Reel mower?

I think you back lap them if they're in good shape. You coat the blade with lapping compound and turn the blade backward. I would imagine you'd have to adjust the flatblade so it makes a slight contact with the rotary blades. This is just a guess though. I used to have one a long time ago. I could be way off on this but the flatblade is a stationary squared off piece of metal that the rotary blades just clears when it turns. We call them anvils at work on our rotary cutters. It supports the grass so you get a clean cut.
 
I've done it several times using a smooth mill bastard file. It was a pain in the ass. If you can remove the flatblade things are easier. Figure out the original bevel on the flatblade (the surface that just barely misses contacting the reel blades) and try and get it back to flat and sharp with your file. Figure out the original bevels on the reels and restore them with your file. Your highest priority in both cases is to knock off any dents in the cutting edges that would contact when the blades rotate. Put the flatblade back in place (if it was removed) and adjust it to just barely clear the reel when it is rotated. You will find that the reel blades do not all clear by the same amount. Now tighten up the flat blade until some part of one of the reel blades will not slide past it. File that high spot on the reel blade down until you can turn the reel. Tighten the flatblade a little more and repeat the process. You will probably need to do this a half dozen times to get the reels reasonably even. At that point adjust the flat blade such that it just barely skims the surface of the tallest reel blade. Try and set the flatblade pretty straight.

Now try mowing with it. You will want to adjust the flatblade for your best cutting with least effort. You may want to periodically knock dings off your blades with a file during the mowing season.
 
Not in a coon's age I strongly suspect! I can, however, remember my uncle cutting his large, nice yard with an electric reel mower, but that had to be in the 1950s. He had an extension cord that was at least a hundred feet long, and I remember that he used a particular cutting pattern for efficiency and to prevent the cord from getting in his way too much. I think he started cutting at the farthest point from his electrical outlet, then rolled up the cord as he went back toward the house, back and forth, pass after pass. Reel mowers don't cut just any old kind of grass. They are suitable only for carefully manicured lawns growing particular types of grasses. Power reel mowers are still in use for certain special purposes, and I think golf courses use machines towing a gang of several reel mowers to keep them trimmed neatly. :yawn:
 
I have a push reel mower I got at Sears last year. Craftsman, baby! I went all season without having to sharpen it, and this year all I did was adjust the flat blade (didn't even mess with the reel blades) and it works just fine. don't even screw with the reel blades unless they are truly F****d. That is my opinion. Also, my yard is far from manicured. Works OK, just have to use a little more push is all...
 
Thanks guys. So from what I'm seeing in this thread, reel mowers are only used in Colorado. Must be the type of grass that grows there :p

Ok, seriously. Sharpening sounds tricky but do-able. That's more or less what I was hoping for.

My wife and I are in the proces of buying a house, so depending on the size of the yard we end up with, I think I may just go for it. We'll see :)

Thanks guys!
Mike
 
Lehman's sells really nice ones. I think mine is a 55lbs. model. Some of the mowers have a crank you insert after appling lapping compound to the blades. You turn the crank and the reel goes backwards and sharpens. On larger ones, hand file. Such a pain in the backside, we currently have no commercial mower repair shops willing to perform reel mower service in the Columbus area.
The Amish use them here in Ohio...Lehman's is in Kidron, Ohio and supplies non-electric items, among other quaint items.
 
Hey, I love the Lehman's catalog!

So is a 55lb model big, little, or in the middle?
 
There was one bigger that I am aware of, but I could not find the brand I have on the website. I think it was a 60 or 65 lbs. The heavier the mower, the denser and coaser grass it can cut (once you get it going:D ). The sub 25lbs are for trimming and greens keeping, but if you have a nice (or small)lawn you should not need a really heavy one. Oh, the heavier the mower, the larger the cutting path, too. Mine looks like a mini combine.
 
Hey Mike, I've got a push mower like that. I've never sharpened its blades though. :eek:

To be fair, I've probably used it <= two dozen times. I let the grass grow tall. :p
 
Way to ruin my Colorado therory, Mikey :)

Again, depending on the house we end up buying, a reel mower might be the ticket.

I've got a pleasant mental image of my shiny, razor-sharp mower quietly going snicker-snack over my lawn while the neighbors look at the precision-cut blades of grass in amazement. What can I say? I like sharp tools.

So 55lbs is probably a good size to plan on. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

Mike
 
in 1972,i was living in colorado and there was a guy that came around house to house sharpening lawn mowers,reel and power mowers.he told me how he sharpened the reel type
he put a sheet of fine emery paper on the bed or anvil,and turned the reel
backwards taking a very light cut.
 
I use a 1954 vintage Atco 18" reel mower. Twenty years ago I re powered with a small Kawasaki motor as the Atco company in England has been out of business for some years.

To sharpen these reels and get the correct back bevel takes a special sharpening machine and an even more special individual to run it. Make friends with the local golf establishment.
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Cylinder mower sharpener. Get outa here!

Dang pixelhack, way to find exactly the right answer! Thanks :thumbup:
 
Would be cheaper doing it the way gpdawg described it, and probably work just as well. I think I'll pick up some emery paper on my next trip to the hardware store...
 
Being English - and having had a croquet lawn years ago - I love the finish the lawn gets with a cylinder. I've used on of the kits sold by Lee Valley. Works OK. Don't let the aluminum bit get buckled or bent - very hard to re-straighten. Emery stuck to the fixed blade works well too. As does a smearo of carborundum paste and spinning backwards. Just be very careful as you adjust the cylinder blades down onto it - bit by bit.
 
Where I live in Colorado we don't have no stinkin lawn, just pine trees. I dealt with reel mowers in Pasadena California back around 1970. I haven't owned one in over 20 years. I gave away my last mower when I moved to Black Forest 11 years ago.
 
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