Several years ago I got tired of paying other people to mow my yard, and a couple of years after that I got tired of pushing a noisy stinky Great Whirling Blade around my yard. So I bought a Husqvarna reel mower, on the strength of a good review and the fact that it weighed only 17 pounds.

What’s good about this mower? Everything, near as I can tell. It seems to be my lot in life to break equipment; I snap “lifetime warranty” fiberglass shovels, rip bicycle handlebars in half, bend shovel blades in half digging holes. I have not managed to destroy this mower.

Light weight is a feature two different ways. I can one-hand this mower into my basement, twirl it in a tight circle in the yard, it just goes where I want it. Number two, the blade does not have a huge dangerous momentum; though I would not want to stick a finger in there, I think the finger would survive the experience. Little oak twigs a pieces off rope stop it, so I think a finger would too.

The mower’s also delightfully easy to service/adjust. Tiny tweaks with a 10mm wrench keep the blades just flush with the whatever-it-is that cuts the grass. The front blade guard is held on by two tiny (inadequate, if you ask me) screws that had come loose and fallen into the wheels, where they would periodically jam the mower. With a small screwdriver, I popped the dark centers out of the wheels, and with the same small screwdriver I easily removed the retaining clip. The wheel lifts right off, making it easy to reinstall the blade guard, and the blade gear/freewheel also lifts right off (it’s a cute little mechanism). I cleaned it all up, added new grease, it went back together in a flash.

It’s hard for me to understand why anyone would buy a gasoline powered mower. Most people could use the exercise, and this mower is quieter, safer, cheaper, less polluting, easier to store, more reliable, and easier to service. What’s not to like?

Originally, I set out to build a single 40-foot by 10-foot frame as a series of 4 connected squares, with 4 10-foot legs centered in the top of each square. That is (legs dotted, main members dashed):

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This was hopelessly floppy, and took at least 3 people to move it, and threatened to bend/break at any minute. By splitting it down the middle and adding an additional square edge, I ended up with two much more manageable pieces. That’s what I put up instead. Most of the joints are just jam-fit; only the near-vertical pipes are glued into their T-joints.

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I then painted it all black to make it less obvious. It seems to work; I’ve seen several birds run into it, and my paw-paws are still unpecked.

End-of-season post mortem: it did not stop the squirrels, and they vandalized the pawpaws (and everything else). 3/4 inch PVC is also too light; in a high wind, these things went over. Right now they are laid down in the yard, waiting to be dismantled, and replaced next season by something better. I will probably recycle the pipe into something for the older raspberry trellis; that was old electrical conduit with a piece of wood jammed in it, but the wood rotted, and that, too, came apart in a high wind.