a little bigger with more blades). I'm psyched to get it. You confirmed what others have said:
1. not for tall grass. So once you get rid of your tall grass, your weekly cut should be easier.
2. yep, sticks stop it in it's tracks. So again, once you go through and get rid of those you should be good.
3. and my most favorite part was at the beginning when you stopped after 10 feet and noted how surprised and impressed you were.
I had this exact make and model mower a few years ago. It’s great for small lawn for sure if you don’t care about mulching. Eventually just upgraded to a small gas mower. It definitely gets the job done for cheap.
Casually watching this guy mow a lawn, instead of being out on a Saturday😂 Much love Tyler
When I was a kid I saw plenty of these, including one that cut forward and back. Also before gas weed trimmers, we used sickles. Some of them are amazing, and for heavy brush field work pretty amazing.
But seriously the best thing about gas lawn mowers and deck mowers on tractors.... is the suction. The strong updraft by the blades and canopy that allowed the air to rise and then shoots away, leave a lawn looking amazing. With all of the grass pulled up to an even height, before cutting, well is just hard to beat.
@TylerTube
As a golf course mechanic(10 years) there are several things you need to be aware of.
First off imma use simple terms rather then the technical terms so people can better understand
1- the spinning part is the reel (this is what ACTUALLY does the cutting!!!)
2- the flat metal piece under the reel is the bedknife
3- BOTH the reel and the bedknife wear out over time
4-you need to understand that the bedknife and reel adjustment( aka "contact") need to be maintained evenly on both ends or the cut will suffer and lead to really bad cuts/uneven cuts.
5- as they get dull the cut will look more n more like shit!
6- there are ways to make the reel spin backwards to do what is called "backlapping">>it requires a lapping compound and a even consistent speed while spinning in reverse
7-Because of ^6^ some Reel mowers require special tools to do this.
8- Reel mowers are best for low cut... anything above 2.5- 3 inches a regular rotary mower is actually better.
9-DO NOT THINK you can sharpen a reel OR bedknife with a angle grinder like a regular rotary blade..it wont work out for it!
10- Cut your yard 2-3 times per week in the growth season to have the best cut and results and looks
11- Understand what all this means and then go enjoy a yard that will look amazing
12- oh..in order to get 11
Have a blower or rake a tarp or trashbags (Unless you have a higher quality reel mower that has a "bucket" to catch the clippings)
cut grass aka clippings sit on top and will build up so they need to be removed how ever you can
"Its wierd that it just takes the top off the grass" yeah, thats what lawn mowers do 😂
Modern mowers lift when they cut, the look is quite different
@@noneyabizz8337 I am aware of how lawn mowers work. They all cut off the top of the grass regardless of how they do it. It was a joke.
@@jiggnorth3593 mhm, sure sure
Other than the rough, reel mowers are what golf courses use on fairways and greens because it offers a very precise and short cut that a flat blade mower could never achieve.
But as you figured out, once the grass gets tall it will struggle a bit. I worked at a course for many years and would help sharpen these once and a while using lapping compound.
Learned to mow grass at my grandparents house with one of those in the 70s. They had two, one like that one, and another that had a blade release controlled by a hand leaver. It allowed you to get some inertia going before engaging the cutting blade against the reel. That was the nice one and you always wanted to use that one for the exact problem you were having. It can also do that when the grass is damp and the wheels slip and don’t turn the reel. That’s probably why the really nice ones had an engine to run the reels. I suggest you get rid of this before you cut a toe off with it, every time you tried to get it going I was waiting for the blood to flow. Either that or wear some actual shoes.
Or lose fingers. These mowers are deceptively dangerous to anyone who forgets that just because the blade isn't motorized it's still a sharp bit of moving steel.
@@Hybris51129best advice I’ve ever been given “you are the softest thing in the shop”
I think that we’re all somewhat amazed that Tyler still has all of his toes, fingers and eyes
25 seconds into the video and I can already tell you those mowers are fire if they have sharp blades.
Wait until he finds out they use to make gas mowers with no wheels.
Flymos?
This type of lawnmower is what I have always used. The premium push-mowers can be as expensive as brand-name gas powered mowers. The trick is to swiftly do the lawn quite often such that it never get terribly tall. Reel style mowers gives you the most beautiful turf by the way and is what lawn-geeks use. Not that I am a lawn geek, I just inherited grandpas mower and it’s never failed to start. 😄
Your accent says it all.
1400 try the 70's I remember people using them they were on the way out most people had gone to petrol mowers, but the Reel mowers (as in bobbin reel) work for small lawns but hell I've seen them used for big lawns. You probably do want to be the sort of person that cuts you lawn regularly as they work best for maintaining a neat lawn true you may need to give the lawn a rake before hand. they are quick easy and wont disturb the neighbours just keep them sharp and greased they work a treat and last forever
Anyone else bothered because he isn’t using the instructions
I currently own four mowers that I've collected over the years. They are two self-propelled gas Husquarna rotary mowers, one manual Fiskars 18" reel mower, and the newest addition, a YardForce electric 20V reel mower with grass catcher. I enjoy my Fiskars reel mower but will not cut below one inch. The YardForce will cut the lawn low as 3/4". Why do I own two rotary lawnmowers? Well, my backyard is an incline grade of 30-40 degrees. My first 21" Husqvarna 6.5 HP is an FWD and would not move up the hill with a grass catcher attached. So purchased a 21" AWD Husquarna 7.5HP which solved my problem. Also of note, Husqvarna isn't manufacturing non-commercial gasoline rotary mowers anymore. I plan on giving these two mowers a lot of TLC!!
I bought a Reel mower when i bought my first house, normal yard but had a half acre behind the house that was trampled dirt. They do work well as long as you keep the blade sharp and have the spacing right. The house I have now is a half acre of lawn that I mow with an electric push mower (ryobi), but I'm thinking of investing in a riding mower. I can walk it but in the heat we've been getting that doesn't seem too smart. Sorry for the ramble 😎
When I had a smaller lawn, I used to mow it with one of these, and it was great. You should take it apart and do a sharpness test. I really think if your blades were sharper you wouldn’t have an issue with those twigs. Mine would chomp through those easily.
At 27, I mowed the lawn for the first time ever today with the smaller version of this same motor. I know nothing of motor powered push mowers, other than that the sound of them makes me want to commit arson (I have sensory issues, eapecially with loud noise), so this mower was a blessing for me. It's about the same volume as a vacuum cleaner, so I can just put on my regular headphones and be fine. I did have to go over some spots a couple times to get it trimmed correctly, but I would take that any day over those loud monsters everyone else has.
When sharpened these mowers do a pretty good job, I've used them before- gas mowers are far superior though. You can also get mowers like this that have little electric motors that help keep the blades spinning without needing so much inertia- my neighbor has one and it does a surprisingly good job. These are great for very small lots, but this is not practical for even medium sized properties.
1. Reel mowers are for short grass
2. Your lawn needs to be free of debris
3. If it gets stuck, just move the blade backwards with your foot to get the debris out
4. For taller grass, just move it back and forth many times. In a few cuts, you will get all of the tall grass
5. The cut, if the mower is setup correctly, is superior to any rotary mower
I got one a few weeks ago for my front field because of all the half buried rocks in it and it goes right over them with no problem
“It’s kind of like where going back too…….. I don’t know 1400’s or something” Omfg Tyler, I really can’t tell how much of a character you’re putting on but it is hilarious
I completely lost it at 1400's. He plays it so straight, but I'm convinced he's actually genius character actor.
For less than $60 in the UK you can get one with a better handle and a collection box. Used regularly they are a cheap and efficient mower, especially if you have a small lawn. Also easy to service
My grandmother still had one of these at her house in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One of her sons would use it once a week and it did the job. It won't cut as effectively as a gas-powered mower, but a reel mower cuts fine. They've made a bit of a comeback because they're "green." Just sharpen the blades at the start of the season and oil the moving parts once a year and it's all good.
A tip for putting on and removing handgrips, on bicycles from my experience, is rubbing alcohol. The higher percentage, the better. Saliva or water can take too long to dry, and just end up lubricating them instead, which is what you don't want to happen. The alcohol is volatile, so it will dry up quickly, resulting in virtually no lubrication after it dries. It should have the least amount of water in it, like 91% isopropyl alcohol.
These are my favourite mowers. By far. Yes require lots of human power lol. But I love the cut it leaves. And the sound it makes.
I mow my yard with mine every week. Tips: Don't use it on wet grass and keep your grass short. If you do those two things reel mowers make your yard look amazing. Also helps your grass fill in better.
Tyler is just here to make me feel old and smart
My grandma had a postage stamp backyard and I used to love cutting it with an old push mower like this 😊
Here in the Netherlands we don't really do gas powered consumer power tools, so our lawn mowers are all either electric or this style hand mower. You're meant to push them ahead with force, then take a step, then push them again, instead of trying to keep a constant speed. I've mowed grass that was a good 10 inches tall with these, once you get the rythm down it's pretty easy.
We had one of these growing up. We always raked the sticks and leaves out of the yard first and then mowed the lawn. Our mower also came with a grass clipping collection attachment, so it left the yard looking nice.
Our entire lawn is the patch of grass between the curb and the sidewalk on our corner lot (in the dense downtown-ish part of the city) so I use one of these mowers and its perfect. Dont need a loud heavy gas mower to waste money on, dont need to spend a lot on an electric one and need to charge batteries... just pull out the reel mower and its done in like 10 mins. Yeah it gets clogged up sometimes, and small sticks will stop you once and a while, but its great. Kinda want a new one like this though.
my grandma use to have one of these, truth be told, if you paid attention to your lawn an mowed it in the right time while having your blades sharp these were great!
I'm going to look for a good-quality one of those to mow the paths in my garden where my big zero-turn can't get, and get rid of my push mower- which just takes up a lot of space in the shed, when all I use it for is mowing the little garden. Used one when I was a kid, once. They cut beautifully, and there's just something so nice about doing things manually, and not making a racket.
I unironically have and use one of these. I don't necessarily recommend it because any stick immediately jams it which is *extremely* frustrating. But, my reasoning was this: I didn't want a gas mower. The electric mower I do want is the Milwaukee because I use their tools, but their mower is very basic and NOT worth anywhere close to the 1-1.2K USD asking price. This doesn't use gasoline OR any batteries I don't have and it was dirt cheap! (Mine was $90 but slightly wider I think, and orange, but the same brand.) I have a really small front lawn though, and my back lawn isn't grass, so it's fine.
If this rotated both ways with the same effect, it would be incredible.
Remember townhouses where Getting From the front yard to backyard is easiest by walking through the house That's why I had 1 in 2010
I think I ever only seen this kind of lawnmower in illusutrations and old cartoons
I miss my old mower like that. My guess is around the 50’s they also put gas engines on them too.
Dandelions are it's greatest weakness. Tall grass you can get through with some effort but dandelions it just rolls right over but when conditions are right it is actually a very enjoyable experience