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Cylinder Mower
Alistair Stubbs
Posts: 1
My cylinder mower is leaving ridges across where it cuts. These are about 2" apart. Anyone got any ideas what is causing this.
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Posts
Are the blades sharp/dull or dented?
My Fiskars reel mower is brand new and does the same. The blades are sharp. One web site or book said it is caused by mowing too slowly, so the blade rotates too slowly. Not sure that makes sense, since the angular rotation per unit distance covered is surely a constant.
Not just are the blades sharp but are they also adjusted on the cutter drum so that the blades are just kissing the strike plate as they rotate . The test for a drum that is properly ground and adjusted is that when turned by hand the blade will cleanly cut a sheet of notepaper .
Mine was cutting paper as above.
Is the lawn level? Cylinder mowers work best on a level lawn. It may be that the area with the ridges is slightly proud of the rest of the lawn. Not proud enough to scalp it but just enough to scuff the ground. Try lifting the cutting height a bit.
I think the problem with the Fiskars reel mower is that the front two wheels are of minuscule diameter, this means that the front of the mower will follow every small undulation and drop into every pocket that a machine with decent size wheels would just ride over.