Fiskars Push Reel Lawn Mower Blade Maintenance Kit, Lawn and Yard Tools

Works well, easy to push and not terribly heavy. Most cons below are just the nature of real mowers, but useful to know if you haven't used one.Cons:*Struggles with tall thick grass, and weeds that are taller and have either reedy stems or soft bendy stems like dandalions. It tends to push them over and you will probably need to pull or weedwhack those.*Not great at leaf mulching*The blade adjustment bolts were incredibly difficult to loosen at first. I had to put a pipe over my wrench to get more leverage. Drill might have worked better.* sharpening is a chore. If you can set it up with a drill, do. Or see if your local hardware store does it.* can jam with twigs, but easy to unjam. Stay away from or clean up wood chip mulch.Pros:* Works great for my small shady yard* easy to push in most conditions* because it struggles with tall, thick grass, you have good motivation to get it done and not procrastinate* low maintenance. Most cutting problems can be resolved with adjusting the blade. So far I have not needed to sharpen in at least 3 seasons, although I did once to learn how.* doesn't take up much storage space* very little assembly.If you don't mind the limitations of reel mowers, this is a good product.

I watched a few videos online and realized that I wanted to buy this kit rather than McGuyver my own method of turning the blades on my Fiskars mower (people use short pieces of rubber hose + hose clamps to attach to a drill, or they reposition the chain so you push the mower around to make the blades go backwards and sharpen themselves). My blades were pretty dull, so I had to do the process twice before they would cut strips of paper. Sharpening your own reel mower's blades is certainly do-able, though you may have a learning curve like I did that involved attending a bit of The University of YouTube on the subject. It may seem like a lot of money for a handle, a paintbrush, and some lapping compound, but the handle is made for my particular mower by Fiskars, and it was convenient to wait a few days to get everything I needed in one box rather than have to run to three different stores.I have heard that the lapping compound may dry out if you don't seal it up well; I put it in a ziploc bag and hope that'll do the trick.Another tip: put some newspaper down to catch splattered lapping compound, wear clothes you don't care about, and wear eye protection for sure. I also wore some hearing protection, as the scraping sound is pretty loud and harsh. I also took the opportunity to clean and oil / use BreakFree CLP on the chain and other moving mechanicals on the mower.My mower is now sharp and properly adjusted, and does a great job. I like that I am holding out and using my body to drive the mower instead of stinky, dangerous fossil fuels, and making a loud noise in my neighborhood. I can't imagine an electric mower doing a better job than my properly-maintained Fiskars reel mower.

This worked fine for sharpening my fiskars reel mower but for what is included it is pricey. There are methods on internet that show other methods to sharpen the fiskars reel mowers.

My Fiskars Staysharp Max Reel Mower is going into its fourth year of service. I've been happy with it the last several years but it's gotten progressively harder to push. I'd been blaming my out-of-shape self and my winter lay-over to the difficulties. To remedy the problem, I'd just been sucking it up and tried harder which has worked. Keeping it greased up helps too.But this year I couldn't help but think perhaps it WASN'T me. I had assumed the manual was right and I didn't have to sharpen it except every 5-10 years. Let me tell you now, after I've sharpened the blades, that's bologna. Now that I have the kit, I'll probably sharpen it at the beginning of every season.I was concerned to buy this kit because of the negative reviews. I can tell you now, May 2015, that all the previous problems have been fixed. In this kit, you get a generous amount of compound, an application brush, a metal turn handle, and complete directions. I fully expect I'll be able to use this kit for the rest of the life of this mower.Using this kit took me a while but I also rinsed and cleaned the mower then greased it as I put it back together. Overall it took me an hour and a half. As a tip, once you apply the compound and have attached the handle to turn it, you may want to take it out in the grass when you spin it. As careful as I was to apply the compound just to the cutting edges, it still made a mess on my garage floor when spinning.