Isn't the price to sharpen a 10 blade going to be even more? If the cost of blade maintenance is a concern you should consider a rotary.

Redvg,
Did you try to back lap your blades? If you are keeping your grass at 3/4 the 10 blade would do better.

Personally I don't think very much of McLane's 17" mowers, either powered or manual. The 20" and 25" front throws are a credible homeowner machine, and cheaper that the California Trimmer and the Tru-Cut.

As for 7 blade vs. 10 blade; the cut will be even better, but resharpening will be as much and possibly more. And when you sharpen a hand powered mower, you really need a relief grind rather than a spin grind, to lower resistance of blades-to-bedknife. I don't care for spin grind, but if you have an engine turning things, it's not as objectionable.

Previous poster makes good sense about back lapping yourself. Get a good, professional sharpening every few years, and then back lap yourself once or twice a year. It's time consuming to do it right, especially resetting the blade-to-bedknife, but end result is better cuts and less wear to reel and beknife than grinding every year.

Lastly, if you do backlap yourself, I recommend a manual crank. Motor driven backlappers are OK for professionals, but wear metal more quickly from the reel, and can gall the reel or cutting bar if not done correctly.

Hi Thanks everyone for the response. Ill try to answer all the questions.

roadbike: I currently have a rotary and a 7 blade manual reel. The rotary simply doesn't do the job on my hybrid Bermuda as 3/4 inch is way to low for a rotary. Also I've been quoted $105 and $90 for sharpening of the blades on that 7 blade manual reel. I asked both guys about the number of blades to cost ratio and both simply told me they charge for the job, not the number of blades.

rosemallow: I get my mower backlaped once a year at the golf course. However, this year I had to backlap three times which indicated to me the blade needs an actual grind sharpening. Ive had this mower for about 4 years so its time.

ggoyeneche : I backlaped once and was done with it lol. A guy at the golf course currently does it for me. I'm simply at the point where I need a sharpening and was wondering if I'm going to pay 90 or even 105 for a sharpening, would it be better to simply pay a little more and buy a 10 blade mower and go from there. Technically the 7 blade served me well but I'm always looking to improve the quality of cut and that's Why when I saw that 10 blade Mclane I was thinking it would be even better.

Also and this is important. I cannot use a gas powered motor because of my allergies. My rotary mower is a dust collector as I initially switched to a manual reel to get away from the pollutants. My morning cough up of mucus has declined as a result of the switch.

One thing to consider with the 10 blade mower is that it will take a little more ooomph to keep it spinning. If you are otherwise satisfied with the cut of the 7 blade my recommendation would be to hold on to what you have. I suspect the difference in quality of cut will be so small as to be unnoticable. I realize we're not talking big dollars, but if you buy the 10 blade you would then have somewhere around $250 into lawn mowers.

Thanks for the reply. I decided to keep the 7 blade reel mower. However, I luckily ran across a Mclane's manual push reel for cheap. I just bought the 10 blade mclane greens mower(retail $350+) for $40. Chain system works, blades aren't nipped, and it has the heavy duty roller assembly which I liked. We will see how things go. At $40 can't complain.

redvq,

Once you get the 10 blade McLane greens mower in tune, would love to get a review on how it does w/ your hybrid bermuda. Thanks.

Sure will. I'll include some pictures too. Matter of fact that's what I was thinking when I bought it. I searched for endless hours on the Mclane's greens manual push. From small forum to large to page # 50,000 on google search. It simply appeared that the bulk of these were sold in Hawaii and Canada. The only reviews I could find were people saying that all 17 model Mclanes(manual and power) are garbage. I'll report back how it does.

redvq, I'd love to see the pictures of your lawn with either the 7 OR 10 blade cutting it. I have the same species of grass and I currently use a tru-cut 20", 5hp honda. I'd love to pick up a manual for the exercise. I don't care about the striping effect...I just want a perfect cut. I've never seen the end result of a quality manual reel mower. All of the youtube vids show poorly maintained, cold-season lawns being cut with a Fiskars. Please get some pictures up as soon as possible!

Thanks in advance.

The perfect cut will be the result of using what you have. If you search for a poster named okcdan you'll see some amazing pictures of his lawn with a tru-cut. If it wasn't for my allergies I would invest in a tru-cut. The following pictures are of my lawn cut at 3/4 inch with a 7 blade model. This year I'm going to try to cut at 1/2 inch with the 10 blade as soon as the grass comes out of dormancy.

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same mower adjusted to 1 inch(too high).
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I'll see how the 10 blade does this spring.

redvq,

Any update on the McLane push greens mower?

redvq, that looks great. I am sold on the concept of the manual. For the price, I doubt you could beat that 10-blade McLane. If your 7-blade performed that well without double cutting I could only assume the 10-blade would be able to better handle .5" heights. If you're anywhere near OKC, I'll gladly buy your (unsharpened) 7-blade manual once you get the 10-blade!

PS: OKCDAN is the reason I got a tru-cut. His pics are inspiring.

Hey dwrecktor, I scalped the lawn a week ago with the Mclane on a dull blade and put out some alfalfa pellets(organic program). As of right now the Mclane is at the shop being sharpened on a relief grind. I'll pick it up this week. So far the grass is still coming in but not quite there yet. I will say that the reel rollers on the front of this mower do a great job of making the grass coming out of dormancy lay flat. Also I'd like to add that I scalped the lawn first with my rotary down to 1 inch, then I used the Mclane push to get it down to 1/2 inch. At first it was a little harder to push but once the lawn was low the mower to me wasn't that hard to push.

lovethempokes, sorry I'm in Georgia :(. Very true that Okcdan's pics are inspiring lol. I remember those pictures from the first time I found this forum.

Hey redvq, now that the growing season is in full swing, how you liking the McLane so far? I see in one of your pics that you have the 7 blade from American Lawn Mower Co. Is the McLane any easier to push than the 7 blade mower? Also, how would you compare the quality of the blades between the two units. Thanks.

I forgot about this thread lol. I actually like the Mclane. I actually bought a second one. I will say the Mclane is harder to push than the American Lawn Mower Co.

Here's one thing about the Mclane though that can be irritating. The unit appears to come out of adjustment pretty easily. Garden Mulch and little twigs seem to throw it completely out of adjustment. I typically carry strips of newspaper with me and randomly test across the blade and you'd be surprised how many times small things will make either the right or left hand side not cut but pull the grass. After adjusting it for a while though you get use to re adjusting it back to where it needs to be. I like the rollerbar and the way this mower flattens out the grass.

Overall I like it but as far as my grass goes, this year seems to be an underachieving year. Both neighbors of mines have massive Spurge problems and this year this stuff is taking over spots of my lawn that are insanely thick. I'm on an organic schedule and hand pulling this stuff is manual labor. I'll see about posting pictures after a fresh cut.

Thanks redvq for the update. Would love to see pics after a fresh cut. If you don't mind a few more questions. How would you compare the quality of the blades on the McLane vs. the American Lawn. Also, at what height and how often are you cutting? Good luck w/ the getting rid of spurge.

The blades on the Mclane are better in my opinion. The edge feels sharper. The Mclane was taken out of a basement with tons of spider webs and on a single backlap session the edge felt sharper than the American Reel did new. I bought my units used by the way. That's important because if we are talking the retail price of $350 with tax I think that is a lot to ask. The unit is sturdy and has some weight to it but $350 for a push reel is too much. If I were paying retail I would probably get the American Lawn Mower Co 7 blade. Whats making this all a bargain is that I got the unit secondhand. I cut at 3/4 inch every 3 days.

A con is the price to get this thing relief grind. For a 10 blade model the cheapest place I found was $80.

Also do you have steep slopes in your lawn? On a hot summer day somewhere during the middle of the mowing you can certainly feel worked if you have a nice + degree slope or valley like I do. I'm use to it now but its a workout on slopes whereas the American Lawn Mower Co bounces around up and down slopes.

Too bad I scalped the lawn a little because I had to go a couple days longer in between cuts because of rain. But you can see compared to the American Lawn Co mower the Mclane greens model flattens the grass down better and in my opinion cuts better with 10 blades. Now I just need it to be greener :)

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Greens Model

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Hey redvq, thanks for the pics. Nice lawn despite the scalps. To get it greener, have you tried hitting it w/ some iron?

No. I put down organic fertilizer every 15 days so it should recover quick enough. I'll try to take some pics again when it's not scalped.

hey redvq, it looks like it does a very nice job. I was looking at the new McLane push reels and they have wheels in front which is unlike the one you have pictured. Any knowledge of the new models shown on their website? The 17" 10 blade push model is only $209.

ronm69, the version redvq has is the greens version of the one you're referring to. The greens version cuts between 3/16 and 1" (low like a putting green), and has a front roller. If you're maximum cutting height is 1" and you're lawn is a little bumpy, this mower might work for you. It's a little pricey for a push reel, but that's your call. I would probably not get the mower you're referring to as the two front wheel, as opposed to the roller, will only cause you to scalp the lawn. Read through redvq's review and make sure you understand what you're getting into before dropping that kind of $$. Good luck.

Everything that redvq said, especially this:

"Imagine paying $80 bucks for a sharpening and then running over a metal bolt. It's this reason that once you do get a reel mower you tend to walk/blow the lawn before mowing. "

Bermuda + reel mower (push/power) = high maintenance