Craftsman Rotary Lawn Mower 917.379120 Owner's Manual page 9

MOWING TIPS
CAUTION: Do not use de-thatcher
blade attachments on your mower. Such
attachments are hazardous, will damage
your mower and could void your warranty.
• Under certain conditions, such as very
tall grass, it may be necessary to raise
the height of cut to reduce pushing
effort and to keep from over load ing the
en gine and leaving clumps of grass clip-
pings. It may also be necessary to re-
duce ground speed and/or run the lawn
mower over the area a second time.
• For extremely heavy cutting, reduce the
width of cut by overlapping pre vi ous ly
cut path and mow slowly.
• For better grass bagging and most cut-
ting conditions, the engine speed should
be set in the FAST position.
• For side discharge lawn mowers, cutting
in a counter-clockwise di rec tion, start-
ing at the outside of the area to be cut,
spreads grass clip pings more evenly
and puts less load on the engine. To
keep clip pings off of walkways, fl ower
beds, etc., make the fi rst cuts in a clock-
wise direction.
• Pores in cloth grass catchers can be-
come fi lled with dirt and dust with use
and catchers will collect less grass. To
prevent this, regularly hose catcher off
with water and let dry before using.
• Keep top of engine around starter clear
and clean of grass clippings and chaff.
This will help engine air fl ow and extend
engine life.
MULCHING MOWING TIPS
IMPORTANT: For best performance,
keep mower housing free of built-up
grass and trash. See "CLEANING" in the
Maintenance section of this manual.
• The special mulching blade will recut
the grass clip pings many times and
reduce them in size so that as they fall
onto the lawn they will disperse into
the grass and not be noticed. Also, the
mulched grass will bio de grade quick ly
to provide nu tri ents for the lawn. Always
mulch with your highest engine (blade)
speed as this will provide the best recut-
ting action of the blades.
• Avoid cutting your lawn when it is wet.
Wet grass tends to form clumps and
in ter feres with the mulch ing action. The
best time to mow your lawn is the early
afternoon. At this time the grass has
dried, yet the newly cut area will not be
exposed to direct sunlight.
• For best results, adjust the lawn mower
cutting height so that the lawn mower
cuts off only the top one-third of the
grass blades. If the lawn is over grown it
will be nec es sary to raise the height of
cut to reduce pushing effort and to keep
from over load ing the engine and leaving
clumps of mulched grass. For ex tremely
heavy grass, reduce your width of cut
by overlapping previously cut path and
mow slowly.
• Certain types of grass and grass
con di tions may re quire that an area be
mulched a second time to com pletely
hide the clip pings. When doing a sec-
ond cut, mow across (perpendicular) to
the fi rst cut path.
• Change your cutting pattern from week
to week. Mow north to south one week
then change to east to west the next
week. This will help prevent matting and
graining of the lawn.
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