Sunlawn LMM40 From the US of A

by blair

There are quite a lot of reel mowers on the market and the question is: Which one is better than the next? If you are one of those patriotic types, born and bred in America, the Sunlawn LMM40 reel mower might cut it for you. It’s a crib on the German Brill mowers and apparently just as good – but grown in America.

As you will see in this video, this Sunlawn mower was designed by a guy who previously imported German Brill mowers into the United States. He really liked the product, but felt at the same time that he could do something to improve the product. So he went it alone and has come up with a successful range of Sunlawn mowers.

This particular model has five blades and a flame-hardened welded steel frame. The cutting width of the blades is about 16″ and the cutting height ranges from about ½” to 2″.

This is a reasonably lightweight mower and it is also a silent-cut design which means that the blades don’t connect with the cutting bar. Just like the German mowers, there are spring-loaded bolts that enable you to adjust the cutting blades and prevent any clicking. Clicking means that metal in the mower is connecting with other bits of metal in the mower, and therefore wearing down. By avoiding this wear-down click, manufacturers can extend the life of mowers by about a decade.

It also means that you just have to adjust the blades from time to time to stop them clicking rather than sharpening them.

The Germans got it right, and now there’s an American doing the same thing. If you’re in the market, have a look at the Sunlawn products.

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Brag: the Scotts Classic 20″ Reel Mower

by blair

Ben has made this video which he has called Quick Look at My New Scotts Classic 20″ Reel Mower. It’s just a pity he has not got a lawn more deserving of such a machine. But Ben doesn’t seem too concerned, acknowledging that it isn’t quite the season for cutting grass.

Anyway, this is his new prize purchase and it seems that his aim is to share his excitement. He tells us that he did a lot of research on the Internet before he bought his Scotts Classic. Now that he owns one, he has additional information to share with other people looking for a good buy.

One thing that has struck Ben is that reel lawn mowers have come a long way since the early 1970s. My guess he’d get quite a shock if he saw what was being used 20 years before the 70s! He wouldn’t believe it if he saw one of the very first reel mowers used in Victorian days.

But back to Ben. He tells us how his lawnmower arrived in a box and how he had to assemble the handles. There’s nothing new here. As he and many others on the Internet assure us, “it’s pretty easy to put together.”

Then he says that he believed the theory was that he wouldn’t have to sharpen the blades of his new mower for a couple of years. When he read his owner’s manual that comes with the mower, he discovered he probably wouldn’t even have to sharpen the blades. Instead, there’s a compound of some type that you can put on the blades and a one-way gear that you then use to hand sharpen them. He says there is another compound mentioned in the manual that you can use to keep the blades free of rust.

One issue he has is that he believed it was very simple to change the cutting height of the mower. The Scotts Classic, he says, can be altered from 1″ to 3″ depending on how high or low you want to cut your lawn. Can it be that complicated? Ben believes it is. Certainly, he says there is a “little bit of work to do.” Come on Ben – you just bought a lawn mower. There’s going to be a whole lot of work to do.

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Fine Tuning Your Reel Mower For Precision

by blair

The beauty of most reel mowers is that you don’t have to do much maintenance. But from time to time – probably every third or fourth year – you might have to adjust the distance between the reel and the cutting bar. That will keep your mower finely tuned, as Steve from Clean Air Gardening tells us in this video. The point is that if your mower is finely tuned, you’ll get a more precise cut and your lawn will look more beautiful.

In the video, Steve is talking specifically about Brill Razorcut Mowers, and you can see him working on a Premium 38 model.

Reel mowers usually come in a box, and when you get your mower, you will find your adjusting gauge either taped to the mower or in a parts packet. The adjusting gauge really just looks like a piece of paper, so don’t fret if you throw it away by mistake. In fact Steve says he prefers using an ordinary piece of paper instead of the gauge that comes with the mower, because you can use a larger sheet.

Adjusting the gauge on your mower involves setting the distance between the reel and the cutting bar. The aim is to create the smallest possible space between the two. In addition to the gauge – or piece of paper – you’re also going to need some sort of adjustable wrench or spanner. Steve suggests that you use either an open end 10 mm wrench or a crescent wrench. Then all you do is put the paper between the two mower parts and tighten up on either side. Then use your finger to get the cutting blades mowing, taking care not to cut yourself. If you hear a metal-on-metal sound then the two parts are touching, which means you’ve tightened it too much. Steve doesn’t say this, but it’s pretty obvious.

After this your mower should be as good as new again.

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Assembling The DeLuxe Light Reel Mower

by blair

In this rather funky video, George from Clean Air Gardening shows us how to assemble a Deluxe Light Reel Mower. Although surrounded with boxes of Brill Razorcut Reel Mowers, George is assembling a light reel mower made by the American Lawn Mower Company that comes in a different colored, blue and yellow box.

As George points out, this whole process is pretty simple because the Deluxe Light Reel Mower comes pre-assembled. You’ll find the base unit in the box with the wheels and reels attached, as well as all the parts needed to put the handles together. Then all you have to do is to match the handle to the base unit and screw the parts to one another.

What’s fun about this video is that you don’t have to listen to a whole of boring instructions while he assembles and fits the handles. Instead you just watch George do the job and listen to the backing track, which has been really well done. You’ll see that he doesn’t use any tools and that it’s a really quick and easy job to do. He does explain how to assemble the handles before he does it, so you’ll have some idea beforehand of what he’s going to do. The same applies to fixing the handles to the base unit. There are little holes on the handles that match up exactly with little goodies that stick out of the sides of the mower. You just have to fasten them together with the two E-rings supplied.

See how simple it is. As George says, you just assemble the handle, click it into place, and then lock it in place. And then you’re ready to mow.

It’s quite surprising the video has currently only got a rating of three-and-a-half stars

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About ReelMowers.org

by blair

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If you’ve never seen a reel mower, much less used one, then this site is a good place to start. Here, you’ll find all the basics about using a manual push reel mower. We’ll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. And you’ll also find a full list of reel lawnmower brands and models that are available, along with plenty of facts about each one. Heck, we’re even going to show you how to assemble them, and give you links to all the owner’s manuals we can find and scan.

So, what is a reel mower?

People call these things by about a million different names. They’re known as push reel mowers, manual mowers, people powered mowers, hand mowers, manual reel mower or pretty much any combination of those words.
In the United Kingdom, the most widely used name for these is ‘cylinder mowers’. That’s a pretty good description, actually, because the bodies of reel mowers do have a cylinder shape! The cylinder contains the blades, and it is usually mounted between the wheels with a handle sticking up from the center.

Some people use the term “rotary” mowers, but that isn’t quite right. A rotary mower is any kind of lawnmower where the blades spin like a helicopter, and that category includes gas and electric mowers. A reel mower has blades that turn like a paddle boat. The blades rotate when the wheels turn, and they don’t keep spinning after the wheels stop. This is a nice safety feature that sets reel mowers apart from rotary mowers.

Sometimes people also say push mower when they mean reel mower. But sometimes, people are actually talking about gas mowers that when they say push mower, so it gets a bit confusing. Not all motorized lawn mowers are self propelled, after all.

“Who cares about the stupid name!” you’re probably yelling at this point. “Just give me the information I want about reel mowers!”

Wait. You’re not literally yelling, are you? If so, I’m guessing that you’re probably dealing with a high blood pressure problem from getting too upset all the time at the smallest frustrations. And you’re probably just getting angrier and angrier as I continue to ramble on instead of tell you about the mowers. You’re a ticking time bomb, dude! Step away from the gardening shears and chill out.

What were we talking about, anyway? Oh yeah. Reel mowers.

So let’s start with some good reasons why you might like a reel mower.

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