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Reel-to-reel lawnmowers are awesome, in theory

In an unexpected fit of environmentalism, a little while back I bought a reel-to-reel lawn mower. A $40 purchase from Craigslist.

For those of you unfamiliar with the odd bit of history that is the reel-to-reel mower, it’s just like a normal, gas-powered mower, except that it doesn’t use gas and it doesn’t cut grass.

Sure, it is more environmental.  And I feel good about that.  Like it offsets the fact that I drive an SUV.

The problem, again, is that it doesn’t cut grass.

First, how they work.  It has these blades, and when you walk, the blades turn pretty quickly.  I think there’s an axle that moves or something.  I haven’t studied it very closely.

The key is that the blades move without consuming gasoline.  Sounds like the perfect, modern solution.

We had some rain, and since it was a slow Saturday night (don’t judge me), I decided to mow the lawn.

The blades move quickly enough, you would think, to cut grass.  And, it does look like grass is getting cut – you see grass kind of flying around as you walk.  The problem is that after you do a swath of grass, you look back, and the grass doesn’t look any shorter.  So you run over it again.  And again.  About seven times, by my count.

So, to cut my tiny little front lawn took a good hour.  But, it was an environmentally friendly hour!  Not only did I produce less emissions than a lawnmower, I also fed a family of about 900 mosquitos.

Just being as environmental as I can.

Sat May 15th, 2010 9:10 pm

Filed under Life