Follow up on electric lawnmower

I know about those. :) Interestingly, my blade is upside down** and I can't use the grindstone. And of course the balancer is much harder to use when the blade is on the mower.

If the blade is up-side-down - it will indeed cut poorly ! LOL. .. it will be cutting with the un-sharpened edge !

If I understand this, you're now using the mower with a blade nut that is mostly cut with a nut cracker?

Yep, I'm waiting for the blade to fly off and hit me in the ankles. I figure in a 360^ circle, my legs are about 35^ of that, so it has a 10% chance of heading my way. The rubber shield that hangs down from back had broken off and I replaced that last summer, and I figure that might slow the blade down by 50%. What I really don't know and I think it depends on little things that happen at the last split second, is how much lateral speed it will get.

I have a little yard (I should figure it out again since I noticed the country records show how big the lot is. It has 6 sides and is shaped something like a chicken) but when I estimated it was only iirc 1/20th of an acre and that includes where the house is, so I don't use the mower that much. I think it's 30 minutes to mow it, plus I'm lazy and don't do it often. But I know you a little by now, you won't find that very reassuring, even less than I do. Maybe instead of sneakers I should wear paratroop or at least hiking boots. ???

Why didn't you use your grinder to cut the rest of that nut off? Then be sure it isn't left hand thread while you have the bare shaft to look at. If it is LH, write it on the mower deck with a sharpie so you remember next time.

Yeah, I did make it sound like that, didn't I? But that's not it, it's cutting with the sharpened edge....

... but the beveled side is on the bottom, unlike the link above where it 's on the top, so it doesn't fit that handy little grinding wheel in the earlier post. It's a Black and Decker mower. It would probably have the right kind of blade if I'd bought a Decker and Black. ____ It's sort of curved too with each end like this ___/ and it's even sharpened on parts of all three parts.

I thought about taking it apart and assembling it with pieces in the opposite order, with the backer plate at the far end and the stone between it and the shaft. Maybe I didn't want to go the basement where the vice is, maybe I thought I'd strip the head of the screw, or what's most likely there was some bigger reason the parts could not be rearranged, or at least I thought they could not be. Looking at your picture, maybe I thought theh plastic part would not move from its place on the shaft, and I'd have to supply all the parts except the grindstone. I'll check again in the spring.

BTW, I just saw a tip in Home-something magazine to put valve grinding compound on a screwdriver tip when it might be forced out of the screw slot and ruin the head.

(That is also the kind of gritty material I wanted, but had not thought of, to keep my sun visor from swinging so easily, but I still doubt I can get it in the space surrounding the pivot shaft, because there is no space. I'll work on that in the spring. )

$21.50. Wow. I only paid 6 or 7.

That's a good idea!!

I should do that first, and I did.

Great everyday household tip ! I'm sure that many folks will stick this one on the fridge for quick reminder ! .. now where did I leave my valve grinding compound ? :-) John T.

Mine's in the top drawer of my oldest rollaway tool box . But I prefer the diamond lapping compound I keep in the top right drawer of my computer desk , much finer , better grip .

I'm sure that Micky has some around - - to keep that B&D mower blade good & sharp ! :-)

Actually I forgot that I had one of these and I had bought another, both rather cheap.

And tonight I tried taking them apart to put the backing plate first and the grindstone closer to the drill.

But the screw in both was loose. I tried this last summer, but forgot.

One of the two is better than the other, the stone is thicker, but both use a shaft that is greater diameter for the backing plate and smaller diameter at the end, for the stone, so I wouldn't be able to attach the backing plate at the end or get the middle to go through the stone.

I think the screw is meant to come out so you can reverse the stone when it wears. One of the instructions implied you can only sharpen a blade 10 times. Maybe that's 20 after you flip the stone, but I thought it would be a lot more than that.