My advice from the sharpening professional who identified this sorrowful fact to me: you can reset the blade angle successively and get more time out of it.
And I think there are whole replacement reels for purchase.
Your advice to set fire to and then dismantle whatever angers me is now noted on my desk for easy reference. However, I'll probably do one or the other. Or maybe use a hammer rather than a match.
Little by little we’ve switched over to battery powered for all our lawn and pruning/trimming tools, the lawn mower being the last. It’s been great. We ripped out our backyard for plants ands some hard scape so we just have a tiny front lawn. When we moved in we had it graded and turf laid down that came from the same farm that provides turf for Fenway Park. The landscaper suggested I alternate cross hatch patterns between cuttings, one right angle the next diagonal. As a result people tell us it looks like a ball field. It makes us proud to live on the Red Sox side of the state.
We lived next door to my uncle and aunt for several years and he was one of those "repair, don't replace" kind of guys. I was a mere girl and not his own flesh & blood, so he did not, alas, pass that legacy on to me.
When I bought my house, I started with a manual push mower with the clickety blades. I had 1/10 of an acre, but it wasn't all level, and the novelty and excitement wore off after about a year. Over the next several years various neighborhood folks were hired to cut it, until at one point I bought an electric corded mower which I liked a lot.
If I had it to do all over again, the front yard would be an English cottage style flower garden and the back yard would be vegetables, including an asparagus bed. And no mowing.
Yeah, I'm on a hill and my bright idea is starting to look a little dim. I'll give it a try and if/when it flames out, well, I'll find an alternative. Maybe a goat?
While I did not destroy lawn mowers, my early teen lawnmowing days where short-lived as my father was none too pleased when I kept running over the sprinklery heads for the sprinkler system that he installed (queue the Shake & Bank "AND I HELPED" unwillingly). So instead, I was relegated to pool skimming when he cut the grass in the backyard. I'm not sure which task was worse.
When I owned a home I used a rotary around my gardens, where lawn was a broad path. I loved that sound, and how much money I did not have to waste. It was going for a cardio walk...
I’m not sure how you set fire to a mower by accident but your stories always entertain me! I grew up watching my dad use the push mower and remember it was a challenge if the grass got too high. Good luck with yours!
I detest the noise of weed wackers, leaf blowers and huge mowers. Push mowers and rakes sound much better!
When I first bought my house, a mower was included. I had never mowed a lawn, even with an old-fashioned push mower, but I decided I could figure it out. I did have help starting it from my next-door neighbor, and away I went! Another neighbor from across the street found my performance so fascinating that he set up a lawn chair in his driveway and watched me. Now that I am a Little Old Lady I have it done for me.
There are some great battery-powered options out there now.
And once I find this one cannot be sharpened, I just may go that route. Surely I can figure out a way to set fire to a battery mower.
The one downside of today's push mowers-- many of them, at least-- they are not sharpenable!
Yeah, I wondered about that, and bought it, anyway. I hate the idea of continually replacing this yard toy.
My advice from the sharpening professional who identified this sorrowful fact to me: you can reset the blade angle successively and get more time out of it.
And I think there are whole replacement reels for purchase.
There is for the model I bought, but a morning rain has made trying it out today impossible. I'll get out there tomorrow.
Right?
Your advice to set fire to and then dismantle whatever angers me is now noted on my desk for easy reference. However, I'll probably do one or the other. Or maybe use a hammer rather than a match.
Just kidding, ya'll.
I'm not even kidding. I was so happy sitting there on the stoop, killing beyond redemption the thing. But a hammer sounds good, too!
Little by little we’ve switched over to battery powered for all our lawn and pruning/trimming tools, the lawn mower being the last. It’s been great. We ripped out our backyard for plants ands some hard scape so we just have a tiny front lawn. When we moved in we had it graded and turf laid down that came from the same farm that provides turf for Fenway Park. The landscaper suggested I alternate cross hatch patterns between cuttings, one right angle the next diagonal. As a result people tell us it looks like a ball field. It makes us proud to live on the Red Sox side of the state.
We’re easily amused.
We lived next door to my uncle and aunt for several years and he was one of those "repair, don't replace" kind of guys. I was a mere girl and not his own flesh & blood, so he did not, alas, pass that legacy on to me.
When I bought my house, I started with a manual push mower with the clickety blades. I had 1/10 of an acre, but it wasn't all level, and the novelty and excitement wore off after about a year. Over the next several years various neighborhood folks were hired to cut it, until at one point I bought an electric corded mower which I liked a lot.
If I had it to do all over again, the front yard would be an English cottage style flower garden and the back yard would be vegetables, including an asparagus bed. And no mowing.
Yeah, I'm on a hill and my bright idea is starting to look a little dim. I'll give it a try and if/when it flames out, well, I'll find an alternative. Maybe a goat?
Passive income! Rent him/her/they (they ARE goats, after all) out! Or soap, lol??? I’m getting a few and a burro!
I feel you pain. Axle broke on 3 year old $6000 tractor recently. file:///Users/jkluckenbach/Desktop/IMG_8726.JPG
Oh my goodness! MUCH bigger headache.
Are the human powered push mowers hard to push? If not, they look like they could be fun to use.
I'll find out if it ever stops raining in my. neck of the woods.
🤞
While I did not destroy lawn mowers, my early teen lawnmowing days where short-lived as my father was none too pleased when I kept running over the sprinklery heads for the sprinkler system that he installed (queue the Shake & Bank "AND I HELPED" unwillingly). So instead, I was relegated to pool skimming when he cut the grass in the backyard. I'm not sure which task was worse.
I actually like to mow -- or I did when I had a working lawn mower. My brothers always mowed the yard and I thought it looked kind of fun.
I remember my dad fighting with my grandmother’s push mower. For us, a rechargeable electric mower (<$300) has been the solution for our .25 acres.
See, I didn't even think of that option. Next year...
I enjoy mowing now...which was not the case with its corded (but free) predecessor. Though I accidentally killed a few extension cords.
I would do the same, I bet, though I use extension cords for leaf blowers and manage not to trip over them...
When I owned a home I used a rotary around my gardens, where lawn was a broad path. I loved that sound, and how much money I did not have to waste. It was going for a cardio walk...
That’s what I’m hoping for.
Rotary phone! And party lines!
I’m not sure how you set fire to a mower by accident but your stories always entertain me! I grew up watching my dad use the push mower and remember it was a challenge if the grass got too high. Good luck with yours!
I detest the noise of weed wackers, leaf blowers and huge mowers. Push mowers and rakes sound much better!
Agreed. I have a really small yard and raking it isn't the back-breaking job it might be on bigger property.
You should get a riding lawnmower
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P_D1MxJk2Uk
This? Is brilliant.
There was a family that I grew up with that used to do all kinds of side jobs
One was repairing lawnmowers
They made a bike mower with the blades of a push mower in the front of the bike
They used to let people ride it around their yard for a dollar for 10 minutes
People used to pay them to mow their lawn
Isn't that cool? Like Tom Sawyer and the fence!
But does it even cut?
The ones that I’ve seen do indeed cut
I don’t know about the one in the video
When I first bought my house, a mower was included. I had never mowed a lawn, even with an old-fashioned push mower, but I decided I could figure it out. I did have help starting it from my next-door neighbor, and away I went! Another neighbor from across the street found my performance so fascinating that he set up a lawn chair in his driveway and watched me. Now that I am a Little Old Lady I have it done for me.
Let me come over. I will get it started AND we can toast marshmallows over it as it burns.