Mowing How I sharpen & balance my mower blades

[deereguy]

I owned a landscape maintenance service until May of 2006 (14 years), I sharpened blades on the "Z"s everyday to take out any small nicks that someone may have put in them from sticks or something they should have picked up first, but didn't. I used a 4" Makita hand grinder in a vice and occasionally would place them on a nail, nailed horizontally in a post of the barn to check balance. The downside of the nail is you can make an unbalanced blade seem balanced- by moving it on the nail. I have a balancer like the one posted above but didn't use it very often. I had 2+ sets of blades for each unit.

My opinion is to cut ONLY grass with them (wet, spring grass will dull blades quickly), not sticks, gravel, logs, trash, etc, and they will stay sharper longer. The sharper they are, the more efficient (cleaner) you can mow, the more you can get mowed, and the more $$ you can make (commercially).

Good Luck.

 

[Volfandt]

I remove the blades, clamp them in a vice then go at them with a file. I angle the file the same as the angle of the blade and it doesn't take long to get a good sharp edge back. I only file the bottom to knock off any gouges etc.
If the blade has a deep gouge I'll use my bench grinder to even it up, then finish it up by hand file.
I've got this 1/4 diameter rod I have secured to the bench to use to balance the blades.
A side note on blades, the std Kubota blades that came on my 60" MMM didn't need much sharpening after 1.5 seasons (I sharpened them 3 times) and the gatorblades I went to halfway tthrough last season only required a slight dressing up at the end of the season.
I've found out that grinding the edges down to a thin fine edge dulls the blades alot faster than the std sharp but not too thin leading edge.

 

[bigdad]

Allen,

I agree!

Bigdad (Alan)

 

[rmonio]

Ok. I admit that I'm wimpy and take mine off and to a local shop to have them sharpened. Interesting thread though....

-Bob

 

[ArkLaTexSam]

I am a file man myself. I use the file because it's not as aggressive as the grinder. Whenever I need a back-up I do use a bench grinder.

ArkLaTexSam

 

[BTDT]

I usually just grind them with 4" grinder while still on unit. My blades don't last long enough for balance to be a problem.

 

[County Sawyer]

For those that sharpen their own blades and to determine how much of an edge to put on them, check out blade sharpening (fiqure 13) on Page 19 of the manual for Woods mowers below. It works and cuts a lot longer than a knife edgge. I also use a 12" bastard file as it's possible to get hot spots with a grinder and loose edge hardening from over heating.

http://www.woodsequipment.com/manuals/manuals/turf_land/52886.pdf

 

[GEB]

Oh yeah anti-sieze is a good thing.
Once a year or so I'll remove the blades to clean and paint the under side.
I found some non stick paint... of some sort, it's made for back-hole buckets.
What it does is help keep dirt from sticking to the bucket, I have found
it works well for mover decks also.
I sharpen blades 3-4 times a year depending on how much rain..growth.

 

[jemfly]

G'day all from downunder

Just joined the 'net' and it's beaut!

Danbuf, do you know who manufactured your blade sharpening machine? I'm wondering if I could find one here in Oz??

Thanks!

 

[farmeratheart]

Welcome to the group! Since this thread is over 6 years old you might not get a quick reply ... It might be better to start your own discussion. Good luck.