How does a basic reel lawn mower work?
As you push the mower the wheels drive a gear that causes the reel to spin rapidly. The reel is composed of sharpened curved blades that are aligned to swish past a fixed flat metal edge. When grass sticks up into the blades, it gets caught between the curved moving blade and the fixed one and is sheared off. Scissors work the same way as the blades do – they shear the object being cut.
