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OT. Reel Mower Gears @ Thrift Shop

A

atomarc

Diamond
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Location
Eureka, CA
I went with my wife to the Cancer Society's thrift shop and look what they had. They're gears for old reel push mowers donated by someones estate after a garage clean out. I wanted to buy the entire display but..nay nay, they wanted to keep the wooden case to display coffee mugs..argh!

The pictures are rotated incorrectly but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make them proper...it's my wife's cell phone, something I don't/wont' personally own, so I'm 'phone dumb'!

Stuart


gear2.JPGgear3.jpggear1.JPG
 
If you want the entire display, offer to make them a more attractive cup or mug holder for the store.
 
Retired guy I knew had a brother who sharpened "Reel Type" blades. Pretty elaborate setup from what I'm told. Kinda like sharpening an end mill. All the blades on the reel had to be ground the same distance from the center axis, then the blade they sheared against had to be set to the proper clearance. If the reel was sharpened wrong it would jam or not cut. Golf courses I'm told prefer these type of mowers because it's better for the grass.
 
gmach10 said:
Retired guy I knew had a brother who sharpened "Reel Type" blades. Pretty elaborate setup from what I'm told. Kinda like sharpening an end mill. All the blades on the reel had to be ground the same distance from the center axis, then the blade they sheared against had to be set to the proper clearance. If the reel was sharpened wrong it would jam or not cut. Golf courses I'm told prefer these type of mowers because it's better for the grass.
Click to expand...

Nothing to it, just put some valve grinding compound, good coarse grease mix is best on the cutting edge of the real and on the cutter bar. push it a bit and and adjust the cutter bar closer to the real, push it again and repeat. faster than you can believe it is razor sharp.
 
So Moonlight, you say that they are barrel ground. I would have thought that they would have had some relief clearances. My experience with a reel mower ended with me pushing one through some of my moms flower bed when I was very small.

JH
 
Nah you don't really need any relief, there more a rotary shear than a cutter as such, i have simply turned them before, surface ground the bottom blade. Key things not so much sharp as a good corner on both blades, as thoes corners wear is when it starts to jam and become hard work.

Thoes gears are seriously hard to find over here too, often the teeth are fine but the clutch teeth on the inside get chewed up when they fill with crap and the clutch paw does not engage them properly.

With only a small garden i have always found push faster, or often just strim the lot with a makita 36V cordless brush cutter, both go pretty dang fast compared to messing with a internal combustion engine or the lead of a conventional electric mower.
 
[QUOTE) ..it's my wife's cell phone, something I don't/wont' personally own, so I'm 'phone dumb'![/QUOTE]

Welcome to my club!
Regards, fusker
 
I remember you are suppose to reverse the small gear or maybe the cam in side while you push forward with the grinding compound to grin d the cutting edges down. I remember nothing about relief.
Reel mowers cut the grass rotary mowers whip it until it shreds. Just like a weed eater or flail mower.
 
Until I looked them up I hadn’t seen the most recent versions of reel mower sharpening machines but I had seen pictures of the older ones when I was more involved with other saw sharpening machines made at the time by Foley .
They have a video of one doing relief grinding as well .
Relief is probably required when the reels have been ground down a few times .
Foley Company, LLC.
I didn’t look at the prices but I know that you would have to sharpen a lot of lawn mower reels to pay for the machine.
They also have the bed knife grinders that are more advanced than the ones I knew about.
Regards,
Jim
 
Jim Christie said:
Until I looked them up I hadn’t seen the most recent versions of reel mower sharpening machines but I had seen pictures of the older ones when I was more involved with other saw sharpening machines made at the time by Foley .
They have a video of one doing relief grinding as well .
Relief is probably required when the reels have been ground down a few times .
Foley Company, LLC.
I didn’t look at the prices but I know that you would have to sharpen a lot of lawn mower reels to pay for the machine.
They also have the bed knife grinders that are more advanced than the ones I knew about.
Regards,
Jim
Click to expand...

That last quote I got for a new top of the line reel grinder and bedknife grinder set was $74,120.56
I have SIP brand, made in Tampa, FL. Arguably the best.
Simplex Ideal Peerless
 
I didn't buy the display and its gears but I sure learned a bunch about reel mowers and their sharpening from this silly little thread.:):)

Stuart
 
atomarc said:
Can you share with me how you achieved the pix rotation..I'm tech challenged.

Stuart
Click to expand...

I'm on a Mac so it is pretty easy for me to do. I right-clicked on the picture in your post and chose "Save image to Downloads". I then opened the Downloads folder and double-clicked on the image. That opens the picture in "Preview". In preview there is a rotate icon on the menu bar... I clicked that 3 times (it only rotates counter-clockwise) and then selected "Save". I then uploaded that image in a reply to your post. If you're on Windows, well, the procedure should be similar but I gave up on Windows years ago (probably about the same time that Microsoft did). :)

Now... why does this happen? Your phone stores information about how the phone was held at the time the picture was taken. If you view that on a Mac (and possibly Windows) it will automatically rotate it when you view it... so it seems just fine! When you upload that file to this website, that information is discarded so the image doesn't get handled properly. You probably only find that out _after_ you upload it. As a computer programmer I feel obligated to apologize for my profession as it has created this and other similar stinking piles of junk for you poor users out there. ;)
 
What is the difference between gears used in a push mower and gears used in engine powered reel type mowers? Just curious.. I had several of the engine powered mowers (Briggs and Stratton) when I was a boy.. Ramsay 1:)
 
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