A reel mower is an old-fashioned push mower.

I live in Austin, TX and have St. Augustine grass. For seven years I have been mowing my grass with a reel mower that does not have an engine. I love it and want to encourage you to consider using a reel mower.

Listen to the radio spot with my reel mower.

Yes, my reel mower works.

My yard is pretty small, so I actually find it easier to use than a heavy, gasoline-powered, rotary mower. I can mow my front yard, which is about 1200 sq ft, in about 20 minutes.

There are a few caveats:

• Blades of grass are left standing. I alleviate that problem by mowing in a back-and-forth pattern, only cutting half the width of the mower with each pass. Even using that technique, there are a few stragglers here and there that poke up several hours after I finish mowing. The world is imperfect — it really is okay to have a few blades of grass stand out.
• Sticks stop the mower. With a powerful rotary mower, you can just mow right over sticks, crunching them into a pieces that fly everywhere. With a reel mower, even a very small stick will stop the blade, so I have to pick up sticks before I mow.
• Leaves don't get mulched. The mower rides right up over a thick layer of fallen leaves, so I have to rake about once a year. With a rotary mower, you can just mow over leaves.
• Tall, wilted grass isn't cut well. In practice, my grass has never gotten too high for the mower to not work at all, but I am definitely motivated to not let it get too high. If the grass becomes very long and wilted, it will not stand up for the mower to cut. A rotary mower functions like a fan and sucks up wilted blades.
• Obstacles get in the way. If your yard is full of bird baths, figurines, small trees, playground equipment, etc., then a reel mower is probably not for you. The mower really only cuts when it is moving, which can make it difficult to mow around a lot of obstacles. With my mower, the blade keeps spinning after I stop pushing, but it is pretty difficult to use that feature to "cut in."
• Mowing is more work than just walking. I walk a lot, but I'm not really an athlete. (I only run when chased.) I have no problem mowing, but other members of my family have complained that pushing the mower takes a lot of work. You could cancel your gym membership!

Just to re-iterate, I love mowing my grass with my reel mower. Here's why:

• Peace and quiet. Just the sound of two-stroke engines makes me tense. When I mow, birds land a few feet away to look for treasures in the newly cut grass. Listen to what it sounds like.
• Better for the environment. The only power source I consume is food!
• Less hassle -- no gasoline, cords, or batteries. I love to loan my mower to neighbors when they can't start their gasoline engines. All the prep time really adds up. I just pull the mower out of shed and start.
• Easier to maneuver than a gasoline mower in a small yard. Once I borrowed a neighbor's self-propelled mower. It did not require pushing, but it was heavy, so turning corners was difficult. For a small yard, I find it much easier to use a reel mower.
• Safer. A reel mower will stop on a tiny stick, which means I have to pickup the sticks before I mow, but it also means that a finger in the blade would hurt, but not be serious.
• Evenly distributes clippings. Rotary mowers tend to blow all the clippings into piles dictated by your mowing pattern. Then you have to rake those piles. A reel mower distributes the clippings evenly on the yard. The clippings fall back into the grass and become compost.

Choosing a Mower

I have an Agri-Fab 18" Silent Reel Mower and it is excellent. Unfortunately, that mower is no longer manufactured, so the new stock that does exist is pretty expensive. Like most hand tools from a previous era, cheaply made mowers do not function well.

One very important feature of the Agri-Fab mower is that the two blades (stationary and fixed) do not contact each other. They are separated by just a few thousands of an inch. Since the blades do not touch, the mower is much easier to push and the blades stay sharp much longer. I believe that this feature is key. The adjustment mechanism on the Agri-Fab mower is very good, which makes adjusting that gap between the blades easy and precise.

I would not buy any of the mowers offered at the big box retail stores made by American Lawn Mower Company, Great States, or Scotts. They are all made by the same company and they all use blades that contact each other. Everyone I know who has tried one of those mowers gave up after one season or less. If you really want to use one, then buy one for cheap off of craigslist because they appear there frequently.

When mowing St. Augustine, the blade height is very important. St. Augustine likes to be very long. The maximum height on my mower is 2.25". I wish it were a little higher. If you have St. Augustine, then blade height rules out Brill mowers, even though they seem to be very well made.

I have never seen one in person, but if I were buying a new mower today to, I would consider a Sunlawn MM-1. It has a maximum blade height of 2.8" and the blades do not contact each other. The website peoplepoweredmachines.com has some nice comparison charts.

Maintenance

I have had the blades sharpened twice in 7 seasons. No other maintenance seems necessary. Golf courses use reel mowers, so call around to find out how they sharpen their mowers.

Trimming and Clean Up

For trimming around the edges of the lawn, I use an electric weedeater. I haven't found a good non-power alternative. Around trees, I pull up the grass by hand so a patch of dirt circles the tree.

For clean up, I use a push broom rather than a blower. Using a broom is a lot more work than using a blower, but it is much quieter and doesn't bother my allergies.