Not
that I was uncomfortable with a Briggs and Stratton. Hell, I took one into shop class in high
school and put it all back together.
Sure, it didn’t run but I learned how to gap a sparkplug! My folks had two acres when I grew up so we
always had a push mower. I was no
stranger to small gas engines and the flying debris a six-horsepower engine
generates. I just never cared for the
noise, the gasoline and oil, the steel blade whirring at 3,000 rpm that could
easily remove a toe, and the bits of rock that could scour the chrome off a bumper
(back when bumpers were still made of chrome).
No, I opted for the quiet whir of a man-powered spinning reel of
sharpened steel that stopped when I stopped, that didn’t pitch stones at my
neighbor’s kids, that was easy to swing around with one hand, and did a nifty
job on my postage-stamp 1/8th acre just fine, thank you very much.
What
a surprise it must’ve been to my neighbors to hear the hum of my new electric Green
Works mower one weekend after Father’s Day last year. I’m not sure if it was more my wife’s
decision or the kids’ – I think they all felt a bit deprived over the years about
not having a “legitimate” lawn mower in the garage. Not that the reel didn’t do a swell job, but
ok – it did take several passes to conquer the errant tall weed, and yes twigs
did tend to jam the mechanism, and yes it was “old fashioned.” So, I decided – ok, I’d give it a try. I already had the extension cord for use of
an electric trimmer, so I figured this would be a similar exercise. Plug it in and away you go. Well, yes and no.
Yes,
it’s a suitably powerful electric motor and I must admit that the spinning
blade flying at thousands of revolutions per minute does an equal job to most
perfectly sharpened reel mower. And yes,
the bagger attachment and the mulching option are both helpful – heck I can use
the thing as a vacuum when leaves are on the driveway. And twigs?
No problem – chops them right up like nobody’s business.
Then
there’s the cord. Managing the extension
cord with an electric mower is a bit of an art – well, more a dance. The trick of course is to not run over the
cord while the blade is spinning. There
is a safety handle that will cut the power when released, so the chance of damaging
something by running over it is lessened if you’re paying attention, but it is still
possible. The awkward bit is arranging
the cord so that the action of running up and down the yard is as efficient as
possible. Think about it. You have to work away from the cord. I keep the cord on my left and work to the
right. I run up one row with the cord on
my left so that when I turn and come back the row to the right the cord is now
on my right (toward the cut grass). I continue
to work away from the cord always keeping the cord to the cut side as I move
toward the uncut. Sounds easy enough and
for the most part it is. Complications
arise when I have to traverse steep grades that require some back and forth
movement or return to an area that’s been cut.
It takes a bit of finesse to keep the cord out of the way on the steep
front grade of my yard. I wrap the cord
over my left shoulder, use my right foot to whip the trailing cord aside, and
grip the safety handle with my right hand while doing my best not entangle my
feet all while working to avoid shaving the grass too closely at the border
between the steep bank and the sidewalk.
I
imagine my neighbors watching the dance from across the street. I figure they’re ready by the phone waiting
to dial 9-1-1 or they’re filming for an episode of American’s Funniest Home Videos since they know the powered mower
is a novelty in my yard and that the tangle of orange extension cord around my
feet can’t be intentional. Now into my
second season with the machine, I feel like I have the choreography down though. I flip the cord aside with a flourish as I
make my turns and enjoy the speed with which I can complete the task as well as
the tidiness of the finished product as I dispose of the cuttings. I’m guessing the neighbors appreciate the
improved quality of the cut as well.
Still,
powering up a 13 amp 120-volt electric mower can’t compare to the nostalgic metallic
snicking of the reel blades against the cutting bar. Of
course, after all those years with the trusty red Great States I wasn’t about
to send it to the metal recyclers. It’s
still waiting in the garage for another chance to show its stuff. No doubt it’ll reclaim the position of glory when
the new-fangled machine has electrical problems that are beyond my ability to
repair.
