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26 Oct 08 - 04:42 PM (#2476720) Subject: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Goose Gander My Briggs & Stratton Yard Machine died on me. I'm thinking of buying a Human-Powered Mower . . . any thoughts? |
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26 Oct 08 - 04:48 PM (#2476722) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Jean(eanjay) We all used to think they were hard work to push but lifting and messing about with some of the non-human powered mowers makes them seem very attractive now. |
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26 Oct 08 - 04:54 PM (#2476730) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: CarolC They work fine on a lush lawn without too many weeds, with few to no seed heads poking up above the grass, and that hasn't been allowed to grow more than about six inches high. Otherwise they just flatten the lawn instead of cutting it. |
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26 Oct 08 - 04:59 PM (#2476732) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Bobert I have one of those mowers... I think it is about 60 years old but it still works... Like why wouldn't it??? If you have a small yard (1500 feet or under) which is not too hilly, I'd highly suggest getting one... Actually the cut is very nice... Much better than the B&S... They use reel pull behind mowers on most golf courses because of the cut... No, you can't have mine... It has sentimental value... B~ |
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26 Oct 08 - 05:28 PM (#2476755) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Sorcha I WANT one...then I could mow the damn lawn myself! I can't start the pull rope mower....but I DO like a bagging mower to keep the clippings for mulch on the veg garden. |
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26 Oct 08 - 05:38 PM (#2476767) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: gnu Sorcha... just mow em back into the lawn. God for the lawn. (I know... intended.) Pusher? Yeah... I am gettin one. |
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26 Oct 08 - 05:45 PM (#2476772) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Bill D I remember using one over 50 years ago....but that was in Kansas, and the lawn WAS small & flat. I'd never get the lawn I have now cut with one. ....large, up & down hills, and Maple roots 3" high. That being said, folks used them for many many years, and they ran on roast beef & cherry pie, and were easy to care for...if you knew how to use a file. |
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26 Oct 08 - 05:47 PM (#2476774) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Gurney As CarolC says. But it does depend on your seedheads, and they are hard to push in the wet, and useless on long grass, and exhausting on big lawns. There used to be big heavy ones that were two-man, one pulling on a harness. Very embarrassing if your mates came by. That's why they invented power-mowers. Sorcha, they do have a box that hangs behind, on some types. If you do find one, they cut like a pair of scissors, two sharp bledes slicing against each other. They sometimes need setting up, or sharpening if they've been allowed to get rusty. |
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26 Oct 08 - 05:48 PM (#2476777) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Gurney Bledes?? |
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26 Oct 08 - 06:56 PM (#2476830) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Ebbie Looking at that link- if it will cut down that tree, it's made a believer of me. *g* |
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26 Oct 08 - 07:54 PM (#2476865) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Sorcha Yes, gnu...sigh, but as I SAID I want it for MULCH on the VEG garden....the LAWN doesn't need it. The MUD does. |
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26 Oct 08 - 10:13 PM (#2476941) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Rapparee I've used 'em, for far too long. The sweat is still dripping off my memories. I have a very nice, electric start (or rope start) self-propelled mower. I cut the #$^&%! lawn today, hopefully for the last time this year. It took about 3 hours and quart of gasoline. Thanks, but I'll stay with what I have. |
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26 Oct 08 - 10:54 PM (#2476958) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Stilly River Sage I have a self-propelled gas mower but I never use that lever, I always push it to get the exercise. I had a push mower years ago that I mowed at my Mom's house with. I have an antique push mower in the garage that I picked up at the curb a few years ago--and I figured I'd make a nice yard art display, along with a rusty wheelbarrow that is missing a handle and a wheel, etc. But I have always wondered if the mower could work if it was sharpened. There isn't much that can go wrong with them that can't be fixed with some lubricating oil and a file. The yard here is big, a half-acre, but I don't always mow both front and back in the same day, so it would be fine to break up the job for a mower like that. SRS |
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26 Oct 08 - 11:06 PM (#2476963) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: catspaw49 Most of you know my son Tristan (MRDD and Autistic) and how much he loves helping out and machinery. Karen and I got to thinking that one of the old reel mowers might be just the thing. He already had his own electric leaf blower and so what if it wasn't the world's most powerful, he had a great time for hours on end blowing leaves. So the manual mower seemed a good idea..............and it was! Tris didn't care for a moment that it had no engine......He could cut the grass! We live in an old village in rural Ohio where most lots are small and houses largish and close together so with only a minimum of instruction he was off and running......almost literally. Dad had to slowly explain the safety rules again. A touch up by someone else was all that was required the past few years as he kept the yard prettty neat all by himself. The front yard was better than most years! But I have an even better story! After the first summer with his mower, winter came to Ohio bringing many days of ice and snow and no real grass to cut. One icy and snowy day, school had been cancelled as a layer of ice covered most roads. Tris went out for awhile and decided rightly more clothes were needed and he went off to add some bulk. That was the last I saw of him for quite awhile figuring he was waiting for one of his street department buddies to come by with the small plow and cinders so he could wave and say hi to him. After some time I asked Karen where Tris was and she, like me, had no idea except "outside"...........yeah, I know......Great parents huh? I went to the front door and looked out to find Tristan "mowing the street." Yep....There he was going up and down the old brick street with his mower. Guess what. The damn thing breaks up ice really well! He had covered a swath about 12 feet wide and 75 or so feet long in front of our house and our neighbors and when the plow came past, the loosened and broken ice came right up leaving only bare bricks. Damndest thing I ever saw. I admit that when I first saw him mowing the street I called Karen and we both had one of those warm chuckles that parents of special kids get every now and then. But it became a full out belly laugh when we realized his efforts had actually worked! Ya' know at times they are a heartbreak and sadness but let me tell you, if you don't have a special needs kid you need to go out and get yourself one. However your life is now, it'll get better. Spaw |
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27 Oct 08 - 01:22 AM (#2477008) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Gurney I was at a Cub Camp as a parent helper, and someone had brought about six of those old hand-mowers, and had first mowed some very long grass with power to give them a start. The boys had a ball racing the mowers through the mown grass, cutting it ever finer and sending it up in clouds. You think golf greens are thoroughly mown? Not in the same street! |
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27 Oct 08 - 02:47 AM (#2477027) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: JohnInKansas We had a pusher reel mower when I was a kid, but it has no associations with happy times. Even then, it was an antique, with cast iron frame and cast iron wheels. When I was first asked to apply it's use to our lawn, the T-Handle came about level with my nose, so I sort of had to "hang underneath" and drag it above my head to "lean into it" enough to make it move. My estimate then might have been that it weighed "about half a ton," but I'm sure now that it probably wasn't more than about 40 pounds. When it moved, the wheels turned only intermittently - mostly just skidding over the top of the grass. If even slightly out of adjustment the wheels wouldn't turn at all. I did get to be quite expert at adjusting and sharpening to get "minimum achievable effort," but it was the difference only between "possible intermittent function" and no function at all. A couple of years into my early lawn maintenance duties I had the opportunity to try out a neighbor's slightly more modern pusher, and was impressed that it actually worked. Of course later that evening I asked: Dad, do you suppose we might get one of those newer mowers like the one the G...s have. The answer, of course was: Shut up and help me push. *** Having reached the degenerate age where walking across the lawn to get the morning paper requires a rest before walking back (it's usually about 60 - 80 feet out to where it lands) a "manual mower" is not a viable option. My daughter borrowed my gasoline powered "pusher" mower "for the weekend" about five years ago, and it hasn't come back yet, so I got a small electric mower for the "finishing" after I use the riding mower for the large areas. It's about a third of the weight of my former gasoline mower, and does a "credible" job, but is somewhat underpowered when I cut through the denser "falls" of tree branches that accumulate around the edges where "trimming" is needed. I try not to feed the electric lawnmower anything over about 3/8 inch diameter, and kick the stuff up to about an inch and a quarter out where the "rider" will "get it next time." Anything too large for the riding mower to eat easily is "habitat" for the critters until it decays enough to break up by hand - unless it's so big that it's hard to mow around it, in which case the tiny (14") chain saw eventually gets to play. I've noticed that where there is decayed wood fairly large "logs" break down surprisingly quickly - sort of like with a healthy compost heap. You have to get it started; but then it takes care of itself mostly. John |
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27 Oct 08 - 09:29 AM (#2477165) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Rapparee If you want a really nice lawn, get some sheep. They'll eat the grass, fertilize it at same time, provide wool, and later you can eat them. If you're so inclined they can also provide other recreational opportunities. |
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27 Oct 08 - 11:05 AM (#2477241) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: KB in Iowa I have one and love it. As long as the blades are sharp it cuts at least as well as a power mower. There is no noise, no smell and no greenhouse gases. It's actually kind of fun because of the way the clippings get sprayed out the back. The clippings also get spread pretty evenly so there are no windrows. This alos means no grass to use as mulch elsewhere. Our yard is fairly small, if you have a large yard it may not be a good option. My boys liked it for a while but got tired of it and my wife won't use it. |
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27 Oct 08 - 11:24 AM (#2477257) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Stilly River Sage Great story, Spaw! :) The neighbors told me that when this house was rented, before I bought it, that the last family kept the lawn looking good and they used a push mower. That was a lot of exercise, and they also helped out mowing neighbors' lawns when someone was away or ill. I think she was a P.E. teacher, which might explain it. Why go to the gym when there are things around the house that give you a nice level of fitness? SRS |
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27 Oct 08 - 02:22 PM (#2477378) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Mr Red Exercise, more important. I use shears on mine, when the gardener doesn't do it with her professional Honda type. Mind you the area is about 1.5 car footprints. (with or without carbon) |
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27 Oct 08 - 02:54 PM (#2477400) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Geoff the Duck I'm pretty much with Rapaire on this one, although choice of animal can depend on the size of lawn and general area. Rabbits in a frame with netting on top and no underside are pretty efficient on a smaller area. Sheep or goats can clear a larger space, although goats will eat anything they can reach - they are particularly fond of privet, which is poisonous to them. Ducks or geese are also pretty efficient. Quack! GtD. |
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27 Oct 08 - 02:57 PM (#2477402) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: PoppaGator I've been tempted to get a "human-powered" reel mower (as a second mower), but haven't. I grew up pushing one of those cast-iron models over a large lawn featuring three terraced levels in front of the house. Not fun! On the other hand, I've seen and (briefly) pushed more modern lightweight manual mowers, and they're quite a bit easier to use. However, they're useless if you let the grass grow too long, and/or if you have weeds standing higher than about 4-6 inches scattered across your lawn. Reel mowers (even the power models) don't cut high growth, they just bend it over. A rotary will cut anything, but reel mowers aren't very practical except for golf greens and very-well-tended, weed-free lawns. Of course, when use in those optimum circonstances, reel mowers produce a superior cut. In the context of a rough-and-ready yard where different grasses and weeds are mixed, and where you sometimes let it grow too long, I think you really need a rotary power mower. Maybe you can have a non-power reel mower as a second choice, and use it when the lawn is already fairly trim and you want the exercise, or to save gas and avoid polluting. And, if you're really scrupulous about cutting every single weekend, or maybe even more often, maybe you can keep the lawn in good enough shape not to need the power mower for weeks or months at a time. But once you let it grow too much, the push/reel mower will be much more difficult to operate and may fail to do the job at all. As far as collecting clippings for mulch is concerned, bags or other such catching devices are available for reel as well as rotary mowers, and if you don't have such a catcher, well, that's what they make rakes for. PS: I always used to call the non-power mower a "push" mower, but nowadays that term has come to mean a power mower that is not self-propelled. How times have changed! |
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27 Oct 08 - 03:29 PM (#2477430) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Rapparee I've never seen a rabbit (or anything else) with no underside.... |
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27 Oct 08 - 04:00 PM (#2477442) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: JohnInKansas Regarding the use of lawn clippings as mulch or compost, a reel mower simply clips of the top of the grass blades and spits them (if you choose) into the bag. A rotary mower as commonly used does pretty much the same, although it may "bruise" the clippings a bit more. A rotary mower with a proper mulching plug/deck traps the clipping in the deck for a couple of turns, and produces reasonably effective shredding so the bits are not so long as to be (as) unsightly if left on the lawn, and/or compost much more rapidly if that's your choice. Unfortunately, there are few mowers with mulching decks/plugs that permit blowing the clippings directly into a bag or other receiver. Most assume that you're "mulching" because you intend to leave the clippings on the lawn. If you wish to shred the clippings "properly" but still want to collect them for mulching elsewhere, or for composting, a handy device is offered in the US variously called a "lawn broom" or "lawn sweeper." Versions are available to tow behind your mower, and you can get powered/self-propelled ones; but since you'll use it immediately(?) after mowing, you'll have a level enough lawn to use a hand-pushed version reasonably easily. Of course, re-mowing with your reel type mower, after chopping up the clippings with the mulching rotary mower, with a collector bag/box on and with the height adjusted close to the same height at which you'd just mowed, would be likely to do a pretty good job of "sweeping up" at least the larger of the clippings. Most of the sweepers closely resemble a reel type mower but with "slightly modified blades" for better(?) pickup. (According to cultural conventions here, "He who dies with the most toys wins." This should be factored - especially - into the selection of lawn maintenance "tools.") John |
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27 Oct 08 - 04:46 PM (#2477501) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Gurney John and Poppagator, I think the problem was not the mower, but the angle of attack. 'Short people' push too flat, and the wheels skid. |
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27 Oct 08 - 09:19 PM (#2477717) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: JohnInKansas Nah Gurney - it was the lawnmower. Cast iron wheels just don't have much traction on grass, and the as-cast (NOT machined smooth) gears in the old clunker we had lost most of the input in grinding and clashing and groaning lost motion. Later vaguely similar models at least added brass/bronze bushings on the gear shafts; but the one I used was as-cast iron on steel rivets all the way through. I think the "roller" on the back was replaced with an old pastry rolling pin 'cause the original (which might have been wood) had decayed before they dug it out at some archaeological site a century or two before I ever saw it - ca. 1945. I think part of the situation related to "daddy" not being too keen on keeping a nicely trimmed lawn. We used to get instructions to "play in the tall grass" so we'd keep it tromped down. And generally we kept the front and side yards down to mostly bare dirt. John |
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27 Oct 08 - 09:37 PM (#2477728) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Rapparee The first push mower I used had cast (or at least iron) wheels. And yes, it would slip, especially in wet grass. That would also plug it up very well, thank you. We had to get the reel sharpened at least once a year. This meant taking the whole massive thing to a shop that did it (ours was also a shoe repair shop). I think the wooden parts were solid oak or hornbeam (ironwood) from the overall weight! |
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27 Oct 08 - 10:00 PM (#2477740) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: PoppaGator Mulch and compost are two different things, although the exact same material can be used for either purpose (and people get them confused with each other regularly). Mulch is solid matter, usually but not necessarily organic, spread around the bases of plants to discourage/smother the growth of weeds (i.e., other plants), while also helping to hold moisture in the ground. Compost is decomposed (or decomposing) organic matter used as fertilizer. Common practice is to maintain a compost heap, and to spread the resultant decomposed matter after it has broken down; however, it is also possible to work not-yet-rotted organic material into the soil, and that can also be called compost. Grass clippings and other yard-and-garden waste like fallen leaves, etc., are useful for either or both purposes. Organic matter put down as mulch in the spring can be turned under in the fall as compost. The so-called "mulching" lawnmower is actually designed to transform clippings into instant compost, deposited in place right on the lawn from whence they came. The extra chopping-up produces tiny pieces of plant matter, small enough to fall between the freshly cut blades of live grass directly onto the soil, where it will quickly and invisibly rot and fertilize the lawn. (The smaller the pieces, the faster the decomposition.) If you want to use cut grass as mulch for your garden, the mower's "mulching" feature would be best turned off. The clippings you collect in your bag, or rake up, really should be as large (coarse) as possible, so the matter does not decompose too quickly, but rather retains its structural integrity as long as possible, all the way through the current growing season. (Some sources recommend against using freshly-cut, still-green grass clippings as mulch because the early stages of decomposition generate so much heat that the plants around which it is spread can be damaged.) My mower has three possible settings: rear-bag, side-discharge, and mulching. I usually use the rear-mounted bag to collect clippings that I dump into my compost pile. There's a spring-loaded panel on the back on the mower that lifts up to create an "output port" when the bag is attached, and snaps shut when the bag is not in use. There's another spring-loaded opening on the right side; it is held open by the "chute" attachment when you want the old standard "side-discharge " arrangement. When no accessory is attached and both the rear and the side openings are closed, it's a mulching mower ~ the clippings get chopped repeatedly while trapped under the mower. I never use the side-discharge method, and indeed don't even know where I put that attachment that I've never used and never will. My main reason for occasionally going into "mulching" mode is to avoid having to change and empty the bag too often, when cutting really high grass and weeds. (When I first bought this mower, we were the first occupants of our block after Katrina, and I cut all the front lawns after weeds had grown very high. I still occasionally mow a long-neglected yard, ditching the bag when I do so.) |
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27 Oct 08 - 10:10 PM (#2477749) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Rapparee Sounds much like my mower, PoppaGator. I almost always rear-bag the clippings (I don't compost, though, because of city ordinances which are in the process of being re-thought). This past weekend I also collected the fallen leaves as I mowed...lots easier than being a rake. |
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28 Oct 08 - 11:33 PM (#2478725) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Don Firth When my dad finally retired, he and my mother decided to move to smaller quarters from the two storey four bedroom house we had been living in for twenty-five years. They'd bought the house for $4,000 in 1941 (my, how times have changed!), and sold it for $18,500 in 1965 (it would go for at least twenty times that now). They had been investigating mobile homes (the stationary kind) and a couple of mobile home parks for retirees north of Seattle. If you provided your own mobile home (no travel trailers allowed), you could move it onto a lot there for something like $50.00 a month and hook up to water, electricity, etc. So for the $18,500 they got for Ye Olde Homestead, they had a mobile home custom made for them and moved onto a lot in the park. It was a double-wide: 65 feet long, 20 feet wide (1,300 sq. ft.). Outside, it was your basic box. But inside, it was roomy and amazingly luxurious. There was a nice big living room, a formal dining room (complete with crystal chandelier), a big kitchen with a bar, two sizable bedrooms, and a bathroom you could get lost in. The park provided a large shed in back to store the usual basement or attic crap, and a car port, with enough room for a second car or guest parking. I'd had an opportunity to visit someone who lived in a luxury apartment in the Madison Park district in Seattle. I was told the apartment rented for something like $450 a month, which doesn't sound like much now, but this was 1965. My studio apartment in the University District rented for $65 a month. My folks' mobile home was actually more luxurious on the inside than the apartment in Madison Park. And a smidgen bigger. Some folks would wrinkle their noses at my folks and say, "You moved into a trailer park!??" And then, when they saw what mom and dad had (and how little it was going to cost them from then on), they wandered around with their mouths open and started revising their own retirement plans! At the old house, dad had spent most of his weekends out in the yard, mowing the front and back lawns and doing battle with crab grass, weeds, and aphids. When they got the mobile home set up on the lot, there were two window boxes in front, along nearly 20 feet of living room windows (two windows in front, one on the side) in which one could plant flowers and such, and about three square yards of lawn in front. Dad took one look at the window box and the lawn and said, "Now that's just about right!" Don Firth |
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29 Oct 08 - 06:35 AM (#2478840) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Dave the Gnome Eddie Izzard calls the old ones 'Huh-da-da-da-das', after the noise they make when pulling back and pushing forward. Do the new ones still make the same noise? Cheers DeG |
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11 Dec 08 - 12:45 PM (#2512750) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Goose Gander Well, I went and bought a human-powered lawnmover. It works quite well, it's actually 'fun' to use . . . unlike the old beast that breathed toxic fumes, kicked up dust and leavings, and scared my dog. |
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11 Dec 08 - 06:25 PM (#2513045) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Geoff the Duck You've not seen 'spaw with a lawn mower... Quack! GtD. |
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11 Dec 08 - 11:06 PM (#2513205) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: catspaw49 Huh-da-da-da-das...........Huh-da-da-da-das.................. Huh-da-da-da-das.....Huh-da-da-da-das...................BBBRRAAAAWWWWWMMMPPP.........Huh-da-da-da-das...........Huh-da-da-da-das.................. Huh-da-da-da-das.....Huh-da-da-da-das...................BBBRRAAAAWWWWWMMMPPP.........Huh-da-da-da-das...........Huh-da-da-da-das.................. Huh-da-da-da-das.....Huh-da-da-da-das...................BBBRRAAAAWWWWWMMMPPP.........Huh-da-da-da-das...........Huh-da-da-da-das.................. Huh-da-da-da-das.....Huh-da-da-da-das...................BBBRRAAAAWWWWWMMMPPP.........Huh-da-da-da-das...........Huh-da-da-da-das.................. Huh-da-da-da-das.....Huh-da-da-da-das...................BBBRRAAAAWWWWWMMMPPP......... |
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11 Dec 08 - 11:21 PM (#2513216) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Bert Good for small flat lawns as has been said above. To cut long grass, you remove the front roller and replace it with a wheel on each side. To sharpen it you put some valve grinding paste on the blades and push it backwards for a while. Don't forget to wash the paste off after though. It won't work on wet grass. Also, you might try an electric Flymo. Light and easy to push, just don't run over the cord. |
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12 Dec 08 - 02:16 AM (#2513276) Subject: RE: BS: Human-Powered Mower From: Gurney What's black and shrivelled and hangs in a tree? A careless electric Flymo operator! Minor variation on the 'Irish Electrician' joke. |