I think you mean a 'reel' mower. A sickle is that curved knife you see on the soviet flag--people used to harvest wheat with. --a 'scythe' is the bigger one that the anGrim Reaper carries. Though for years people shortened grass with scythes, they're really a lot of work and it's hard to do a nice job. I guess they're still common in some eastern-block countries.

Home depot has a variety of reel-mowers starting at $73 for a 14-inch.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=reel+mower&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I think it would be good if 'other people' used these, but I have too much lawn and could never get anywhere with it.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicklehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe

Many of us already use manual reel mowers. For a typical lawn, using a good reel mower takes less time and effort than pushing a heavy gas mower, and it's kinder to your ears and nose, too. You can use it early in the morning or late at night without annoying neighbors, too.

One of my mowers- a German made unit- weighs only 17 lbs. I have to laugh when I see a neighbor of mine who has a much smaller lawn huffing and puffing and pushing his 60 lb cordless electric mower!

I think they should be more available, they may not be as popular as we expect, but they do have definite benefits. one additional benefit is it doesnt take up half the space in people's sheds and basements, which are already filled with junk, and the excercise is definitely beneficial to americans. I wouldnt mind using one if i could get one easily, and a good sharp one.

I've read that the problem with these is that sharpening them has to be done on a special machine, and is a time-consuming (costly) process. Also, they don't cut thick grass well at all. If a person doesn't keep his lawn fairly trim with regular mowing, he could be stuck.

i hate mowers. it lowers my opinion of people who use them. sickle is not bad, but still stupid. forget the mowers, buy a goat.

My house is one acre, and I use a reel mower. Modern reel mowers [mine was $100 at Sears] run very smoothly.

The only caveat: you have to pick up sticks first, since unlike powered mowers, reel mowers don't chop up sticks.

I have a leaf blower/vacuum and weed trimmer/edger too; both plug-in, giving me a lower cost and noise level compared to gasoline. I probably have the cheapest and quietest lawn care in my whole neighborhood. :-)