How to Maintain Push Reel Mowers

Reel mowers are quiet and don't spew air pollution like gas engine mowers do. They’re simple to maintain, and sharpening the blades is easier than you might think.

article image
by Flickr/John Lee
New, light reel mowers are available, but you can also buy a used machine and restore it.

In 1962, when I was a teenager, my father gave our neighbor, Mr. Gruder, $10 for a reel mower of my very own. The ash handle shone with age and use, and it had a canvas grass catcher. Mr. Gruder had built the reel mower from parts — the finest custom-made machine of its kind ever built. Pushing it revved up the blades, a cylinder of curved scimitars that sliced each blade of grass to the same height. Mr. Gruder gave me a lesson on how to safely sharpen the blades to razor sharp. “Wear gloves,” he said, as he demonstrated.

For nearly a year, I mowed lawns with my trusty push mower. I wish I still had it. But two years ago, I found a Super Chief reel mower in an antique store. It had a broken handle but a spotless canvas grass catcher. It was just $75 for a piece of American history, stored indoors for 50 years.

Buying a Reel Lawn Mower

A good vintage reel lawn mower handle should be splinter-free, with solid handles baptized in boiled linseed oil. But if a bad handle is the only thing wrong with a used machine and it has a good price, buy it. For $10, I commissioned a high school shop class to make a handle for the Super Chief.

Old machines in good working condition are rare, but worth the hunt because they’re often inexpensive. But are they worth the hours of restoration? To me, yes, but you may be happier with a more recent model — something you won’t have to repair or restore first. The Mercedes of modern reel mowers is the German-made Brill Razorcut 38, and it’s priced accordingly ($250). But you can also find economy models, such as Scotts Classic Reel Mower, priced at a bit more than $100. Tip: The grass-catcher attachment is worth having on all models, as reel mowers don’t mulch clippings.

  • Published on Aug 7, 2009
Tagged with: lawn mower, reel mower
Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368