Cylinder petrol lawn mowers.
They may look old fashioned, but for a top quality cut a petrol cylinder mower is hard to beat.
A cylinder petrol lawn mower cuts grass in an entirely different way to a rotary mower.
Although cylinders lawn mowers are available as electrically powered machines, the majority are petrol powered. Part of the appeal of using a cylinder lawnmower is the 'banded lawn' effect the rollers create.
The cutting blades on a cylinder mower are welded to a cylindrical drum (sometimes called a cassette). As the cassette rotates, the blades come into contact with a fixed bottom blade (the bed knife). This arrangement cuts the grass in a scissor action and produces an extremely nice finish on well maintained lawns.
Quality of finish is the main advantage of a petrol cylinder mower over the rotary type. The scissor action of the blades allow for a shorter lawn and unlike a rotary mower which will tear through the grass, a cylinder lawnmower cuts cleanly and produces much finer clippings.
If you want to achieve the highest possible finish on your lawn, then a petrol cylinder mower is the obvious choice.
If your lawn is bumpy, reconsider buying a cylinder mower. A petrol rotary lawnmower will be more suitable. Cylinder mowers nearly always have a roller or two and mowing becomes difficult and impractical on anything but a reasonably flat surface. Long grass is also best tackled with a rotary petrol lawnmower.
Cylinder lawnmower size.
The smallest petrol cylinder lawnmowers have a cutting width of around 30-35 cm. The larger your lawn, the larger the cutting width (and more powerful engine) required.
Many petrol cylinder lawnmowers offer the option of replacing the cutting cassette with a scarifying attachment. This will make light work of removing thatch and debris from your lawn during the autumn and is an essential aspect of lawn care.
Popular brands of petrol cylinder lawn mower.
Due to the rather more specialist nature of cylinder lawnmowers, there are fewer brands on offer than there are for rotary lawmowers. The most popular brands available in the UK are: