A rear view of mowing the lawn. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

I like to keep the yard mowed so it looks as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Nothing makes a place look bad like an overgrown yard, except junked cars and trash.

I have a two-cycle Lawn-Boy that’s 25 years old, maybe older. I bought it new after years of mowing with inferior machines. Just in case you don’t know, a two-cycle motor requires a special oil to be mixed with gasoline. It’s been a pain in the grass this year to find the Lawn-Boy brand of two-cycle oil from local stores. I had to order a six-pack from Amazon.

I believe the Lawn-Boy motor, despite its age, is about the best you will get. It rarely bogs down and that’s in the spring when the grass is high and wet. I don’t like to slow down when I’m mowing and I want the mower to go through whatever vegetation I’m cutting.

It’s been reliable, but I have had issues.

During one mow, the mower started to shake. It shook so much that the three screws that secure the shroud and the gasoline tank worked themselves free. I hoped the problem was that the blade went out of balance. That would be a simple fix for me. I feared the worst, too, a bent shaft, which would have required someone trained in lawnmower repairs. It is beyond my abilities.

The retreaded wheels on the lawnmower provide more traction than the originals. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

The breakdown renewed my deliberations into abandoning the faithful Lawn-Boy for a cordless mower. I have no experience with cordless mowers. I have a cordless string trimmer and it cuts extremely well, but there is a big difference between whacking a weed and mowing grass, and therein lies the rub.

I know my Lawn-Boy with its internal combustion engine will cut the grass and mulch it without bogging down in tall or wet growth. I don’t know if that’s the case with a cordless mower. Besides, when a gasoline mower runs out of gas, I put more in and I’m back to mowing in a few minutes. Unless you’ve got two batteries, it could be a half hour before starting again with a cordless.

My primary reason for looking at cordless mowers has nothing to do with the environment. Cordless may be better in that regard because they don’t spew exhaust into the air and they are much quieter. I am getting older and pushing a heavy lawnmower, despite being self-propelled, is still difficult on the small banks in my small yard.

Every time I’m ready to write the check for a new mower, I fix the Lawn-Boy and she’s cutting better than most new machines on the market. So yet again this is academic. The shake was caused when a mulching blade lost a wing while I was mowing. I replaced it and the old mower blade.

However, the worst issue I’ve had, besides replacing four ignition coils, is a problem most mowers may have, and that is the tread on the wheels for the self-propel drive will wear smooth and no longer provide traction. Mine were so bald, the wheels freely spun on damp grass and had difficulty on an incline.

Replacement wheels were expensive, too expensive. I came up with several ideas.

My first was to install screws or automotive studs into the hard rubber of the tires, like snow treads on a car. I didn’t do that, but I believe it will work without a hefty expenditure.

Instead, I went to Harbor Freight and bought a rubberized stair tread that I cut into long strips the width of the wheel. I installed the strips with hex-head sheetmetal screws. The result was like a retread.

That’s been two years now and I have not had a problem since with traction. She cuts like new, despite the fact I’m getting older.

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Unless you think this column wasn’t enough of a waste of time, send ideas for “Wastin’ Time with Jess Mancini” to Jess Mancini at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.