Mowing

I started mowing yesterday.  I didn't get out of work as early as I would have like, so I didn't get much done, but I mowed until I couldn't see the grass as I was mowing it. 

This is the new mower.  It looks like a classic 3.5HP Briggs under the cover.


I cranked the deck up to the highest setting and let 'er rip.  It was bad.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the weeds are taller by the mower by a lot.  Some of the taller weeds were up to my thigh.  Most were at least shin deep.


While it is unfair to judge the mower given the condition of the yard, I am going to do it anyways.  The mower starts first pull every time, which is nice, and it seems to run fine, it doesn't sound like it is running too low an RPM (it has no throttle cable).  It seems like it doesn't spin the blade fast enough though.  Even at a moderately slow walk, it was "missing" grass and yet it wasn't bogging down, so it just simply wasn't cutting.  It is noticeably poorer than my old Troy Bilt that isn't running at the moment.  I might still want to get that one fixed.  The new one also discharges exceptionally poorly, and the blades have nearly 0 lift which might be the bulk of the problem to be honest.  The blade looked in good shape when I bought it, but after I finish the yard, I might see if I can get a real discharge blade for it. 


I got most of the front done, but not the bit to the left of the drain field.  It took over an hour, but a lot of it I had to do twice.  Given the current state, I am looking at probably around 3-4 hours of mowing with this guy.  Hopefully once I am caught back up it will be under two, but with how poorly it mowed that isn't a guarantee.


It is wet and raining right now, so no mowing tonight, it will resume later in the week.