Blades for a finish mower.

[Pa Pa Jack]

I have a Landpride FDR-1660 finish mower. I would like to get a second set of blades as spares for it. I have priced them on several sites, but the prices vary quite a bit. Most are not OEM which is OK, but I would like quality blades. Any recommendations?

 

[94BULLITT]

Most replacement blades I have seen for a lawn mower are made just like the originals. I would think a decent set of aftermarket blades for a finish mower would be the same.

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

I was hoping I could find something that doesn't need sharpened as often. The OEM blades seem to dull very quickly. Lately, because of all the rain, I have had to cut some rather high grass and it seems to be taking a toll. I don't really like to use the bush hog on it but that may be my only alternative. It means having to cut it twice.

 

[94BULLITT]

The manual for my kubota mmm says not to get a real sharp edge on them because they will dull fast.

 

[chim]

I've gotten extra blades from Agri-Supply for as far back as I can recall and have always been happy with them.

 

[clemsonfor]

Agri supply. they beat every one hands down or get your oregon number and order them off ebay. agrisupply shipping can be steep sometimes so make the most of your order. But i can get them off the website really decent. I think they carry 3 kinds of blades, not sure for your application but they have normal and hi-lift oregon blades and they have those gator back blades in certain apps. They even have parts diagrams for most mowers, not sure on 3pt stuffthough?

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

Agri supply. they beat every one hands down or get your oregon number and order them off ebay. agrisupply shipping can be steep sometimes so make the most of your order. But i can get them off the website really decent. I think they carry 3 kinds of blades, not sure for your application but they have normal and hi-lift oregon blades and they have those gator back blades in certain apps. They even have parts diagrams for most mowers, not sure on 3pt stuffthough?

What is the difference between the normal and the hi-lift? I have issues in several areas with rather fine grass that lays down and is tough to get a good cut on in one pass. Would a hi-lift help with that?

 

[94BULLITT]

High lift should have more vacuum.

 

[clemsonfor]

yep what 94 said. you don't see many straight blades anymore really. I think its "old school" I think most blades you will find are high lift or some design there of. High lift blades have like a wing or up turn on the rear of the blade or the trailing edge. Just look at most blades they have a turn on the rear, the higher that wing the more lift you will get. You usually only get one choice for any given mower. The lift blades take more HP to turn and they will sand blast your decks in sandy soil and also throw all kinds of dust in the dry summer. I like the flat blades as they just slice better as it will slice through the blades of grass in stead of cutting it and then having to ramp the grass over the back of the wing as well as the additional drag the wing puts on the blade.

 

[Creamer]

Finish mower blades are very inexpensive to make but they cost a lot because of the liability insurance. To cut the cost of liability insurance mower blade manufacturers do not harden the blades like they used to making them less brittle and less likely to fly apart and cause injury. Basically what they are doing is hardening only the cutting edge and a little back so that you get a few sharpenings.

You first need to figure out if your blade edges are hardened. The easiest way to do this is with a grinder while sharpening them - hard metal is slower to remove because you take it off in smaller pieces, i.e. the sparks are smaller. The bigger the spark the softer the metal.

If you want to harden the new edges to get more sharpenings out of a set of blades you need to evenly heat the cutting edge to cherry red and no more than a 1/4" back into the blade and the quench it in water. Then re-heat it until it is a very dark bluish color and let it air cool. Then you will have a new hardened area to grind on for hard, sharp blades.

Do not overheat and melt the material or you will cause imbalance. Do not heat too much and not have the softer blade behind the cutting edge to absorb impact and break away and become a flying knife.

With my commercial grade blades I usually re-heat treat twice before there is not enough blade left.