American Lawn Mower Company SK-1 Reel Mower Sharpening Kit

Brand: American Lawn
Rating:

Feature

* Reel mower sharpening kit keeps reel blades in top cutting form
* Cuts down on mowing time; environmentally-friendly
* Do-it-yourself kit allows users to sharpen their own mowers at home
* Includes grinding compound, application brush, and back-lapping crank
* Designed for use with 1705-16 and 1815-18 push mowers

Product Description
The American Lawn Mower Company reel mower sharpening kit is an easy way to keep reel blades in top cutting form. This do-it-yourself kit allows users to sharpen their own mowers at home. The kit contains everything you need for safe and effective sharpening, including a detailed instruction manual, grinding compound, application brush, and a special back-lapping crank. The kits is designed for use with 1705-16 and 1815-18 push mowers. Cutting down on mowing time, this sharpening kits gives you an environmentally-friendly, perfectly cut lawn.

American Lawn SK-1 Review
It showed up fast. Didn’t take long at all. It was packaged good and came in great condition. The sharpening kit performed great. I sharpened the mower in no time. The directions were easy and to the point. I am very pleased with this product and would recommend it to anyone who has a mower and wants to sharpen it the easy way instead of a file or taking it in and paying a lot of money to have it done.

I wasn’t too sure about this product before I ordered it. It seemed goofy to paint my blades to sharpen them but lo and behold it worked. My mower works a ton better now and makes for a very good cut. I was also unsure of whether this kit would work for my Sears Reel Mower (would the handle fit and the blade adjusting instructions work?) and it did. However, since the kit didn’t jump out of the box and sharpen the mower for me, I can only give it 4 stars.

This sharpening kit is a definite necessity for reel mower users. The directions are easy to follow, and it makes sharpening the blades easy and convenient. I was brand new to reel mowers, and had never seen a anyone sharpen or use one before, but I had no problems with this kit at all. Using this kit, I have been getting a great cut.

I have a Craftsman reel mower thats about 30 years old. It wasn’t used for 18 years and the blade needed sharpened. I came across this sharpening kit and even though its for American Lawn Mower brand reel mowers it worked fantastic for mine. The handle to spin the blade backwards didn’t work like it would for American Lawn Mower brand ones, but with a little modification it worked great. The blade is now extremely sharp and shiny. Cuts the grass cleanly and smoothly. It will last you several sharpenings. For the few times you need to sharpen your blades, I would guess it will last me more than 5 years.

The description of this product really should include a paragraph about how it actually works because the picture gives you absolutely no indication of what it does. The crank lets you turn the blades backwards and the “sharpening compound” which you “paint” on to the cutting edges of the blades turns the mower frame into a grinding stone. It really works well. But wait, there’s more… The instructions are excellent and they also tell you how to adjust the blades. Sending the mower out to a professional (if you can find one who works on reel mowers) will cost you about 75% of what you’ll pay for a new machine. This kit is worth it. A lot of the negative reviews about the reel mowers here on Amazon.com probably come from people who haven’t adjusted their machines correctly. My mower is working better than ever after making just a few simple adjustments.

Frequently Bought Together
Scotts 2000-20 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower
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American Lawn Mower Company 1ST-SP Reel Mower Grass Catcher

Scotts 2000-20 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower

Brand:
Rating:

Feature

* 20-inch reel mower with 10-inch dual tracking wheels and rugged radial tires
* 9 grass heights to choose from (1-3 inches) controlled by quick-snap height adjusters
* 5 heat-treated, steel blades;
* Includes mower, handle, composite wheels
* 2-year warranty

Product Description
The Scott’s classic reel mower is light, maneuverable, and economical. The business end of this push reel mower is solid, sharp, and everything a reel mower should be, with five heat-treated, knife-sharp steel blades that can be adjusted for nine grass heights with very easy wheel tabs. With its 10-inch wheels, radial tires, and 20-inch cutting width, this mower should enable you to cross whatever terrain and reach whatever hard-to-access rogue patches of grass you desire. There’s no soft cushion on the handle, which is too bad, but otherwise, the Scotts Classic is a durable, well-constructed, simple device.

Scotts 2000-20 Lawn Mower Review
I bought the Scotts Classic so I could start cutting my own grass after paying someone else to do it for the past 10 years. I have owned a gas-powered mower for that long, but I have never used the gas mower because, frankly, it scares me. I have been using the Scotts Classic on my 1/4 acre yard for about six weeks, and I love it. It was very easy to put the handle together and attach it to the reel assembly. The only tool I needed to use was an adjustable wrench. This mower is easy to use, too. I am a small woman – 5’3″ tall, 114 pounds – and I can push this mower with one hand while I talk on the phone with the other hand. My dog follows me around while I mow and drops his ball in front of the mower so I can throw it for him. When I stop, the mower stops, so I know he won’t get hurt. I highly recommend this mower for people who don’t want to bother with the maintenance required by a power mower, don’t want to deal with noise and fumes, or want to be able to cut the grass without locking their children and pets in the house.

I am a great fan of manual mowers for small yards, although that wasn’t always the case. When I was a small lad one fo my shores was to mow a double lot with an old, heavy manual mower, something that soured me on manual mowers for decades. But a few years ago I discovered the new generation of manual mowers, and now I mow my lawn in about the time it took with my gas mower, but without the noise, the vibrations or the fumes. I can mow at 7 in the morning, or 9 at night without bothering the neighbors, too. The Scott has a number of good things going for it: It’s light, easy to push, fairly easy to adjust, and you can sharpen it yourself with a simple kit. That alone will save a bit of money. It’s my favorite unit in its price class. (My favorite mower is the Brill, from Germany, which is even lighter and easier to push than the Scott and doesn’t require sharpening for 8 years, but which Amazon doesn’t carry… yet.) If you do buy the Scott, get the sharpening kit, as when you do need it you’ll want to have it on hand. And get a can of Boeshield protectant spray (also available from Amazon). A quick once over with the Boeshield from time to time will greatly extend the life of your mower and keep it easy to push.

I bought this mower from a local store, so did not experience any problems due to shipping. I have a pretty big lawn (about 5,000 sq. ft.) but wanted to use a reel mower after reading that they are best for not damaging the grass. This is the widest I’ve seen, the others being 14 or 15 inches. The performance is good, keeping in mind that you need to mow frequently, because it doesn’t cut as well in fairly tall grass, and if there is a tall stalk, it really just pushes it over without cutting it. The overall quality of the mower is good, seems fairly solid except for one of the height adjustment arms doesn’t have enough tension to stay locked on a setting, but I think I can just take the arm off, and put a little extra bend in it. I was recently mowing my lawn and noticed that the mower was ‘combing’ the grass more than cutting it, the blades had apparently worn in so I made a slight adjustment on the rear blade, and it started cutting just fine. If you have fairly thin bladed grass that lays down easily, you will find that the wheel tracks don’t get cut as well, either. You do need to overlap your passes quite a bit, at least three or four inches. I think if you’re the kind of person that just loves to be outside and working on the yard (like me) you will enjoy using this mower, but if you want to get the job done quick and want the most uniform cut, you’ll probably be dissapointed.

Frequently Bought Together
American Lawn Mower Company SK-1 Reel Mower Sharpening Kit
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American Lawn Mower Company 1ST-SP Reel Mower Grass Catcher