On 29 Jun 2004 05:26:20 -0700, (Chet Hayes)
wrote:

Barfin' Bob wrote in message ...
Try spraying your mower's wheels with Pam or any other cooking spray
just before mowing your lawn. It works wonders.


john wrote:
This is odd - something i never noticed with my 2 year old Craftsman
6HP mulching self propelled mower... But after replacing it with a
new Honda Harmony mulcher, I noticed it right away in my lawn. And
now when I look at neighbors, it seems to be everywhere. I just never
noticed it before.

I have these lines of "taller" grass that never gets cut well when
cutting my grass. Analyzing the situation, I am guessing it's because
when I make one pass with the mower, the blades of grass are pressed
down from the wheels on the mower. When I come around, they're still
not upright again, so when I go over that section, they still end up
being taller than the rest of what I cut.

It's more of a problem if the grass has any moisture left or if the
ground is still damp, obviously, since the moisture helps hold it to
the ground longer. But even when the grass and ground is dry, it's
still an issue.

I've tried changing my cutting patterns, rather than going around the
edges, I tried going back and forth up and down a single edge, moving
the line of "cut vs. uncut" across the yard from one side to another
as I progress. My first hope was that maybe going the opposite way of
the bent grass might help push it back up. But it doesn't make any
difference.

I've been very disappointed with the new Honda mower since it's not
mulching as well as my 2 year old Craftsman did, but this issue is
really ****ing me off, since pulling out the craftsman again, while it
has the same effect, it's not nearly as noticable.

Is there some way people "in the know" deal with this? I can't even
ask any of the neighbors since they all exhibit the same lines in
their lawn when they're cut, just to more or less of an extent.

maybe thinner wheels so they can't press down as wide a swatch of
grass? Or something along the front of the mower to force the grass
back vertical when I'm coming up the opposite way again and moving
"against the grain" so to speak?

Thanks for any info. Too late to return my Honda, but still ****es me
off that my $250 craftsman worked so much better than the $600 honda.

John


What kind of grass do you have? What height are you cutting it and
how much are you removing at a time? Is the blade sharp?

I have a Harmony 215 and use it on tall fescue, which grows quite
fast. I don't have the problem you're describing and I've been very
pleased with the mulching capability. It leaves my lawn looking
fantastic.

The only place I've seen problems is in areas where the grass is
sparse. In that case, mulchers tend to bend the grass and not cut it
correctly, leaving some that is only partially cut and uneven. I
think this is a problem with mulchers in general, as my previous one
did that too.

I honestly don't know - I live in Wisconsin, and when they put in the
lawn they said it's the combination that they do for lawns in this
area cause of the weather. It actually holds up very well, and is
thick. I cut it around 2 3/4". The mower is brand new, and the blade
and mower were checked when the place put it together and readied it
for me to pick up. From what they said, ensuring sharp blades was one
of the services they did before pickup of the unit.

The craftsman never exhibited this problem that I noticed, but
everyone's lawn in my area does the same thing it seems...

John