+2 for mill file in a vise. I have a good coarse mill file.
+2 for mill file in a vise. I have a good coarse mill file.
I've used a low-speed bench grinder, angle grinder, dremel, files, and recently got a Work Sharp Knife and Tool sharpener as a gift. IMO, the Work Sharp is the easiest and fastest. It doesn't require hardly anything with respect to setup, easy to maintain original bevel, and easy to maintain blade balance. I plan to use it for all my knifes and yard/garden tools. I got mine at Northern Tool for $69.
Be Safe!
No matter what method you use to sharpen your mower blades make sure you clean them first so you can inspect the blades for damage. Pay particular attention to the area around the bolt hole and look closely for cracks. Use a wire brush to get the blade as clean as possible so you can see anything that looks suspicious and dispose of blades that you suspect are defective.
Don't ask me why I am so serious about inspecting blades, my story involves an accident my Mother had with a mower when I was young and it is a gruesome tale.
The same thing applies to sharpening planner and joiner blades, they will develop transverse cracks at any point along the blade.
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Where I cut grass for a few summers we had a old tractor with a belly mower. It had thin spindles and they would periodically snap off ejecting the blade and spindle. Luckily, nobody ever got hurt. It was used for mowing fields used for parking when the lots were empty. I noticed they bought a new John Deere tractor with a three point mount mowing deck about 10 years ago.
Interesting story about the old tractor. It was a McCormick-Farmall from the 50s I think. We noticed one summer the oil pressure gauge was reading zero. We thought the gauge was broken. This went on for weeks and finally someone checked the oil. It was really low on oil and when it was filled up the gauge started showing oil pressure. The engine never showed any ill effects. The operator was lucky not to be fired as the oil was supposed to be checked every time gas was put in which was once a day at least. That tractor just ran and ran. The clutch finally had to be replaced around 1992 and nobody could any records of ever replacing the clutch since new!
I live on a farm in Pa. and am responsible for cutting the grass. It takes between 7-8 hours a week on average . We have lots of rocks, branches, and a big gravel driveway that eats up the blades pretty fast, so I started sharpening the blades with a belt sander about 5 years ago and haven't touched a grinder since. Th sander works just fine and it goes quickly once you get the hang of it.
Well, I really like that 1x42 Kalamazoo sander for my shop, but its not the best for mower blade sharpening. Its hard to get the blade into where the platen is located and where the belt is more open without the platen the belt tends to round things over. It did work really well on my wood chipper's knives. So now I'm back to debating between a dedicated purpose-built blade grinder and using the angle grinder which I've not been very good at in the past. At $60 a pop for blades shortening their life isn't cheap. I found I could get them sharpened locally for $18-30 depending on the place. I wasn't super thrilled with the $18 place which is just around the corner. Doesn't take too many sharpenings at $30 to pay for a decent grinder.
I ended up buying a MoJack lift for the mower in the fall. at least the one I have there's just no safe way to jack up the front without lifting the whole machine by the deck which is not good, and even then I couldn't get it high enough to get the impact gun on the spindle bolts. The MoJack is much safer and quicker and takes very little storage room because I can park the mower right on it.
Also regarding mowing wet...I did it (morning dew, didn't rain much last year ) just to see if I could and the design of the deck on this thing results in it staying amazingly clean. I didn't even bother scraping off the little there was.
Last edited by Matt Meiser; 04-07-2013 at 11:03 AM.
Earlier I said I sharpen mine with a coarse wheel on a grinder. Last time I tried a 80 grit on my 1 hp 6x48 belt sander, worked MUCH better. Sure helps having an impact gun to remove the bolts on the blades. Lift the front of my 48" 425ZTR with a come-along and then support it with jack stands to access the blades.
Last edited by Ole Anderson; 04-07-2013 at 3:07 PM.
Hi Matt,
I once had my older Lastec 521 sharpened at the dealer. Looked like the blades were on a belt sander, perfectly flat.
I swapped that out three years ago for a slightly used 3696.
I just put the blades on grinder, small bucket of water nearby to keep them cool.
But all rotary mowers are "rough" mowers. No matter what you do with the blades, the grass edges will be slightly torn when cut. And the tear turns into a slight brown edge.
OK for my yard, but not OK for 300 acres of expensive golf course fairways and greens.
For the fine cut, golf courses stick with "scissor cut" reel mowers, and I think that's 9 blades per reel. I had a very old 5 blade reel mower (a three gang Worthington rough mower) many years ago.
Had to send it out to sharpen it. Not worth it. Gave it to a friend who likes Worthingtons.
Last edited by Tom Fischer; 04-08-2013 at 6:18 AM.
I leave the blade in the mower and hit it with an angle grinder and regular grinding wheel, then a quick touch with a file to get a bit of a back bevel. It may not make for a perfectly razor sharp blade but all I'm cutting is grass... So by comparison to a weed eater line it's much better and they do a pretty good job so... Balance hasn't been an issue either I just measure every once in a while the width and length of ground area and make sure they're close. After all it's a lawn mower and perfect balance isn't expected or necessary. It's worked for 30 years so far but ymmv
Sent from the bathtub on my Samsung Galaxy(C)S5 with waterproof Lifeproof Case(C), and spell check turned off!