Loading ...Lawn Mower Graphite Undercoating.
About 20 years ago I moved into a new house in Chicago and put sod in the front and seeded the back. For the first year of maintenance I bought a 24 inch rotary mower and since I had just learnt of a paint on graphite coating I decided to try it on the mower to stop grass sticking to the deck. I mowed the year usually in a cloud of dust in the back and at the end of the year I decided to look at the under deck of the mower. To my dismay there was a thick crust of dried mud around the outer under deck. I inserted a screwdriver between the crust and the deck and to my amazement when the crust cracked it fell out leaving some graphite on the deck and some on the crust. The test was a partial success but obviously needed some work. Since I traveled a lot and the lawn had grown in I handed off the cutting to a lawn service the next year.
Prior to introducing Clean Deck Graphite Coating in 2002 we did in house testing and an independent test in Pennsylvania which produced interesting results. What now seems obvious, but had not, was that the grass blades contain sufficient moisture to leave a sticky residue on the coating. This is easily hosed off and needs to be for the best results. Also since patience is not one of my strong points, I learnt the hard way that the first coat needs to bond for at least 24 hours at a temperature of 60F or higher. Following coats only need 6 hours to bond to the graphite coat. Touch-up has greatly diminished has the years progressed. As long as the mower is washed after mowing the coating will perform for a whole season for once a week mowing.
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