They don't always, but yet a small stone or a bit of wire hidden in the grass can put wrong in a split second, all that the most thorough servicing has put right. After a few months of winter, there are not too many lawns, however well cared for, that won't have a stray foreign body lurking in the undergrowth.... Something that pulls you up with a shudder on your very first outing.
It isn't quite so likely with a rotary-type mower, although I've seen the spinning blades of these bent through the outer protective casing, when a piece of galvanized piping became entangled with it. It doesn't take a piece of piping or anything like it to put a cylinder mower out of action, or a least ruin its ability to make a clean, even cut. A screw or a nail, a dog's bones, a kid's toy is enough. I've seen a jammed coin do thirty pounds worth of damage to a machine.
At the very least it doesn't take much of a crunch to spoil the cut, because a cylinder mower's effectiveness depends on the relationship between each and every blade on the revolving cylinder and the fixed bottom blade beneath. It's like a pair of scissors with a loose screw. No matter how sharp they are, if the blades don't touch they won't cut.
Damaged cutting blades will tear the grass out and a neat even lawn will be out of the question. At best the blades will be forced apart and this is about the least that will happen. At worst a cylinder blade can have a piece nicked out, or even shatter, and the bottom blade can be bent beyond repair. A costly job, to say nothing of what the delay in waiting for replacements does for the ever- lengthening grass.
So take a look before you mow. Go over the lawn with a wire rake and then turn around and do it the other way.
THE LAWN.
The lawn is the most important feature of most gardens, and, if the lawn looks well then the whole garden looks well. But how do we keep the lawn looking green and lush all the year round?
