How do you sharpen you blades?

Gary_in_Indiana · Jun 20, 2004

As to keeping sharp blades on your equipment, does anyone else keep an extra set sharpened and at the ready like I do? I find that if I find I need my blades sharpened it's usually when I want to mow. It's easiier for me to just swap blades for a sharp set and go mow. I figure I can sharpen when it's raining. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Slamfire · Jun 20, 2004

I have a yard not a lawn. I cut it 3 times a year with my bush hog. To sharpen the blade I turn it upside down and use an angle grinder. When I lived in CA I had a lawn, I got fined for watering it, I got fined for not watering it. I quit trying to have one and moved. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

EastTexFrank · Jun 20, 2004

( Cut grass today at 8 and 1/2 inches )

Where I come from that's called HAY !!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

lschultz · Jun 20, 2004

I bought me 3 extra blades for the BX 1800 so I always have a sharp set ready. I just cleaned under it yesterday and put on a sharp set and brought the dull ones here to work and sharpened them here. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifI have been spraying the underside with WD40 after I clean it and the grass is not as hard to get off,knock it off with my putty knife first,spray it with simple green then use the pressure washer on it,let it dry then spray it with WD40.The grass doesn't stick as bad.

Poppa · Jun 20, 2004

( I have a yard not a lawn. I cut it 3 times a year with my bush hog. To sharpen the blade I turn it upside down and use an angle grinder. When I lived in CA I had a lawn, I got fined for watering it, I got fined for not watering it. I quit trying to have one and moved. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Slamfire, whole bunch of that goes on in the suburbs of Denver. See it on the news and in the papers where some guy, tired of getting fined for watering on the wrong day or the wrong time of the right day just throws up his hands and stops. Then the Homeowner's Association starts writing threatening letters and fining him cause his brown lawn doesn't fit into their idea of Eden. Seems nobody can remember that this is a DESERT!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

KiotiJohn · Jun 20, 2004

( As to keeping sharp blades on your equipment, does anyone else keep an extra set sharpened and at the ready like I do? )
For my lawn tractor, yes, brushog no. Changing out the brush mower's blades is too involved to do quickly, so I just sharpen it on the mower. John

Soundguy · Jun 20, 2004

Luckily where I live.. there are lotsa ag use exemptions for the watering restrictions.. when they are in place. In addition.. new lawns, new planting, shrubs, or seeding can be watered without restriction ( within reason.. ) I can usually fall into at least two of those categories legitimately ..without even having to finagle around the law...

Soundguy

EastTexFrank · Jun 20, 2004

Yup, one set in use, one sharpened set in the shop ready for use. It seemed like the most sensible and fastest way to go around it. I don't sharpen them and change them out every week though. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

I use a bench grinder, angle grinder and sometimes a Dremel to touch them up. I don't want them razor sharp though, too easy to nick. On the bush hog, I just swipe them a couple of times with the angle grinder. An old man once told me that you don't want bush hog blades to be too sharp. He said you stood a better chance of killing woody weeds and saplings if the blades "chewed" them down and let them dehydrate faster. I don't know if he was right but it sounded sensible to me at the time.

FERRARI · Jun 20, 2004

You can't even water your grass without breaking a law? Gosh!
And to think this is AMERICA !

MikePA · Jun 20, 2004

You can't even water your grass without breaking a law? Gosh! And to think this is AMERICA ! 
There are varying levels of drought in the mid-west. Here's a link to the statistics. You replied to EastTexFrank, who didn't mention watering his lawn, so I assume you meant to reply to one of the people who live, or lived. where there are water restrictions, which are usually connected to a drought condition, hence the 'breaking the law'. Many areas have had to choose between lawn watering and having water to drink.