Gas & Electric Lawn Mowers Are Expensive: Try This Eco-Friendly Alternative Instead

The first lawn mower, invented in 1830, was a reel-type manual push mower, and despite all the subsequent innovations in lawn mower technology, this type of mower is still useful. In the gardening and landscaping business I ran in the 1990s and 2000s, we kept one available for mowing small patches of grass and maintaining small yards. It was a low-tech tool that needed no gas or electricity, and if we kept the blade sharp, it cut efficiently without blowing grass onto adjacent walkways. Take it out of the truck, cut the grass, and put it back; that's all we had to do.

The quality of manual mowers has improved significantly since then. Today's plastic mowers are more lightweight and easier to push than the older metal ones with wooden handles. They offer an eco-friendly alternative to a power mower for people with small yards or those who enjoy the meditative experience of mowing. A manual mower uses zero fuel other than people power, it doesn't disturb the neighbors, and it requires little lawn mower maintenance (although it does need some).

Despite these benefits, there's a reason that most people choose a power mower over a push mower: A push mower takes more effort. I wore myself out a few years ago when I had to use a push mower to cut a seriously overgrown lawn. Over the years, I've found ways to make a push mower easier to use, but it's always a slog when cutting long — or wet — grass.

As the wheels of a manual mower turn, they spin a reel with a series of impellers on a central axle, and the impellers push grass against a blade on the bottom to shear off the tops. The blade is what has to be sharp — not the impellers — and it's easy to remove with a screwdriver so you can hone it with an angle grinder. I did this often when my push mower was in regular use — sometimes as often as once a week — because a dull blade tends to bog down the mower, making it harder to push. It also rips out grass rather than cutting it cleanly, and that affects the appearance and health of the grass.

The wheels need regular lubrication, because rusted bearings also make the mower harder to push. To lubricate the wheels, I locate the oil ports on the wheel housings and squeeze some penetrating oil into each port. I do this every time I sharpen the blade. Lubrication and blade sharpening are the extent of the maintenance the mower normally needs, unless something breaks. 

Because a manual mower can be a bear to push through long grass, it's sometimes worth cutting the lawn in two stages. Raise the blade, using the wheel adjustments, to make the first pass, rake up the cuttings, then lower the blade for the second pass. After that, make your life easier and cut the grass regularly to keep it short.