I have the 18" Fiskars reel mower, about a year old. One knife makes contact with the bed in about a 2" section. None of the other knives make contact and the mower cuts well, except it is hard to push and gets hung sometimes because of the one knife making contact. I assume it must have gotten bent, although no damage is visible when I look at it. Can this be repaired or do I need to buy a whole new reel blade. I would think that adjusting would not help since only one knife is making contact. What's the best course of action?
Hlmckinney
Welcome to the forum.
This topic shows my (now retired) Fiskars 18" StaySharp Max Reel Mower. It may have info or images that are useful for the repair.
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If the reel looks okay (even though it acts bent) then that indicates repair is possible.
My suggestion is to get the sharpening kit. It is a hand crank that attaches to the reel, lapping compound and a paint brush.
The mower has two axis adjustments for the relationship of the reel to the stationary blade.
It might be possible to grind enough of the reels to restore normal / continuous contact, before backing off for the specified proper gap.
One of the terrific features of this mower is that normal operation has zero rotary to stationary blade contact (unlike the old reel mowers that have continuous contact). So it might just need to kill that high spot, followed by proper adjustment to back off to the proper gap.
This topic shows my (now retired) Fiskars 18" StaySharp Max Reel Mower. It may have info or images that are useful for the repair.
If the reel looks okay (even though it acts bent) then that indicates repair is possible.
My suggestion is to get the sharpening kit. It is a hand crank that attaches to the reel, lapping compound and a paint brush.
The mower has two axis adjustments for the relationship of the reel to the stationary blade.
It might be possible to grind enough of the reels to restore normal / continuous contact, before backing off for the specified proper gap.
One of the terrific features of this mower is that normal operation has zero rotary to stationary blade contact (unlike the old reel mowers that have continuous contact). So it might just need to kill that high spot, followed by proper adjustment to back off to the proper gap.
I wondered if might be possible to grind the high point on the one blade. I'll order the kit and give it a try - plus I am sure all of the blades need some sharpening anyway. I just don't need think adjusting it would help because to prevent the one blade from hitting would increase the gap too much for the others.
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