$2,500 for a human powered push mower 😶

 

Until EGO releases their own battery powered reel mower. I think this will do for now. I can always sell it when EGO releases theirs.

 

$2,500 for a human powered push mower 😶

I second this thought exactly.

 

A) Their sales and customer service must be better than Hudson Star. It can't be worse.

B) The 2.4K Euros, plus VAT, plus shipping converts to... way too much.

C) They need to translate their web site to english if they want any business outside the EU... Ohhh!. I get it. Somebody has their panties in a bunch about Brexit.

D) "Dr. Falkenstein?"

"FAL-ken-steen."

"You're putting me on."

"No! It's pronouced "FAL-ken-steen."

"Do you also say FRO-derick?"

"No. Fredrick."

"But why isn't it FRO-derick FAL-kensteen?

"It isn't! It's Fredrick FAL-kensteen."

"I see."

"You must be Igor".

"No it's pronounced EYE-gor."

"But they told me it was Igor."

"Well, they were wrong then, weren't they?"

 

Found the link about reel production. Fun watch and really made me appreciate the work required to make a quality reel...

Moteck Machining
Shane Kosteszyn
Pinjarra, Western Australia

https://moteck.com.au/product/canted-reel/

20" 8-blade reel: $735 USD (ouch!)

Reel production:

Reel turning on machine lathe:

When asked why he sharpens using a lathe rather than a grinder, Shane said something to the effect that he, "believes the lathe is more accurate than a grinder". Any machinist knows grinders typically work to tolerances about 10X smaller (0.0001") than other machine tools like lathes or mills. So I think what Shane meant to say was that commercial reel grinding jigs are less accurate than a well-tuned machine lathe. In either case, the tolerances obtained from either a reel grinding jig or a machine lathe are plenty adequate for any mower.

 

When asked why he sharpens using a lathe rather than a grinder, Shane said something to the effect that he, "believes the lathe is more accurate than a grinder". Any machinist knows grinders typically work to tolerances about 10X smaller (0.0001") than other machine tools like lathes or mills. So I think what Shane meant to say was that commercial reel grinding jigs are less accurate than a well-tuned machine lathe. In either case, the tolerances obtained from either a reel grinding jig or a machine lathe are plenty adequate for any mower.

All of the best finishes and tightest tolerances are indeed done on grinders, not cutting tools. I don't object to truing up the cylinder on the lathe, and quite like that he tries to build the reel as concentric as possible rather than slapping it together and machining it true. But I'm not sure how you'd go about putting the relief angle(s) on that reel short of maybe a custom tool post grinder setup. This also probably doesn't work as well with hardened cutting surfaces as I'd expect the vibrations to increase as the cutting action gets tougher.

 

I just received the reel mower . There was zero vat / custom fees! Same price as Hudson all said and done. Actually cheaper since it comes with a back lapping kit.

 

Looks the part! What material are the handles made from out of interest? I can't tell from the linked image. How do they feel during use?

 

Following up on this, how has the falkenstein been? Were you able to talk to someone before purchasing? Looks like they’re selling a manual scarifier and Verticut too on lawn pecker that goes with this.

 

Wonder how it compares to the Hudson star?

 

Quality looks great. But for $2500 you can get an excellent condition newer model preowned JD or Toro. The Hudson, and I'm assuming this model as well, produce great results but they're just too labor intensive when mowing at low heights or taking a significant amount of height down at once. Mowing every day these are probably fine but in reality few homeowners are able to mow every day or even every other day. And for $2500 I want the versatility to be able to scalp or take it low without being pushed to the brink of utter exhaustion. We need a mower like this but at a more reasonable price point.