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

I use a 4" angle grinder. Used carefully, no blue.

Reply to
Ken Olson
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I used a 6" bench grinder, and no blue either. I run a couple of passes on one side, then flip it over and do the other side. I don't "dwell" a long time, as it only takes maybe one second for a pass, taking a light grind.

Doing it this way keeps the blade cool enough for me to touch it with my hands.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

Per Jon Danniken:

My blades are time consuming to remove/replace so I've gone over to a little attachment to my Dremel tool: turn the mower on it's side, run the Dremel... and it's done.

But next time I am going to finish off with a light pass perpendicular to the edge to give it that flat area that Clare mentioned.

Reply to
(PeteCresswell)

Belt sander works well too

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

You guys give great advice, but my push mower has a reel instead of a blade.

I've tried the valve grinding spin backwards trick and it's a waste of time.

Reply to
TimR

The "square" edge effectively provises 2 curring edges.

Reply to
clare

One or two I've worked on, the long narrow straight blade has been too far from the reel. I found threaded adjusters down near the bottom. Hope that helps.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

My adjustments work fine. But the blades are nicked up after years of use. I'd like to grind them clean and square, but can't figure out how to do t hat at home, and there aren't repair places equipped to work on them like t here used to be. You need a jig that holds the grinder on a straight path while you move the reel.

I guess I should ask the golf course where they get theirs done.

Reply to
TimR

Saturday May 10, 2014 Ran the walk behind mower first time of the year, today. Through high grass, it barely does anything at all. maybe Monday (give the motor a chance to cool) I'll sharpen and balance the blade.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Mine must not be very "hardened" because I simply run the gas out and take the spark plug out. Then I take an old hand file and run over the blade a bit. Seems to work just fine. I probably should balance it but I've never used anything other than a hand file. I used to take the blade off, but it just seemed like a waste of time.

Reply to
gonjah

Who is John Galt?

Reply to
HomeGuy

The last thing you want is a hardened mower blade, as it would be too brittle to be run safely at the speeds a mower blade is run at. Instead, it is designed to deform when it strikes an unexpected item, instead of sending chunks hither and yaw.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

A good blade is made of the right steel and hardened right. Not enough to be brittle, but to resist wear.

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I don't use my mower on sand or hard stuff hard stuff, so don't really care. I touched my old blade up on the grinder every couple years. Last year I bought this.
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It mulches better, cutting the leavings so fine I don't see them unless the grass is too long. It's a heavy blade. Don't think I'll sharpen it on the grinder but I might take a file to it next year. Or I might buy a new blade or mower as mine is 10 years old and I just noticed it has a new vibration, which means the blade is out of balance, or maybe the engine is shot. Checked and it's not loose. Maybe it's just old gas. Two years old, and the five gallon gas container has had a paper towel stuck in the spout. I'll get new gas for the next fill up.

Reply to
Vic Smith

They are generally hardened and tempered - whick allows them to keep a reasonable edge and not shatter.

Reply to
clare

It's a safety thing. You can accidentally start the motor by turning the blade if the ignition is not grounded by an off switch of some sort. It's very uncommon but you know corporations have to make safe recommendations.

Reply to
jamesgang

No, it is not an engine start issue - simply pulling the plug wire eliminates that. It is so you don't skin knuckles, and so you can balance the blade.

Reply to
clare

One of our employees at the plant broke the pull cord. He was afraid to tell his supervisor so he started the mower the rest of the summer by pulling on the blade, until I caught him at it.

Shortly after he had a fender bender with one of the company trucks and walked away, never to return. Never did figure out what happened to him.

Reply to
TimR

I also use the nail, but just put in the vise that I use to hold the blade while I sharpen it with a file.

Take out blade and put in nail, then see which side if any is lower and put it back in the vise and file it a stroke or two and repeat.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

e blade if the ignition is not grounded by an off switch of some sort. It' s very uncommon but you know corporations have to make safe recommendations .

That's not the point. I realize you can make it safe. If they recommend s harpening it on the mower someone would not make sure it can't start and ac cidentally start the engine and then try to hold them liable. So they tell you to take the blade off first.

Reply to
jamesgang

the blade if the ignition is not grounded by an off switch of some sort. I t's very uncommon but you know corporations have to make safe recommendatio ns.

sharpening it on the mower someone would not make sure it can't start and accidentally start the engine and then try to hold them liable. So they te ll you to take the blade off first.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems to me you have pretty much the same risk of the mower accidently starting while removing the blade. Just for the record, I've been taking off blades without pulling off the ignition wire for 30 years and never had anything happen. But then I'm not dumb enough to turn the blade, which is what you'd have to do to get compression and spark. And mowers have had ignition kill when you release the handle for a couple decades now anyway, so there's that.

The reason for taking it off is so you can easily sharpen it and have easy access. I use a hand=held grinder. That or a bench grinder won't work with the blade on the mower. And I can't imagine screwing around with a file, and even that IMO would be a lot easier with the blade off, so you can get at it. How do you get a file to where it needs to go, get the angle right, and not hit the sides of the mower deck? Don't know what kind of mowers you all have, but that's how it works around here.

Reply to
trader_4

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