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["Michael Williams" <michael AT metalab.unc.edu>]

I bought a Craftsman 20" from Sears when we bought our house.  The
mowable part of my yard is very small and it worked well on my type of
grass(es and weeds).

Advantages of the reel mower:  it cuts beautifully if you keep it at
speed (gods, that is so true) and you keep it adjusted so that it is
continually sharpening itself with use.  It's good exercise.  It's
green.  It mulches much better than a mulching gas mower.  It's
old-school.  It sharpens itself if you keep it adjusted (easily done
with a screwdriver and a little knowledge), worth mentioning twice.
The absence of mower lines on the lawn leave you amazed at how smooth
the yard looks.

Disadvantages:  It can be tough to get going and difficult to use in
tight spots.  If you need it serviced you are either going back to
Sears or going to a guy in Chatham county who happens to work on them
in his home small engine repair business (his last name was also
Williams, no relation, if I remember correctly).  Every other lawn
mower place you call will laugh you off the phone.  It will wear you
out.  It is bouncy and rigid and will leave your arms like spaghetti
if you don't have a nice, flat patch of grass to mow with it.  Once
you see how beautifully it can cut you will get obsessed with having
that smooth look everywhere you use it and it will take four times as
long to mow the lawn as you go back over a patch here, a patch there,
etc., etc.  If you let the grass get very tall at all it will be
difficult for it to cut it evenly and so you have to mow religiously.
(I wound up with a gas mower to use when I have to go 2 weeks without
mowing.)

All that said, I'll probably pull mine out this weekend while the
grass is good and short.

On 5/18/07, Steven Champeon <schampeo AT hesketh.com> wrote:
> on Fri, May 18, 2007 at 05:26:10PM -0400, Magnus wrote:
> > Anyone have experience with something like this?
> > http://www.amazon.com/Scotts-20-Inch-Push-Mower-2000-20/dp/B00004RA3E/
> >
> We got one from Sears when we first moved into our house; it works great
> but is highly dependent on having the right kind of grass, and can often
> require that it get "up to speed" before it really starts cutting well.

--
Michael G. Williams
michael AT metalab.unc.edu
robustmcmanlypants AT nc.rr.com
http://www.robustmcmanlypants.org/blog/