Mower Blade Sharpening!

gwstang

Well-known Member
I zipped up to HomeDepot this afternoon to get a couple of mower blades for the red heads' riding mower. I also picked up one of those blade sharpeners. The kind that has the cone shaped stone and the plastic piece on the end. I used it on the other mowers blades and it did a good job. Better than my usual freehand with the angle grinder does. I am quite impressed with the way it keeps the correct angle on the cutting edge and sharpened it right on up. I always wear safety goggles, there was the stone dust all over my face/arms and boy does that stuff itch! I'm going to try it on the 5' finishing mower the next time I hook it up to the 8N. Shouldn't be too hard to use with the blades still attached. Anyone else use one of these contraptions?
 
I use to use the bench grinder but I have too much junk in the barn to really get to it. :oops: Guess I need to relocate it for easier use. I had just gotten use to using the hand held grinder but had trouble keeping the correct bevel on the blades. This returns the blade to the correct bevel. I thought it was pretty neat for a $6 tool and came with a blade balance included.
 
I've never had much luck with the bench grinder but
I have a neighbor that is a legend and he's only in
his 30s. Has a nail on the wall of his shop and
keeps taking a little more off one side until the
blades are almost perfectly balanced. You would not
believe how much that helps. Between his
sharpening and balancing after giving him a set of
blades they cut 10 times better that brand new
 
I use the hand held grinder. I get better results with that than the bench grinder. I never balance my blades. I was taught that balancing
blades was only for blades that go on the end of the crankshaft of push mowers anyway and once you hit a rock or twig it knocks it out of
balance anyway. Just because they are balanced on a nail doesn't mean the blade is proportional at each end.
There are two ways to balance a tire on a rim. One way is to put weights on the inside and outside of the rim which is recommended. The other
way is to put weights only on the inside to hide them on nice looking rims. The weight will be different in size and location when doing it
one way then doing it the other way.
 
I use the 4 1/2" angle grinder on the rough cut mowers with the blades in place.

I use a file on the finish mowers.

Dean
 
I use a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder with a sand paper disk adapter. I use 120 grit paper and get beautiful and smooth edges. Use a wobble balancer to check them. A wobble balancer will tell you side to side and end to end balance. Smooth as silk!
 
Balancing a lawn mower blade is pointless. As soon as the blade touches the grass. Uneven amounts of Grass will build up on the ends of the blade making it unbalanced.
 
(quoted from post at 00:24:07 05/21/15) Balancing a lawn mower blade is pointless. As soon as the blade touches the grass. Uneven amounts of Grass will build up on the ends of the blade making it unbalanced.

That is not my experience. I have had mowers that vibrate. I sharpened and balanced the blades then they spun smoothly. The ends of the blades are always clean and polished from use. They do get some buildup closer to the center but it seems even enough and close enough to center to make little difference.
 
I have used that kind of stone on my push mower and 3 blade deck mower with good results. A band sander works well as does a 4 1/2 disc grinder. It's all how careful you are with the tool. On my bush hog I have used an air grinder to get out the bad places. The blades stay right on the bush hog.
 
I never let mine get that beat up. A few strokes with a file always keeps the sharp as can be!
 
On a regular lawn mower yes, balancing is pointless. However, on a ztr it's a must.
 
I have 2 ft long blades on my 6 ft woods finish mowers. The cone grinder wouldn't last
very long and take forever. I made a 10 inch blade sharpener out of a 10 inch craftsman
radial arm saw. It put a factory edge on my blades in no time. I have belt sanders, 8
inch bench grinder and right angle grinders. Nothing comes close to a 10 inch radial
arm. I patterned my saw after a factory blade sharpener that costs over $500.
 
I like to make a template of the new blade. That way you'll have something to compare with as you sharpen it in the future. I didn't realize how sloppy I was at keeping the blade angle correct until I compared my new blades to a nearly worn out set. It's easy to make a template out of a small scrap of furnace metal. Couple of snips with tin snips, punch a hole, and hang it beside the grinder.

I use a pedestal grinder to sharpen my blades, but my son uses a belt grinder and it does a mighty slick job on his blades. I tried one of those cone grinders for an electric drill, but it didn't last long. They might make better ones now.
 
I use an RBG blade grinder. The stones are made for blade grinding and if used correctly they do not turn the blade blue and make quick work of
it. Price is not out of range for serious tool lovers, around $400
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It is pointless to sharpen them as well. They just get dull again. When it takes all the power to even mow slow get the Tim's Benford engine up grade for more RPM's and power. If that don't work buy new blades. :)^D

I hit my blades a coupla times a year with and angle grinder with my special varying angles that even shaky hands can't duplicate. Not one complaint from the grass/weeds. Neighbors don't know the difference either.
 
Being an old pipefitter/pipewelder I am used to working off a chain vise tripod pipestand. I have an old one that has a small vise on it. I put my blades in and sharpen them with a 4 1/2" sidegrinder after using another sidegrinder with a wire brush to completely clean them off. After I get them looking good, I balance them with a little pointer/cone device that seems to work good. I have not balanced them and felt a lot of vibration. Balance them, and its smooth as silk. To each, his own, I guess. I also spray MoDeck on the blades after I'm all done. Also hit up under the deck with MoDeck a couple times a year, it seems to keep the build up of grass off. Available at wally world.
 

I did notice the last time I removed the three blades from the 5' finishing mower, that there is a lot of stuff built up under there. I scraped some of it off. I guess I need to pressure wash it off real good and try some of the "MoDeck"? I was really surprised how much stuff was under there. Does having that area clean help with mower performance?
 
I mulch about 2 acres and a clean deck seems to mulch real fine and I very seldom have any grass clumps.
 
I'll be resharpening my first set of mulching blades very soon. Planning to use medium grit cartridge rolls on a die grinder.
 
I get about 3 years out of a set of blades. At about a year and half I grind them with bench grinder and the next time they need sharpening I through them away and buy new. At 3 years the lift side of blade is wore enough that it doesn't want to stand grass up the way it should.
 
I use an air grinder with a 5 inch disc, 24, 36 or 80 grit, what ever I used last on the grinder, always take my blades off. Does a slick job fast, not like it came off an angle grinder or bench grinder. Mow a little less than 2 acres a week and touch up the blades twice a year.
 
that's how I do it.

It's fast, easy, and there's virtually no setup since I've always got an angle grinder setup like that. The results are always perfect (and I'm not exactly an angle grinder artist).

I always count my passes, and do the same number on each side of the blade. same speed, same angle, same force.

I occasionally check the balance of a lawn mower blade, but I think I've only ever had to adjust maybe once or twice in many years
 
WGM,

Why in the world would balancing on a "regular" mower be pointless?

I'd like your reasoning. Maybe I don't need to continue wasting my time balancing ALL my blades!!??
 
I have used a bench grinder all my life (I'm 61) and have never had a big problem keeping the correct bevel. I have learned (for me anyway) it is easier to sharpen blades at least once a month. Takes just a few minutes to touch them up.
 

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