Do you bother to sharpen your lawn mower blade? Why?

I remove the one nut holding the blade, which takes about 5 minutes, and sharpen it with a bench grinder. I have more control on how much to remove and I am able to balance it. My 18 x 46 tractor's mower deck has three blades. I remove the whole deck before winter because I have a snow blower attachment that goes on the tractor. I have all winter to remove and sharpen the three blades. You might be able to get a replacement blade at HD or Lowes. Check their one-line mower supplies.

Reply to
willshak
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Hi, Easier to sharpen and checlk balance. Of course if balance is off, mower will shake bad. Are you trying to make an excuse or being lazy?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

I try to do it yearly, but if I forget I don't lose any sleep over it...

I just replaced the blades on the lawn tractor - huge difference in cut quality between new and old; I think the old ones often beat the grass more than cut it, and it'd lay flat for a day or two and then spring back up and look nasty.

Yeah, I've never done that on the lawn tractor - takes me about ten mins to pull the whole deck, and I can get in there with a grinder to sharpen the blades in-place (I've been known to sit the whole tractor up on its butt instead, but my back hates me for it). I realise we're talking about smaller mowers here though, but if there's space to get a grinder in I can't see a reason to take the blade off.

I paid $6 per blade at a local farm supply place; cheapest I'd seen online were $15 (without shipping cost) for the same thing. Having said that I really should have bought mulching blades, and I think those were $9 each.

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

"James H." wrote in news:i0uk3m$gs4$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

Only your grass will know the difference. It will be cut off cleanly rather than torn.

I wedge the blade still on the mower, and then use an ordinary socket and ratchet to remove the bolt. I use a 6" bench grinder to put a new edge on the blade.

You'll find that all mower blades come balanced from the factory. That's why you'll see odd corners cut off on the ends of the blades.

To re-balance a blade: Hammer a 3" nail into a stud so that it's parallel with the ground. Hang the blade on the nail from its bolt hole, making sure it's centered on the nail. Take note of which side is heavier, and grind a corner down a bit on that side. Recheck and refine as necessary.

Reply to
Tegger

Tegger wrote in news:Xns9DAE6CC5AE398tegger@208.90.168.18:

But not always. My current mower's blade was balanced by cutting off the entire end of the blade, so one side is shorter than the other by about

1/16".

Grind a TRAILING corner, by the way.

I use a disc-shaped stone meant for axes in order to lightly dress the freshly-ground edges. You're not sharpening a butcher knife here, so the edge you end up with just needs to be sharp enough to cause some pain when you press your thumb into it, but it doesn't need to be so sharp that it breaks the skin.

I just went and had a look at the nail I use for balancing, and it's a

1-1/4" finishing nail, not a 3".

And finally, UNPLUG electrical cord or spark plug before turning the mower over!

Reply to
Tegger

Because it costs nothing, and takes way less time than running out to 5 shops trying to find the right blade. Sharpening a blade probably takes 10 minutes.

Reply to
Bob F

The prices you quote seem like Kansas prices ... not California prices (which are triple anything quoted so far) ...

But, may I ask ... What is the difference between a MULCHING blade and a regular blade?

Are they interchangeable?

Reply to
James H.

Mulching blades usually have a higher lift / blade tilt to them

Reply to
hrhofmann

James H. posted for all of us...

Start quote: It's too much work. End quote

Reply to
Tekkie®

And the generic mulching blades from the big-boxes here don't have nearly the 'wing' on the back as the factory mulching blade. Don't seem to work as well. I finally had the factory blade sharpened and put it back on, but in less than one season, the grass looks like it is getting dull again. Guess the old coot in the shack (saw sharpeners always seem to be characters) ground past the hard part of the steel. One of these days I need to hunt down a factory blade on line or at a real small-engine shop.

Reply to
aemeijers

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I replace my blade( pushmower ) once a year. No sharpening

Jimmie

Reply to
JIMMIE

A mulching blade won't require you to bag the clippings and send then to the landfill.

Also, saves on the cost of bags.

Reply to
Oren

A mulching blade produces grass that doesnt need to be collected, it can be left on the cut grass to mulch into the cut grass.

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Yes.

Reply to
Rod Speed

Reply to
don &/or Lucille

Yes.

so it went round and round being re-cut?

If it was that, there wouldnt be mulching BLADES.

regular blade?

Reply to
Rod Speed

I'm with you on the stupidity of buying bags and filling our landfills with lawn waste.

But, the other side of that is- a mulching blade doesn't allow you to mulch your tomatoes with lawn clippings.

I only mow for the clippings. If I didn't grow tomatoes I'd plant the whole damn 'lawn' to vinca, moss & wild thyme and put the mower on craigslist.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Mine has a secondary blade above the main blade that suposedly helps in the process of churning the clippings upwards so they get more chopping and mulching action.

Reply to
salty

It also makes mowing a lot faster since you don't have to stop and empty the bagger. Beside, my ZTR does not have a bagging attachment.

Reply to
Jim Rusling

I'm up in northern MN - cheap living up here!

As others said, the blade shape's different, and designed to chop the clippings up into little pieces. At the moment I end up with little rows of clippings due to the regular blades I put on (no bagger on the mower, and with a couple of acres of lawn it'd be a lot of clippings to deal with anyway)

The ones for my MTD mower are; there's a lot of clearance under the mowing deck, and the mounting holes are exactly the same. I really don't know why I just grabbed the regular ones off the shelf :-)

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

=3D=3D The mulching blades are "high lift" and often cost a bit more. They are also made of high tensile steel. Buy the mulching blades even if you never mulch. =3D=3D

Reply to
Roy

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