How To Mow With A Lawn Mower

22nd July 2020

Instructions and rules for safe work with a lawn mower. Trimmer Information portal about suburban construction. Only up-to-date information about real estate, installation schemes, description of materials, comparative analysis of technologies, do-it-yourself crafts. It is useful for every owner of his own house or cottage.

Instructions and rules for safe work with a lawn mower. Trimmer

The owners of summer cottages and country houses are familiar with the problem of maintaining their homestead territory in an aesthetic form. A lot of effort is spent on mowing the grass and mowing the lawn. Electric and petrol trimmers help to automate such processes.

Choosing the right attachment

In addition to their product, the manufacturer usually provides several cutters (usually 3).

For working with soft grass, a line wound on a drum is used as a cutting element. The speed of 9000 rpm allows you to quickly work even a large lawn.

For coarser grass and thickets, you can use one of the metal knives, which differ in the number of cutting teeth.

A disc with 40 or 80 teeth is intended for mowing dense growth, reeds, young bushes. Corn, dry weeds with thick stems can be mowed with three- and four-blade cutters.

And in order to lay the cut grass in the rolls, a knife with 8 blades is used and a special comb is attached to the scythe itself.

And now more about how to install the cutter. The attachment point of the cutter is called the gearbox. First you need to fix the curly washer on it with a hex wrench.

Then put on the knife, aligning the holes in it with the protrusion of the washer. After that, you need to install the upper figured washer on the shaft and tighten everything with a nut.

Here you should pay attention to the fact that the thread on the shaft is left-handed, therefore, tighten the nut (as well as the mowing head) counterclockwise.

The key, which is also included in the delivery set, will help to tighten the nut until it stops. You can replace the cutter by doing all the operations in reverse order.

How to choose a lawn mower

Lawn mower or a gasoline trimmer is a convenient, mobile, practical and therefore very popular tool with which you can mow grass, stiff shoots, thickets of small shrubs in your summer cottage, near your house, in the garden before harvesting potatoes. Recent times lawn mowers became very popular in agriculture for harvesting hay. However, a large selection of models with different technical indicators and a wide range of raise a natural question from the consumer: which one? Choose a lawn mower in a price-quality ratio, and so that its technical characteristics meet the tasks to be performed as much as possible. In this article, we will try to tell you what are lawn mowers, what types of work they are suitable for, as well as the basic rules for operating a gasoline trimmer.

Types of lawn mowers

Depending on the technical characteristics, as well as on the mode of operation, all lawn mowers can be roughly divided into:

Professional
Household

Professional lawn mower designed for industrial use, performing a large amount of work for a long time, and is perfect for use by utilities or in agriculture. Naturally for this lawn mower must have not only high technical performance, but also the appropriate build quality. As a rule, professional models have engine power from 1.8 hp. And above, they are equipped with both a trimmer head with a line and a steel knife. Over, the thickness of the fishing line is greater than usual (from 2.4 mm), and the knife can be 3, 4 and 8 lozenges (the latter is used for mowing tall, weaving grass and for hay harvesting). There are also knives with a large number of teeth, they visually resemble saw blades and are used for mowing bushes. In addition, a distinctive feature of professional lawn mowers is a non-separable rod, in the middle of which the shaft moves. On the one hand, this is not very convenient, especially when transporting and storing the tool, since the device is quite large, and on the other hand, such a design prevents sand, dirt, dust from getting into the middle, which significantly extends its resource. Over, the connecting mechanism of the two shaft parts may loosen over time, which causes backlash. Separately, it is necessary to dwell on the shaft, which is located in the middle of the rod and transfers the engine torque to the cutting attachment. It comes in two types: flexible and rigid. The flexible shaft has the appearance of a cable and prevents damage to the gearbox when a knife strikes from a stone or tree trunk. It simply absorbs this blow. At the same time, the rigid shaft (metal pin) resists deformation under load. Such lawn mowers used for mowing dense thickets and bushes.

Household lawn mowers intended for work near the house, in the garden, in the garden. They rarely exceed 2 HP and can also be fitted with a line trimmer and steel blade. Structurally, they are similar to professional models, but there are some features:

A number of household models are equipped with a curved bar, which is convenient when working in hard-to-reach places (under benches in the garden, near flower beds, between trees), since such lawn mower less overall than its counterpart with a straight bar;
A type of handle, which can be bicycle type (like professional models), or it can be D-shaped. In the second case, on the bar lawn mowers a handle is attached, which the user holds with one hand, and the other hand holds the tool by the bar near the engine. Users’ opinions were divided: which design is more convenient. The matter, as they say, is a matter of habits, since it will change from a bicycle handle to a D-shaped one or vice versa, as practice shows, not everyone succeeds
Household models are more often found with a collapsible bar, which is very convenient for storage and transportation, since disassembled lawn mower two times less, and assembling it back is not difficult and takes a minimum of time.

Another feature that significantly distinguishes a household model from a professional one is its cost. The latter will be much more expensive. Therefore, before choose a lawn mower it is necessary to decide which tasks you will perform with its help. If you have a plot of up to 15-20 acres, it is absolutely not necessary to overpay and buy a professional tool, since in this case, household lawn mower perfectly cope with such a volume of work.

We work as a lawn mower: basic rules

The main requirements for working with a lawn mower directly depend on the rules for operating a gasoline 2-stroke engine. Such a motor runs on a fuel mixture of gasoline and 2-stroke oil, which is prepared in a ratio of 1:50, that is, 1 gram of oil is added to 50 grams of gasoline. It should be said that when starting work with a new tool, it is recommended to add a little more oil. Let be lawn mower on one tank of such a mixture it will work at 50% of its power, then feel free to fill in the usual mixture. When preparing a fuel mixture for your lawn mowers it must be remembered that it is suitable for use for no more than two weeks, after which its properties change, which negatively affects the operation of the instrument as a whole. Therefore, do not rush to prepare it in large quantities, and also drain the fuel from the tool during long breaks between mowing. There are also models with 4-stroke engines, in which oil is poured separately with gasoline, they are more economical and have a longer service life. But such lawn mowers have more weight and cost more.

Before starting work, we recommend that you carefully inspect the area and remove stones, branches, and other debris from it, which you may not notice in the grass during work, which can lead to breakage or to premature wear of the cutting tool. When working with a gasoline trimmer, you must remember that it is not only a practical and convenient tool, but also quite dangerous. Since the trimmer head with line or steel blade turns at a high speed, the following safety rules must be observed when working:

Do not use tools without the protective shield provided with each lawn mower
Wear glasses when working to prevent grass particles from getting into your eyes
The engine heats up during operation, therefore, when removing the tool between mowing, it is better to hold it by the bar or the handle.

How to choose a lawn mower?

Which machine is better for mowing grass: lawn mower or trimmer How to choose the right product? All these questions are asked by a person who decides to acquire a modern lawn mower.

Cutting elements

Petrol lawn mowers, as well as a trimmer, are equipped with cutting elements in the form of a fishing line and a knife. Knives are made of plastic or metal. A fishing line is good for mowing young and soft grass. Knives will have to be used for thick and coarse growth. They will even cope with tree shoots. There is also a reinforced fishing line, which is not afraid of rough and dense grass. It functions well and is little prone to abrasion.

You should be aware that low-power devices are not equipped with metal knives. The fact is that a weak engine is not able to provide the required rotation speed of a heavy knife. As a result, the knife will simply get stuck in the grass, which in turn can provoke an emergency.

Therefore, for high-quality mowing, it is better to give preference to a device that is equipped not only with a knife, but also with a fishing line. It is also advisable to choose a stronger engine power. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the fishing line is a consumable material, therefore it needs constant updating.

How to mow grass with a lawn mower: technique and features of mowing work

So, let’s take a closer look at how to mow with a lawn mower.

We have already said that the movement of lawn mowers should be performed from right to left, then the grass will fall on the already mown surface. But there are other nuances of working with a trimmer:

Mowing tall grass or cutting weeds with tough stems should be done in double strokes: from right to left, you cut the top of the grass, and backwards from left to right, you cut the bottom of the stem. When mowing tall grass using this technology, you will leave all the mown green mass on your left side.
The rules for mowing large areas recommend performing this operation in a square manner. By dividing the area into squares, you start moving from the outside towards the center.
Mowing grass on slopes is done as follows. Start mowing at the bottom of the slope, swath parallel to the slope, climb up a little and make the next swath, etc. With this technology, all the cut grass will fall down into the already cut area.
Mowing around obstacles, bushes and trees is done using the lawn mowers’ protection as a guide. The tool is guided around a bush or tree trunk, while the operator gradually moves around an obstacle.
Lawn grass should be mowed with a lawn mower equipped with only high-quality cutting tools. Otherwise, a large number of small blades of grass will not be mowed, but uprooted, due to which the lawn will quickly lose its perfectly well-groomed appearance.

How to mow with a lawn mower correctly. Expert advice

How to mow with a lawn mower? It seems that there is nothing difficult in this: you need to start this cutting tool, and then just carefully cut off the grass and weeds with the cutting edge. But, as they say, there are some nuances that will be discussed in this article.

So, for example, it is best to mow grass with movements from right to left. This is because the cutting edge of the trimmer rotates counterclockwise, which means that the grass will fall on the already cut.

But hay is best mowed with an eight-tooth knife, since a cutting tool with fewer teeth during mowing produces too many small cuttings, due to which the quality of the harvested animal feed is significantly deteriorated.

How to mow with a lawn mower and safety

How to mow with a lawn mower correctly?

When working with a petrol trimmer, you should unload your hands as much as possible, for which all movements with a petrol trimmer should be performed with the body.
Move, working with the lawn mower, should be short. “duck”. Step.
Keep the cutting attachment at the same distance from the ground.
The thicker the grass or growth you are cutting, the more power the engine should run.
To reduce the load on the mower, you can try the following operating mode: driving to the right. The engine is running at full power, driving to the left. The throttle is released.

The safety rules when working with a mechanical trimmer are as follows:

Any actions other than mowing (checking the fullness of the gas tank, lubricating, replacing parts, visual inspection of mechanisms) should be performed only with the device turned off.
When mowing tall grass with a line trimmer, cut the top of the grass first and then the bottom. This will prevent the stalks of grass from wrapping around the line.
Do not use lawn mowers with rusted cutting blades. Therefore, trimmers should only be stored in dry rooms.
Do not use the trimmer immediately after rain or lubrication. You need to wait 30-45 minutes.
You should strictly adhere to the requirements of the instructions, which indicate the purpose of each specific cutting blade.
It is forbidden to sharpen the cutting tools yourself, as this may disturb the alignment of the discs, which will sharply increase the vibration loads on the lawn mowers.

Types of steel knives

Not all lawn mowers are designed to be fitted with discs or knives. In order for the engine to “pull” the knife, it must be powerful, at least 1-1.2 hp. In addition, a rigid forged shaft must be installed inside the boom. If you have a gasoline scythe or an electric trimmer with a curved bar, then inside it is not a metal shaft, but a cable. He will not stand the knife. It will burst right there.

But, if everything is in order with the scythe, and the manufacturer provides a knife in the kit, then feel free to use it.

The knife is indispensable in case:

Mixed vegetation;
The presence of dense and tough growth;
An abundance of hard weeds;
Cutting stalks of corn, sunflower;
Germination of fresh bush shoots.

The cutting principle is the rotation of the knife on the shaft. The mowing width, as a rule, is standard for all lawn mowers. A quarter of a meter, but there are knives and larger in diameter.

By design, the blade for lawn mowers is blade. Blades are sharp blades that are sharpened on both sides. There can be two, three, or four blades.

The double-beam one resembles a plate. Lightweight and suitable even for household trimmers;
Three-lobed. The most popular for cutting weeds. It has a small base and three long blades;
The four-beam differs in that its base is larger, and the blades are shorter. With this design, less grass is cut, which is important when mowing for hay, since finely chopped hay is difficult to collect later.

The more blades, the higher the mowing performance. After all, it is the blades that effectively cut tough vegetation.

Often, to increase the strength of the knife, victorious solders are applied to the blades. Such a knife element is much stronger and more durable. But it is also heavier in weight. Therefore, do not rush to install a multi-blade knife if, for example, mow soft clover. It is best to save it for vegetable gardens where you need to cut thick and tough corn stalks.

When mowing with a knife, carefully inspect the area. If there is any treacherous stone or hard bump. If you come across it, you will break or warp the knife, and you will expose the engine to unnecessary stress.

The better to mow the grass

Before installing the cutting attachment, consider what you will be cutting. If the grass is fresh, then the answer is unequivocal. Choose a fishing line.

The line is a thin nylon thread. It is also called a cord, string or wire. The mowing head has a spool (reel) inside, on which this wire is wound. The spool is mounted on the shaft, the motor speed is transmitted to it through the gearbox. The ends of the line are exposed. When the spool rotates, they also rotate with tremendous speed and force. This is how the grass is mowed.

Cutting widths range from 40 cm to half a meter. The wider the wire mows, the faster you mow the lawn.

The line cuts well at any height. Even the tallest that the lawnmower can’t handle. In general, there are many places where the lawn mower will not pass. Narrow spaces, lawn edges, near curbs, flower beds, under benches. These are all places for lawn mowers with a string tucked into it.

The wire is especially effective when mowing grass in the garden, since it only easily slides along the tree trunks and does not harm them.

It is convenient to mow grass for hay, but if the vegetation is tough and dense, use a knife.

Section. What affects the shape of the line

The thread shape also affects the mowing result. Like the diameter, it directly depends on what exactly you will be mowing. The cutting edge is by section:

Round. Most common. Mows well both dry grass and fresh. One of its advantages is low noise, but users say that this characteristic is not important, since the growling gasoline engine drowns out all other sounds.
Polygonal. The section can be triangular, square and even hexagonal. The pluses of the polygon are sharp cutting edges. They better kill rough stems, even young shoots of a bush. Hence the highest productivity. Minus. Used up too quickly.
Figured. The section is intricate, ribbed. It looks like an asterisk or a twisted square with notches, in general. A complex geometric figure. This is a specialized cord. Each comes with instructions on what exactly he cuts. For example, an asterisk. Ideally cuts lawn grass. Although it costs a little more, it cuts neatly, the tips of the grass cover look attractive and do not dry out after cutting.

Lawn mower for making hay

Obviously, every owner of a farm who keeps cattle or other domestic animals is faced with the need to harvest a large amount of hay for the winter, which can hardly be called a pleasant job. Previously, this process involved hard work from morning to night using an old and proven tool. Sharp braid. In addition, the situation was aggravated by the timing of harvesting forage crops, since the collection of grass for hay for each type must be done at a certain time and completed in 8-12 days. Otherwise, there is a risk of missing the right time, and with it the opportunity to collect hay when the nutrients in the herbs will be maximum.

However, technological development in the agricultural sector has not stood still in recent years, so now the market has become available tools aimed at making hay harvesting much easier, more convenient and more efficient for owners of private farms. These are lawn mowers or, as they are also called, petrol trimmers.

Lawn mower vs. Regular braid

Abbreviation vs. (“Versus” in Latin means “against” ed.) Should provide for an objective comparison of instruments, but not in this case. Despite the almost identical use in the farm, it would be completely wrong and unfair to compare them, since the lawn mower has a number of undeniable advantages.

First, compared to a hand scythe or other hand-held mowing tool, the first thing to highlight is the compactness and portability of the device. The trimmer can be used even in narrowly accessible places, for example, near a fence or next to a bench.
Secondly, it is versatility. The tool is powered by a gasoline engine, which makes the lawn mower almost independent, undemanding to the network, the smoothness of the landscape and the type of vegetation.
Thirdly, the functionality of most petrol trimmers can be easily expanded by using special attachments. If necessary, you can even form ornamental shrubs with a trimmer with the appropriate attachment.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Other advantages of lawn mowers include:

Less mowing resistance, which helps to reduce fatigue, increasing efficiency (if desired, you can work all day, taking short breaks of 20-30 minutes between refueling)
High performance, which is achieved by the ability to cover a large area at a time;
No need to sharpen / tweak while mowing (scythe reflection takes no less time than trimmer maintenance)
No need to wait for dew / rain;
Insensitivity to harsh operating conditions (bumps, tree growth and dense bushes are not even noticed).

In turn, to mow by hand, you need to have skills. Not possessing a special technique, you only suffer. You need to be able to reflect the braid, sharpen it correctly, then it goes like clockwork, but in any case, it is very difficult to mow by hand. Therefore, we note once again that any comparison here will be inappropriate. Let’s concentrate on the practical benefits of using lawn mowers. Today, lawn mowers most often come to the rescue when harvesting hay in agriculture.

The technique of work remains almost identical, as with the use of a manual scythe, but somewhat simpler: we move from right to left, simultaneously holding the disc with a slight tilt to the left, so that the grass better folds to the side, forming the correct mow. At the end of the movement, increase the revs slightly and keep them to the extreme left position. When driving in the opposite direction, you must slow down slightly.

There is almost no resistance when cutting grass with the trimmer. Dense grass stand, bumps, woody growth or dense shrub are practically not noticed. However, care should be taken to ensure that there are no other hard objects in the area to be treated, such as large stones, hemp or metal, which could damage the blades of the petrol trimmer.

After mowing, the grass is loaded into swaths, which then remain to dry in the sun in an open place. Further, the grass is collected in small heaps, which are called haystacks. In stacks, the grass dries to a hay state, thanks to the action of the wind. A dry, hot, sunny day is most suitable for harvesting. In case of suitable weather. The grass is dried on special hangers, under a canopy or in a previously arranged hayloft.

In order for the hay to retain as many vitamins and minerals as possible, it is advisable to dry it only through natural ventilation.

In the future, the cut grass can be used not only for feeding animals, but also for planting potatoes. Hay is an effective natural soil fertilizer. Thanks to such a tool as a lawn mower, it became possible to harvest many times more hay than a manual scythe, while spending much less time and saving your own energy.

Which Lawn Mower Attachment Works Best?

As mentioned above, unlike conventional hand tools, lawn mowers can work with any type of grass. The main thing is that the engine power is at the required level. Not less than 1.4 kW. Perhaps the first question that may arise in preparation for work: “which knife is better to use?” Lawn mower knives are distinguished depending on the design, or rather on the number of teeth. For clarity, it is better to look at the image, which will help you understand among the whole variety of cutting tools.

We were surprised that the list does not include the most popular cutting tool for the trimmer. Fishing line? The fact is that the line crushes the grass too much and is not quite suitable for making hay. But she can prepare a wonderful material for compost, which can be used, for example, when planting potatoes.

Which lawn mower to choose?

Benzotrimer Foresta 1.6 kW. It is the optimal balance of power and performance for a wide variety of tasks. The tool is ideal for efficient mowing of field grass, housekeeping and gardening, thinning tree growth, removing weeds or dense bushes. This is possible due to a number of quality features of the instrument, including:

Reliable gearbox (improved friction lining on the clutch reduces gear slip and, thereby, increases the service life; breather allows refueling with a special pistol, increasing tightness and service life; metal gears and the use of oil for high-speed gearboxes can extend the service life by 2.3 seasons)
Improved heat dissipation system (optimal area of the cylinder fins)
Build quality and attention to detail (factory assembled boom with lower and upper gears for ease of assembly and operation).

The reliability of the device is underlined by the manufacturer’s warranty. 2 years.

Why right to left?

The thing is that the cutting tool in a lawn mower often rotates counterclockwise. Therefore, to ensure that all the mowed grass remains in the already worked area, you drive the tool towards the left and forward.

When you are faced with the task of mowing the grass on a large, relatively flat area, then it should be mentally divided into squares and then work with each square separately. When mowing the grass, you walk along the outside of the square towards the center.

How to properly operate a lawn mower

If you want to achieve good results while keeping your tool intact, then you will have to master the technique of working properly with a lawn mower. She is quite simple, even a person who has never encountered lawn mowers before will easily master her. As a general rule of thumb, you should smoothly turn the mower from right to left, so you should move forward while working.

Features of working with a lawn mower

Lawn mowers work very similarly to other small gasoline-powered gardening equipment such as motor-drills, motor-scissors and chainsaws. At the heart of the car is a two-stroke carburetor engine, which is fueled with a mixture of engine oil and gasoline, or a four-stroke engine (refueled with gasoline). The difference between them is that the two-stroke is more noisy, emits more carbon dioxide during operation, and has less productivity. Also, any lawn mower includes a starter and an air cooling system. If used improperly, starters can periodically break down, and then the only option is to buy a new one. You can buy a starter for lawn mowers on the website https://benzo-zip.com.Ua/katalog/zapchasti-dlya-motokos/starter-motokosi/. A lawn mower headset can include a mowing drum, saw, line or metal knife.

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