Mowing Do your Mower a favour and clean your deck!

[Scooby074]

Cleaned the deck of the ZD today and got this pile of grass as a result. This is only since the first of the season (about 14h of use).

Performance is much improved after a cleaning and blade sharpening.

My advise, it sure wont hurt to check and clean the deck mid-season, your mower will thank you for it

 

[meos1]

I did the same when the unit was up in the air for a blade sharpen and service. I wonder if spraying a "bed liner" like Teflon would be beneficial to reducing the grass sticking and building up. I might do it this winter and see if it increases the performance and reduces the amount of grass that sticks.

 

[AaronS]

With all the crabgrass in our yard and all the rain we've had this year, we get that much stuck to our 60" deck every time we mow. Pain in the butt.

 

[ovrszd]

I clean my deck every mowing. I mow 4 hours worth each mowing. Easily cuts 15-20 minutes off the mowing time and the quality is much improved.

 

[meos1]

How are you sharpening the blades? I use my grinder and quench the blade afterwards. My concern is that my grind is not even across the face of the cutting edge (I admit, I am new to sharpening thicker steel blades and I need to work on my technique). I thought about running a starret cross stick sharpener across the edge after the grind but decided to forego that as the spinning blade fresh from the grinder seemed sharp enough.

How are you sharpening? Grinder?

 

[MoKelly]

It is amazing the grass and "stuff" that gets stuck on the deck. This year has been worse than normal due to wet conditions. I hate mowing when wet/damp (even morning dew) but there are times it can't be helped.

I have tried the spray on stuff as well as polish. Doesn't really seem to make a difference that I can tell. The dryer the grass the fewer the issues seems to be the only hard and fast rule.

The deck needs to be clean to get the maximum updraft and best cut.

MoKelly

 

[RippySkippy]

How are you sharpening? Grinder?

Sorry to barge in and not interesting in highjacking. If your looking for a great device to sharpen mower blades look at this I bought the delta version (same exact machine different paint, shop around prices vary) with a 60 grit belt. Unless you really apply pressure, there's virtually zero chance of it over heating the blade. One belt will sharpen a set of blades (3) maybe 6 times or more, but it depends on how hard you sand and how much material is removed. I always take the cutting edge to less than 1/32nd of an inch.

I sharpen everything on it: shovels/spades, machetes, garden hoes, rough use wood chisels. Plus anything that needs sanded for construction whether it be wood or metal. I have 60, 80, 100 grit belts on hand all the time.

 

[Scooby074]

I did the same when the unit was up in the air for a blade sharpen and service. I wonder if spraying a "bed liner" like Teflon would be beneficial to reducing the grass sticking and building up. I might do it this winter and see if it increases the performance and reduces the amount of grass that sticks.

I dont believe a bed liner type product would work. There are products out there designed to work with decks to keep them clear and they get mixed reviews. Its hard to keep paint on a surface with the sandblasting effect the blades cause.

One such coating is called CLEAN DECK - Graphite Undercoating for Lawn Mowers . My opinion from reading up on it is that its generally (expensive) snake oil, that if it does work, it needs frequent re-application.

How are you sharpening the blades? I use my grinder and quench the blade afterwards. My concern is that my grind is not even across the face of the cutting edge (I admit, I am new to sharpening thicker steel blades and I need to work on my technique). I thought about running a starret cross stick sharpener across the edge after the grind but decided to forego that as the spinning blade fresh from the grinder seemed sharp enough.

How are you sharpening? Grinder?

I sharpen with a 5" grinder and a flapwheel (Walter Enduro-Flex, 80grit ENDURO-FLEX™ – Walter Surface Technologies) to roughly shape the edge, then finish with a flat file. The flapwheel is much better than a traditional rigid grinding disk because if follows the original grind contours better and runs much cooler. I also pour water on the edge to keep it cool. Be sure to remove the burr that forms under the blade with the file.

With practice you can lay the flap wheel on the factory edge and keep the correct geometry.

Also be sure to remove all crusted on grass with a wire wheel before sharpening, and balance the blade afterwards. A simple nail, hammered horizontally into the wall can act as a crude balancer . Better balancers are available for purchase. I grind metal out of the edge of the blade, behind the cutting edge but before the wing, to balance. Some regrind the edge to get the blade into balance. Once I have the blade sharpened as I like it, going back to regrind for balance it seems counter-productive.

 

[txdon]

The wings on my blades are the first to go after about 12 hours of mowing - also about the time I need to sharpen them. Is it productive to sharpen the blade at this point or just replace them?

 

[ovrszd]

Subjecting myself to flaming,,,,,, I never sharpen blades. I buy "good", "high quality" blades and run them until the lifts start to break off having never sharpened them. My last set I ran 4 years.

Currently I'm trying a set of Predator II blades. The verdict is still out on those. Just started using them this Summer.