Forum: Author Hangout

the "sound" of a pushmower

PotomacBob 🚫

This question probably needs to be addressed to the oldtimers here. When I was a kid, we had a pushmower. This is NOT one of those mowers that has a motor to turn the blade but that has to be pushed. This is a mower that has no motor - is powered by a human being (if a kid can be called a human being) who pushes the mower and the wheels turn and the turning of the wheels calls the blades of the mower to turn.
My question has to do with the "sound" one of those pushmowers make. If I ever paid attention to the sound, I don't remember it. Would the sound of one of those old pushmowers, mowing a lawn on a Saturday morning, be enough to wake a light sleeper on the second floor of the house where the lawn was being mowed?

Replies: StarFleet Carl Dominions Son Quasirandom Ernest Bywater rkimmelerre Remus2 richardshagrin Mat Twassel LupusDei Remus2

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@PotomacBob

Would the sound of one of those old pushmowers, mowing a lawn on a Saturday morning, be enough to wake a light sleeper on the second floor of the house where the lawn was being mowed?

Those are called 'reel' mowers. If the blade wasn't sharp, and things weren't oiled enough, then the sound of whoever was pushing it as they grunt, groan, and curse would probably wake them.

Otherwise, no, it was basically just a whirring kind of sound, not loud at all.

Replies: Remus2

Remus2 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Otherwise, no, it was basically just a whirring kind of sound, not loud at all.

I still use the same one I cut the lawn with as a teen. It's been refurbished twice as it's manufacture is from the 30's. Whirring is accurate with intermixed mechanical clicking noises for mine.

Replies: Keet awnlee jawking

Keet 🚫

@Remus2

I still use the same one I cut the lawn with as a teen.

Compared to some of the crap sold nowadays those old machines can last forever if you keep them well maintained.

Replies: Remus2

Remus2 🚫

@Keet

Compared to some of the crap sold nowadays those old machines can last forever if you keep them well maintained.

Agreed to a point. Metal fatigue can kill any device subject to vibration. During the second refurb, I notice cracking in the metal of the drive gears. I cast and machined new gears after that.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Remus2

The family mower when I was little had a heavy roller at the rear to create stripes. It was hard work to push. It was pretty loud too - it would wake a light sleeper, especially before the time of double glazing.

AJ

Replies: Remus2

Remus2 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

Ours was fairly easy to push until my old man decided he wanted lines like the neighbors. He added a peg for weights on the push bar. From that, he got the idea it was a good work out for me. When the chores were done, it was time to work out.

His idea was to get a two wheel barrow and a couple of tons of sand and sandbags. I would fill the bags with a WW2 M-1943 entrenching tool, load them in the wheelbarrow and push it a hundred yards away then empty them, rinse and repeat. By the time I was 14, it graduated to literally digging trenches, then filling them back in. As much as I hated it, I do have to credit it with saving my life. When I got run down at 14 by a pickup, the hit would have killed me if I had been the couch potato most of my peers were.

Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

By the way you can still buy those new.

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/lawn-mowers/push-mowers?facetValueFilter=tenant~A04528%3Amanual

Here's a link to a Youtube video of one being used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0YAXLH18kc

ETA:

You can also get gas powered reel mowers.
https://www.mowersdirect.com/lawn/power-reel-mowers.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjNzw3rbQ9AIVAz6tBh038w9yEAAYASAAEgIeiPD_BwE

Quasirandom 🚫

@PotomacBob

I still know that sound: the neighbor across the street uses one.

I think of the sound as somewhere between a whirl and a scrape.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@PotomacBob

Depending on how well maintained the mower was and how long the grass was varied the sound. However, the most common sound when used before the grass got too long was a sort of swish sound as the blades sliced the grass. If the bearings were on the way out it would also have a slight metal on metal whine.

BTW: It worked better with a smaller person as the more acute the angle between the pusher arm and the ground the more force was applied to going forward as with an adult standing upright a lot of the force went down into the ground.

Also, as I got older and taller I found it was often easier to use it by pulling it behind me. But never let the grass grow more than ankle high as after that it got very hard to push it along.

I still have the old unit my I used back then, it was first bought by my grandfather.

Replies: Keet

Keet 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

It worked better with a smaller person as the more acute the angle between the pusher arm and the ground the more force was applied to going forward as with an adult standing upright a lot of the force went down into the ground.

Oh that brings back memories. I remember the difference in sound between starting and finishing when most of the oiled parts lost the lubrication. Cleaning and re-oiling the damn thing was often more work than the mowing itself.

Replies: joyR

joyR 🚫

@Keet

I remember the difference in sound between starting and finishing when most of the oiled parts lost the lubrication. Cleaning and re-oiling the damn thing was often more work than the mowing itself.

So much like a certain author here then. Except in his stories they often start off well lubricated, then as they get warmed up they start to leak, then swell…

After a good servicing it takes nine months to return to their original state.

Lubrication in a Lubrican.

rkimmelerre 🚫

@PotomacBob

From my vague memories I'd say the sounds made during the actual mowing would only awaken very light sleepers. Other sounds made during the whole process could be a lot louder, ranging from banging the mower into rocks or fences or whatever, to the garage or shed door slamming, to swearing when something went wrong. So the act of mowing could easily wake someone up, even if they won't hear the mower itself until after they awake.

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@rkimmelerre

From my vague memories I'd say the sounds made during the actual mowing would only awaken very light sleepers.

They'd have to be very light sleepers as my experience was: once you got 3 or 4 paces away you couldn't hear a thing from the mower.

Remus2 🚫

@PotomacBob

Would the sound of one of those old pushmowers, mowing a lawn on a Saturday morning, be enough to wake a light sleeper on the second floor of the house where the lawn was being mowed?

If it's in mechanical good order, and properly greased, no.

Replies: Keet

Keet 🚫

@Remus2

@PotomacBob

Would the sound of one of those old pushmowers, mowing a lawn on a Saturday morning, be enough to wake a light sleeper on the second floor of the house where the lawn was being mowed?

If it's in mechanical good order, and properly greased, no.

Exactly. It also depends on how you operate the mower. Assuming the grass isn't too high you let the machine do the work, you just move it and the blades do the work. Doing it that way it's not soundless but it doesn't make a lot of noise either. It doesn't take much effort if you do it the right way.

richardshagrin 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

Electric mowers are also fairly quiet. At least one retailer says "What are the pros and cons of an electric lawn mower?
Electric lawn mowers come in corded and cordless battery-operated models. The pros include quiet operation, easy start, eco-friendly and low maintenance as they do not require fuel filter or oil change. These benefits come with limitations as electric models can mow limited yard size and are not powerful enough to tackle thick grass."

Mat Twassel 🚫

@PotomacBob

Ours made a light clicking sound until it stopped, jammed on a twig. Quieter than one of those rotating or oscillating lawn sprinklers. If the sleeper were sunbathing nude on a nearby blanket, I suppose the sound could wake her. Or if the breeze blew some of the clippings across her bare bottom.

LupusDei 🚫

@PotomacBob

Only if it's not well maintained, not oiled, the ground blade isn't sharp and the rotor part is dirty, and the operator adjusts it too tightly to compensate so the blades screech against each other.

Then it believably can wake a light sleeper, not so much for being all that loud, but generating a rather unpleasant noise of metal grinding metal.

Remus2 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

Took mine out and pushed it around a bit to listen to it. I think it depends on the sleepers sensitivity. It's definitely not a natural sound, which would wake some sleepers regardless of decibel level.

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Forum: Author Hangout

the "sound" of a pushmower

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