Hand Push Mowers

Considering A Push Mower

Hand push mowers are a light weight cylinder style lawn mower which has no engine. It is powered by the person pushing the mower, with the cylinder blades spinning as the lawn mower is pushed forward. They provide a nice clean cut and are most suited to smaller lawns.

Push Mowers - An Increasingly Suitable Choice

As our cities continue to burst at the seams with rapid overpopulation, more and more new homes are becoming smaller, with many homes having only the tiniest of lawns and gardens, while others have had their yards, gardens and lawns completely removed.

For those of us who live on these new tiny blocks and only have a small lawn to care for, then a hand push mower may be the ideal option for us. These lawn mowers do have limitations though, and aren't suitable for every lawn and garden.

Benefits of Push Mowers

• Good exercise for the homeowner - requiring very mild effort to push the mower
• Environmentally friendly - no fuel or exhaust fumes - far fewer materials required to manufacture
• Quick and easy to use - no break downs, no servicing, very little noise
• Cheap - very inexpensive to buy and maintain - no running costs
• Hand push mowers are perfect for small lawns

Considerations

Not suitable for larger lawns due to fatigue by the operator, and extra time involved in mowing compared to a powered lawn mower.

With very little weight, these lawn mowers will not weigh themselves down into the lawn thatch layer, and very little thatch will be removed at each service, For this reason, the thatch layer of the lawn can possible increase at a faster than normal rate.

With no engine, a hand push mower is not at all suitable for mowing long grass, and will require lawn mowing on a very frequent regularity. This is great for the lawn as lawns thrive on regular cutting, and if mowing only a small lawn then the whole process of a quick trim may only take 5 minutes on a weekend.

Push Mower Catchers

Models of hand push mowers will vary, with some offering no catcher, some have a catcher at the front and others have a catcher at the rear.

In all honesty, there is very little need for a catcher with these lawn mower types. Because they require the lawn to be mowed frequently - the resulting grass clippings are only ever a few millimetres in length, and if left on the lawn - these will very quickly decompose and feed their nutrients directly back into the lawn.

However, if the lawn owner does want the option of having a catcher, then it is always best to buy a mower with a catcher at the rear. This allows the front of the lawn mower to easily fit into small corners of an enclosed yard and to be far more manoeuvrable.

if buying a mower with a rear catcher, be sure to test the mower by walking behind it while pushing it, and ensuring that your feet do not hit the catcher while walking.

Push Mower Servicing

Hand push mowers are very low maintenance and require none of the engine servicing like other powered lawn mower types do. But they will still require some minor maintenance to keep them running smoothly and efficiently.

The owners manual for each specific machine will detail any possible oiling or grease points for the machine, as well as any parts which may require a lubricant such as WD40.

The blades of the mower will also require sharpening by a lawn mower shop occasionally to keep them sharp. Minor and easy adjustments to the blade clearance may also need to be made on occasion.

Cheap or Expensive

Overall, these lawn mowers are very cheap to purchase, so there is no need to skimp on these purchases.

A cheap mower will break more easily, their blades will blunten far more quickly and they won't be overly comfortable to use, and require total replacement at short intervals. Better to purchase something a little better to begin with and avoid all these problems and avoid all the higher long term running costs associated with buying so called "cheap" lawn mowers.