Cylinder mower sharpening machine. How to Back Lap a Cylinder Mower

How to Back Lap a Cylinder Mower

If you have a cylinder mower, a sharp reel is important to ensure a nice clean cut to your grass. But, do you know how to Back Lap a Cylinder mower? This blog looks at how to sharpen the blades on a cylinder mower.

What is back lapping?

If your reel and bedknife are not working as they should, your grass blades will be torn rather than cut. This isn’t great for the appearance of your lawn and is also not ideal for plant health.

Back lapping is the process of maintaining the sharpness of your cutting cylinder blades. This helps to ensure your reel and bedknife are bedded together and cut evenly, providing a sharp and even cut. Once the cylinder edge has been lost, you will need to have the cylinder re-ground.

Before you undertake the following back lapping process, it’s extremely important that you handle the machine safely and wear suitable protective equipment. Make sure you are wearing gloves, you are not wearing any bagging clothing, particularly long sleeves, and have a safe working area clear of clutter and away from others.

Step 1 –

The first thing you want to do is make sure that the machine won’t function. Turn the on/off switch to off and for extra safety remove the spark plug.

Step 2 –

Tip the cylinder mower backwards so that the reel and bedknife are easily accessible.

Step 3 –

Use a Mill Bastard file to take the round edge off the bed knife. As you do so, move the cylinder reel away from the pinch point. Using the file to put a sharp cutting edge on the leading edge of the bedknife.

Step 4 –

Use a cordless drill or back lapping machine and socket to turn the cylinder reel backwards.

While it is spinning, wet down the reel and bedknife lightly with water. A spray bottle will make this easier to get a nice even coverage of water across all elements.

Step 5 –

Next, apply back lapping compound or paste. This paste is a water-soluble grinding paste designed specifically for sharpening blades.

Apply back lapping compound evenly using a small to medium-sized paintbrush with a long handle while the reel is spinning. Using a piece of PVC pipe over the handle can help extend the length of the handle so your hands are kept at a distance from the blades.

The brushes only need to flick the reel blades as they spin lightly brushing as it goes around. Do not allow the brush to enter too far into the cylinder.

Important note: It is extremely important you are paying full attention while doing this and keep your hand as far away from the spinning reel as possible.

It is suggested to allow the cylinder to spin backwards after applying the grind paste for 5 minutes.

Step 6 –

Once the blades have been coated, wash off the paste using a hose.

Step 7 –

Adjust the cylinder position evenly to the bedknife, ensuring both sides and just touching the bedknife and the cylinder is spinning smoothly and not too tight.

Make sure the cylinder adjustment lock nuts and loosen prior to adjusting.

Step 8 –

Check with paper for sharpness. Checking cutting cleanly right across all the reel blades. The paper should cut easily like it would when using sharp scissors.

Once you have completed this process spray your cylinder, bedknife and other moving parts with WD40 or a lanolin spray like Inox to stop corrosion and rust.

Now you know how to Back Lap your Cylinder Mower. You should now have your cylinder perfectly balanced, sharp, and ready perfectly cut your lawn.

For more lawn care tips and advice, check out our other lawn care blogs here.

Sharp blades all season long will give you the cutting edge you need for a healthy, green lawn.

By Bob Vila Staff and Tony Carrick | Updated Jul 18, 2023 11:38 AM

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

At the start of growing season, part of the necessary prep every homeowner with hopes of a greener yard tacks (or should tack) onto the to-do list involves the cleaning and sharpening of lawn mower blades. If the blades are left dull, each afternoon spent mowing only rips and chews the grass. Coarsely cut grass doesn’t just look bad; it’s also more vulnerable to pests, disease, and drought. Read on for our step-by-step guide on how to care for your largest landscaping tool, and you’ll reap the benefits of a clean cut all season long.

Types of Mower Blades You Can Sharpen

If you own a walk-behind or ride-on mower, then you can remove and sharpen the blade yourself. Both types have a mowing deck that’s equipped with either one or two blades that spin horizontally around a vertical spindle. Remove each blade by loosening a single nut on the spindle. If you happen to own an old-fashioned reel mower, which uses multiple blades mounted to a cylinder, then you’ll need to take it to a lawn mower repair shop to have the blades sharpened.

Project Overview

Working Time: 1 hour Total Time: 1 hour Skill Level: Beginner Estimated Cost: 0 to 12

Before You Begin

Since this job involves working with a large blade and filing or grinding metal, taking the right safety precautions to protect your hands and eyes is key. You’ll be either filing or grinding the lawn-mower blade to sharpen it, so be sure to wear safety glasses to protect your eyes from sparks and tiny shards of metal that might become airborne as you’re working the blade. Since you’ll be using your hands to hold the blade as you sharpen it, you’ll want to wear heavy work gloves to protect your hands.

• Work gloves
• Socket wrench
• Scraper
• Vise
• Safety glasses
• Bastard-cut mill file
• See full list «
• Power drill
• Sharpening stone drill attachment
• Blade balancer

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

How To Tell If Your Lawn Mower Blade Needs To Be Sharpened

How often to sharpen lawn mower blades can vary based on use and other factors, but your lawn will tell you if your mower blade is in need of a good sharpening. All you need to do is look for a few telltale signs of a poor cut.

• Ragged cut: A sharp mower blade should slice cleanly through the grass. If it’s leaving a ragged edge, then the blade is tearing grass instead of cutting it.
• Uncut grass: Look carefully at your lawn after you mow it. If there are sections that appear to be pushed down instead of actually cut, then your mower blade is too dull.
• Uneven height: The grass blades should be at consistent height after you mow the yard. If they’re not, then the mower blade isn’t sharp enough to cut cleanly through the grass.
• Nicked blade: In addition to examining your lawn, you should assess the blade itself. If there are noticeable nicks and dents on the blade’s edge, then it needs to be sharpened.

How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades in Less Than an Hour

The type of lawn mower blade sharpener you have in your shed or garage will dictate the best way to sharpen a mower blade. Read on to learn about how to handle this lawn-mower maintenance job using a file, power drill, or bench grinder.

Step 1: Disconnect the spark plug (on a gas mower) or battery (on an electric mower).

This is the most important step in the entire process. Gas mowers start by using centrifugal force, which the user creates by pulling the starter cord. Though very unlikely, it is possible to create that same force by turning the blade. Eliminate any chance of the engine starting by disconnecting the spark plug, which is found on the front of the engine.Those with an electric mower should make sure to either unplug it from its power source or remove the battery if it’s cordless.

Step 2: Remove the blade.

Flip the mower over, so you can access the blade. Holding one side of the blade to keep it from moving, loosen the blade’s mounting nut using your socket wrench. If the nut is on tight or you don’t feel comfortable holding the blade, use a piece of scrap lumber to hold the blade in place so you can loosen the nut.

Step 3: Clean the blade with a metal scraper.

Clean the blade with a scraper and assess its condition. If rocks, branches, and other debris have inflicted deep nicks, you’ll want to replace it. Otherwise, gather the tools you need to sharpen it manually or mechanically.

Step 4: Sharpen the lawn mower blade.

At this point, you have a few options for how to proceed with sharpening, depending on the tools you have at hand.

• How to sharpen lawn mower blades with a file: Clamp the blade horizontally in a vise and run a bastard-cut mill file along the cutting edge, using a one-way down stroke. Follow the existing angle (usually 45 degrees, but you can refer to your owner’s manual for the ideal angle) until the blade has the sharpness of a butter knife. Aim to remove an equal amount of metal from the cutting edge of both ends of the blade. Counting strokes may help you keep track.
• How to sharpen lawn mower blades with a power drill: A faster technique involves a power drill with a sharpening stone attachment. Clamp the blade—cutting side up—in a vise. Secure the sharpening stone in the drill; the stone’s plastic guide should rest against the rear of the blade to ensure the proper cutting angle. Put on safety glasses, turn on the drill, and move the stone from the center of the blade to the tip.
• How to sharpen lawn mower blades with a grinder: The fastest way to sharpen the blade is with a bench grinder. With this method, you’ll need to be careful not to oversharpen the blade or remove too much metal. Oversharpening creates a thin edge, which is easy to damage, and removing too much metal shortens the life of the blade. Hold the blade perpendicular to the rotating wheel as you move it along the cutting edge at the angle of the existing bevel. This throws sparks, so be sure to wear safety glasses. If the blade gets too hot, dip it in a bucket of water to cool it.

Step 5: Check the blade’s balance.

Check the blade’s balance before remounting it, because a lopsided blade will wobble and overtax the mower’s engine. Set a blade balancer on a flat surface and rest the blade on the balancer using the center hole. If the blade dips, use the file, sharpening stone, or grinder to remove metal from the back edge—not the cutting edge—of the heavier side toward the end of the blade.

You can also check the balance by hanging the blade on a wall from a nail through its center hole. If the blade tilts to one side, remove material from that side.

Step 6: Reinstall the blade in the lawn mower.

Reinstall the blade to the spindle under the mower using the mounting nut. Tighten the nut with a socket wrench while holding the blade with one hand. Flip the mower over and reconnect the spark-plug wire or power source, and then get to work!

Final Thoughts

If your lawn mower isn’t cutting it, then it’s probably time to give that blade a good sharpening. This process isn’t difficult if you have the right tools for the job and follow the above instructions. That said, if mower blade sharpening isn’t something you have the tools or time to do yourself, you can have a local lawn mower repair shop sharpen your blade for you for about 15 to 20. If you examine the blade and determine that it’s too worn out or damaged to be sharpened, then you’ll need to purchase a new one that’s compatible with your mower brand and model for about 20 to 25.

How To Sharpen Reel Mower Blades With A File Or Sharpening Compound

Reel lawn mowers are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. As a manual mower, they cut grass as you push it along.

Yet just like their rotary blade cousins, the blades on a real mower can dull, or need a basic adjustment.

Fortunately, there are a few different ways to sharpen reel mower blades. In this article, I’ll tell you how to sharpen reel mower blades with a file or use a sharpening compound for the best possible cut performance.

How Does a Reel Lawnmower Work?

The sharpness of the blades can affect a reel mower in a variety of ways. Since the wheels and the blades essentially work in tandem, when the blades start to dull it will make it more work to essentially push the mower along.

At the same time, dull blades are also more likely to push over blades of grass rather than cut them.

Significantly dull or rusty reel mower blades can also damage grass making your lawn more prone to turf disease, pests, and potential fungus issues.

Can I Sharpen Reel Mower Blades?

Reel mower blades are designed to last longer and stay sharper than rotary mower blades. Still, as time goes on they will inevitably start to dull, and perhaps develop pits of rust.

This is even more likely to be an issue if you frequently let your lawn grow longer than 4-inches or if you cut the grass when it’s still a little damp.

Some rotary lawnmower blades can be sharpened with a bench grinder or electric handheld power grinder. These are the wrong tools for the job when it comes to sharpening a reel mower blade.

how to sharpen a reel mower with a file?

In my opinion, a mill file is an ideal tool for sharpening reel mower blades. Some hardware stores will even carry special mill files that are specifically designed for sharpening reel mower blades.

But to be honest, a simple handheld mill file is all you need. If you’re looking for one, we recommend this grinding mill file.

Here are 5 steps you can follow to sharpen the blades on a reel mower using a file.

Secure the blades to prevent the reel from spinning

This calls for wedging a broom handle or a hardwood dowel into the blade assembly to keep it from accidentally turning while your fingers are in the “Danger Zone.”

Laying the mower on a large work surface and chocking the wheels with a doorstop or shims would also be a good idea.

Don’t think that just because the blades are too dull to cut grass that they can’t give you a nasty finger wound!

Clean Away Any Debris like grass and dirt

You can use a stiff wire brush or some coarse sandpaper to carefully remove any debris from the blades and surrounding surfaces. If you use sandpaper, make sure it is rated for metal.

scrape the file on the blade between

To do this you carefully press the toothed end of the metal mill file on the beveled edge of the first blade.

The goal is to angle the plane of the file to perfectly match the beveled edge of the blade. You aren’t trying to create a new angle.

You are just trying to remove a millimeter or two of dull metal to replicate the original sharp beveled edge.

This usually takes three to five passes, depending on how rusty or dull the blade edge has become.

Repeat previous steps 3 to 6 times

Once you have filed away as much as you can on the first blade, you will need to remove the broom handle and carefully rotate the cylinder to fully access the next blade. Then re-secure the blades and repeat the sharpening process.

Lubricate and Protect blades after sharpening

When you are done sharpening all the blades, you should light spray all moving parts with a penetrating lubricant like WD40.

You should also coat the blades with penetrating lubricant, or a little bit of linseed oil soaked into a clean paper towel.

The Best Reel Mower for Your (Small) Lawn

We’ve reviewed this guide, added competitors, eliminated older models, and reconfirmed our decisions on our picks.

Reel mowers aren’t for everyone. They’re designed for small, flat lawns, and they take some effort to push around. But they provide exceptional cut quality and a completely unplugged mowing experience, so they offer things no other mower can. We think the best one is the Scotts 2000-20 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower.

For the healthiest grass

The Scotts makes the cleanest cut, has the widest cutting path, and jams the least of any reel mower, and its unusually tall 3-inch max cutting height makes it more versatile for different grass types.

Buying Options

At the time of publishing, the price was 145.

During initial tests with a golf course grounds crew and in years of follow up use, the Scotts-branded mower has the best cut quality of any of the mowers we’ve tested, and its unusually tall maximum cutting height of 3 inches makes it a versatile choice for different types of lawns and grasses. It has a 20-inch cutting swath—the widest available—and at 34 pounds, it’s light and easy to maneuver. It was also the only mower in the group that didn’t jam during testing.

Good cut, less elegant

This mower cuts almost as well as our main pick and has a taller cutting height, but it’s bulkier (making it harder to turn around) and more expensive.

Buying Options

At the time of publishing, the price was 250.

If our main pick is sold out or otherwise unavailable, we also really like the Fiskars 18-Inch StaySharp Max Reel Mower. Its a solid mower with a 4-inch cutting height is higher than any other reel mower’s. In testing the Fiskars cut well, but it wasn’t on par with the Scotts and didn’t handle tall grass quite as well. It’s also heavier and bulkier, making it more of a chore to turn around, it also costs more than the Scotts.

For the healthiest grass

The Scotts makes the cleanest cut, has the widest cutting path, and jams the least of any reel mower, and its unusually tall 3-inch max cutting height makes it more versatile for different grass types.

Buying Options

At the time of publishing, the price was 145.

Good cut, less elegant

This mower cuts almost as well as our main pick and has a taller cutting height, but it’s bulkier (making it harder to turn around) and more expensive.

Buying Options

At the time of publishing, the price was 250.

Why you should trust us

We spoke with Jason Kruse, assistant professor of environmental horticulture and turfgrass specialist at the University of Florida. As his bio states, Kruse’s responsibilities include “managing the University of Florida turfgrass Envirotron teaching and research facility, planning and implementing turfgrass educational field days and leading the statewide turfgrass teaching design team.” The guy knows a lot about grass.

For testing, we enlisted the aid of the grounds crew of the Diamond Hawk Golf Course in Cheektowaga, New York, a bunch of people who are serious about mowing. While using the mowers, they picked up cut blades to carefully examine how cleanly the mowers cut; they also bent down to compare the color of the turf after each one made a pass, and pushed all the mowers around on various lengths of grass.

Here at Wirecutter, we’ve been covering lawn equipment since 2014. As for the specific topic of grass-cutting implements, we’ve written extensive guides to both lawn mowers and string trimmers in addition to reel mowers.

Since the first version of this guide, we’ve recommended the Scotts as well as the runner-up Fiskars, and we’ve continued to use both models in assorted locations, paying attention to their long-term performance and any ongoing maintenance needed.

Who should get a reel mower

Before getting a reel mower, you should be aware of their pros and cons. Simply put, a reel mower is not a direct replacement for a regular mower.

As one of our long-term testers said, “I love [my reel mower]. It makes mowing feel more like a pleasant way to spend time outside and less like something I need to grit my teeth and power through.” On the other hand, a second long-term tester stated that he regrets purchasing a reel mower and has “frequently considered selling it to get a cheap electric mower.”

Reel mowers are better for the lawn’s health. They snip the grass blades like scissors, while rotary mowers tend to shred grass blades. According to University of Florida assistant professor of environmental horticulture Jason Kruse, “The scissor-cutting action of the reel mowers results in less damage to the leaf tissue, which in turn puts the plants under less stress.” He continued, “They lose less water, are less susceptible to disease, and generally look better when cut with a reel mower.”

Reel mowers are also good for the operator’s health. Because you hand-push the mower and it isn’t motorized, it takes effort to use, especially if you have a large lawn. Keep in mind that the turning wheels are what rotate the blades, which adds to the resistance. So the task is not as simple as, say, pushing an empty furniture dolly, where you’re pushing the wheels and nothing else. According to a Livestrong.com article, (which in turn credits Harvard Medical School, among others) a person weighing 175 pounds would burn approximately 251 calories by pushing a reel mower—which the article refers to as a hand mower—for 30 minutes. This is 51 calories more than someone weighing 185 pounds pushing a mower with a powered blade for the same amount of time.

Reel mowers also require minimal maintenance and are much, much quieter than regular mowers. Aside from lubricating and sharpening the blades every few years, you don’t have a lot of upkeep to do on a reel mower. As for the noise, many users of reel mowers cite the gentle snipping sound the tool makes as a key benefit. Gas mowers, on the other hand, require gas, regular tune-ups, oil changes, and winterizing. They’re also noisy and smelly. As one of our long-term testers said, “I love [my reel mower]. It makes mowing feel more like a pleasant way to spend time outside and less like something I need to grit my teeth and power through.”

But for a reel mower to be practical, you need a fairly small lawn. Anyone with more than a quarter acre (roughly 10,000 square feet) will find weekly mowing with a reel mower exhausting. One long-term tester stated that he regrets purchasing a reel mower for the size of his lawn and has “frequently considered selling it to get a cheap electric mower.”. In contrast, another of our long-term testers has approximately 1,000 square feet of lawn, and mowing takes her about 20 minutes.

A reel mower works best with a strict adherence to a regular cutting schedule. If grass gets overgrown, a reel mower will merely push it down and roll right over it, so if you tend to go a while between mowings, you should stick with a regular push mower. One long term tester had to wait so long for the reel mower to arrive that once it got there, the grass had grown so high they needed to hire someone to cut their grass. And the necessary diligence goes beyond the schedule: Reel mowers can’t mow over twigs and leaves as gas mowers can, so additional attentiveness to pre-mow lawn cleanup is required, as well.

Reel mowers are troublesome on sloped or bumpy lawns. The torque that turns the blades comes from the wheels as you roll them along the ground. On an uneven surface, the wheels lose contact with the ground as they bounce or as the weight shifts on a slope. As one of our long-term testers put it, “Small dips can lead to grass getting missed, so I often end up mowing from two or three different angles to try and get it all.”

In fact, the results in general may not be what you expect. One of our long-term testers said that their mower “often totally misses taller strands of grass” and that they “have to go back and snip those with a pair of shears.” Also, on most reel mowers, the blades are inboard of the wheels, so you’ll have a wider gap of unmowed grass against a fence or a stone wall.

How we picked and tested

To figure out how to pick the best reel mower, we spoke to Scott Dunbar, superintendent of Diamond Hawk Golf Course in Cheektowaga, New York. He explained that reel mowers can cut much closer to the ground than rotary mowers. At the golf course, the crew uses reel mowers to cut greens and approaches but uses gas-powered rotary mowers for the rough. But the average homeowner isn’t cutting the lawn for use as a putting green—in fact, cutting your lawn too low is terrible for its health. Turf experts suggest never cutting off more than a third of your grass’s length; cutting too close to the ground can cause the grass to dry out and get scorched in the summer. This means that a mower’s minimum cutting height isn’t a useful measurement, since you’re unlikely to use that setting.

The maximum cutting height was a crucial detail. We used this spec as our primary factor in eliminating mowers from contention. Few reel mowers are able to get above 2½ inches, which may not be good for your lawn. “[Cutting height] is one of the primary complaints I have against the majority of reel mowers that are marketed for home use. Most residential grasses (both cool- and warm-season) have recommended heights of cut that are at the upper limit or even exceed the height of cut that is possible with some of the mowers,” said University of Florida turfgrass specialist Kruse. “While it would be possible to use the mower, the long-term health of the turf could suffer significantly,” he continued.

Other factors were also important:

• How easy is the mower to adjust?
• How hard is it to push?
• How wide is it?
• How much does it weigh?
• What have other reviewers said about it?

We took our final four mowers to a golf course. There the grounds crew helped us adjust the blades to the exact same standard they used on their mowers so that the blades could cleanly slice a piece of paper. Over the next three hours, we pushed all four mowers back and forth on different-height grasses. On hand were course superintendent Scott Dunbar, a member of the grounds crew, a mechanic who maintains the course equipment, and an equipment salesman who happened to be at the course that day. These guys are all turfgrass experts who deal with grass and mowing equipment every day. They really took to the task of comparing these mowers, examining every aspect closely and answering all our questions about turf and cut quality.

Our pick: Scotts 2000-20 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower

For the healthiest grass

The Scotts makes the cleanest cut, has the widest cutting path, and jams the least of any reel mower, and its unusually tall 3-inch max cutting height makes it more versatile for different grass types.

Buying Options

At the time of publishing, the price was 145.

The Scotts 2000-20 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower is the reel mower to get. Of the tested mowers, it offered the cleanest cut and the easiest adjustments, and it was the only one that didn’t jam. It also has a wide, 20-inch cutting swath—the widest we found—as well as height adjustments between 1 and 3 inches, which is a more versatile range than we saw on almost all of the other available reel mowers. At 34 pounds, it’s light and easy to turn around at the end of each mowing row, but it’s heavy enough that it doesn’t bounce around on slightly uneven turf.

The quality of the cut excelled against the competition. When our lawn experts were going back and forth with the mowers on a variety of grasses and lengths, they noticed that the Scotts model would leave a swath of totally trimmed grass with each blade snipped evenly across, no ragged edges to be seen. In contrast, the other mowers would leave a bunch of blades sticking up like chimneys after a house fire, requiring the testers to back up and go over the area again. The Scotts mower also never jammed up during testing, whereas all of the other mowers did.

The Scotts 2000-20 also snipped a wider path than most of the others. The Scotts is a 20-inch-wide mower, the widest size available (the measurement refers to the blade width, not the overall width). We tested another 20-inch model, the Lee Valley 20″ Mower, but that one was harder to push, and its cut quality was worse.

Our testers also gave the Scotts 2000-20 high marks for overall usability. At 34 pounds, it lands in the middle of our test group in weight but manages to hit the sweet spot between maneuverability and stability. The Fiskars StaySharp Max is heavier and harder to turn around at the end of a mowing row; by contrast, the lighter Lee Valley model bounced around on uneven ground and left a ragged cut as a result.

All of the adjustments on the Scotts mower are easy to make. For cutting height, it has two levers, one for each wheel. One other model we tested, the 16-inch Great States 415-16, required us to unbolt it each time we wanted to change the cutting height. Also, the height settings on the Scotts model are accurate; the 1-inch setting on the Fiskars, in contrast, actually cut much lower, practically scalping the lawn, before we readjusted it to a higher setting.

The Scotts 2000-20 has a cutting range of 1 to 3 inches. The vast majority of reel mowers top out around 2 inches, so we appreciated the ability to go taller, either for the health of the grass or for a less manicured look. A DIY Network article lists the ideal cutting heights for a variety of warm- and cool-weather grasses, and the capabilities of the Scotts land nicely in the strike zone for every grass mentioned. Our runner-up, the Fiskars StaySharp Max, has an even higher maximum cutting height at 4 inches, but it’s a much heavier mower with more difficult maneuvering, and it doesn’t cut as nicely.

The Scotts is easy to assemble, and doesn’t require any tools. The bolts that attach the handle have large plastic wing nuts, so tightening by hand is simple. If you ever need to take your mower apart—to fit it into a compact space like a car trunk or a small storage area—we found that the Scotts was easy enough to disassemble, too. You might need pliers to remove the small C-clips that attach the handle to the body of the mower, but otherwise it shouldn’t be a hassle.

Scotts stands behind their products. Erin Price, then Wirecutter’s Audience Development Manager, had a wheel fall off her Scotts push mower and the company replaced the entire mower for her. She told us, “I love my reel mower and perhaps love it even more now that the company was so helpful.”

It has performed well in long term testing. Two other Wirecutter staff members, who both happen to be women, also have Scotts Classics in their personal tool sheds, and they appreciate the mower’s simplicity and ease of use. Senior Photo Editor Rozette Rago had never used a reel mower before picking up the Scotts for her small, flat yard in LA, and found it quick to get used to. It was easy to figure out for two people who have never used it before. Wirecutter Producer Beth Niegelsky, who has used both the Fiskars and the Scotts, prefers the latter, “ I actually like the Scotts significantly more because it is SO much lighter.” She explained, “With the Fiskars, I basically couldn’t mow the hill of my front yard without feeling like I was doing something dangerous. It’s basically no problem with the Scotts.”

Senior Software Development Engineer Joshua Brewer had the Scotts for three years and recently replaced it for our lawn mower pick. Throughout his three years of usage, he highlighted that the Scott was “kinda fun to use.” He appreciated that it was easy to storetash, didn’t require fuel, and was quieter than a traditional lawn mower. However, the Scotts did squeak despite thorough maintenance, required multiple passes on his lawn, and his foam handle disintegrated after the first year. Overall, Brewer says The Scotts 2000-20 worked, but was much more laborious to use with a lush and dense lawn and worked a lot better when the lawn was more sparse. He’s much happier with the Ego LM2135SP now.

Supervising Editor Josh Lyon also has a Scotts and said there are bumpy parts of his lawn that he needs to go over one or two additional times, but that “the mower is so light and has such a smooth roll that even with the extra passes it takes half the time to do our entire lawn than with the gas-powered mower we used to have.” Overall, Lyon is very happy with the Scotts and says he’ll never go back to a gas mower.

Finally, even though it wasn’t a major factor in our decision, testers liked how the Scotts looked better than the other mowers (some found the Fiskars model’s oddball form to be off-putting). The Scotts 2000-20 is covered by a two-year warranty, and user reviews suggest that the manufacturer, American Lawn Mower, issues free replacement parts whenever a problem crops up.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

We analyzed the negative Комментарии и мнения владельцев at Amazon and found that most of the complaints center on the aluminum handle breaking, a plastic gear in the mechanism stripping out, or simply the realization that a reel mower is not the right choice for the owner’s particular lawn.

We investigated the plastic-gear complaint by removing the wheel of the Scotts mower and taking a look at the gear. As you can see in the photo above, it’s a pretty robust gear with deep teeth, and it interfaces with the teeth on the inside of the plastic wheel. The wheels turn as you push, and those teeth turn the plastic gear, which rotates the blades. Stripping it out is an issue to be aware of, but under proper use, the gear shouldn’t be a problem. And if it becomes one, replacing the gear is a 10-minute repair job. While it would be nice if both the wheel and the gear were made of metal, such a design would likely add money to the price tag and a significant amount of weight to the mower.

One of our long-term testers also noted that when the Scotts arrived, many of the screws holding the handle together were loose and fell out within a month. Once they were replaced, no further problems surfaced.

A close reading of the user complaints suggests that owners who were using the Scotts mower on tall or tough Southern grass had the most problems, but such difficulties are likely to be common among all push mowers and not just the Scotts.