How often do you sharpen or replace mower blades?

[Will_C]

I change mine every 15-20 hours. I have 3 sets of Gator blades and I sharpen them on rainy days. I have to get under the deck to scrape it out anyway, so I grab the impact wrench and it takes me less than 2 minutes.

Will

 

[Industrial Toys]

I just sold my sixteen foot PTO finishing mower! One less thing (and a wack of blades).

These guys that remove their blades more often then I change underware, I don't get that. MOST decks arn't that easy to get at. My ten foot mower has side wings that flip up, no problem, except the blade bolts go all the way through the spindles and almost require two people to take the blades off. The front deck gets maybe a foot off the ground so it's a lying down thing. Hardly, a chore one looks forward to.

For the most part, my three spindle decks get lifted in the air with a loader for service. Then they flop around in the wind! Not something you want to do often!

 

[Creamer]

I just sold my sixteen foot PTO finishing mower! One less thing (and a wack of blades).

These guys that remove their blades more often then I change underware, I don't get that. MOST decks arn't that easy to get at. My ten foot mower has side wings that flip up, no problem, except the blade bolts go all the way through the spindles and almost require two people to take the blades off. The front deck gets maybe a foot off the ground so it's a lying down thing. Hardly, a chore one looks forward to.

For the most part, my three spindle decks get lifted in the air with a loader for service. Then they flop around in the wind! Not something you want to do often!

You need to buy easier to service equipment. My three blade tips up to vertical and sets there solid - easy to clean and easy to change blades.

 

[Deere Dude]

Thought of getting mulching blades or high lift blades for a 84" finish mower instead of the regulars blades. Would that that cause more stuff to get sucked up causing more sharpening intervals?? I sharpen now maybe at maybe 40 hours and they are still fair.

 

[LD1]

High lift may cause more suction. But I don't think gators have any more suction than standard blades.

As to blade tips dulling quickest, they are also traveling the fastest. So keep that in mind.

 

[ovrszd]

Is it an absolute known truth about the last 1/16" doing most of the cutting? This is news to me!

All depends on your ground speed and blade tip speed. If appropriately proportioned, yep it's a known truth. The more out of proportion, the less truth.

 

[Creamer]

Thought of getting mulching blades or high lift blades for a 84" finish mower instead of the regulars blades. Would that that cause more stuff to get sucked up causing more sharpening intervals?? I sharpen now maybe at maybe 40 hours and they are still fair.

How often you sharpen depends a lot on what you consider acceptable cut quality and how fast you want to mow. The better commercial guys I know sharpen almost daily as they keep their mowers running hard all day and they keep them moving. They like the mid-mount ZTRs because of the speed they can mow with them without deck bounce (along with the compactness of hauling). But I do not know of any of them that leaves a 1/16" bluntness on the cutting edge. Most go with sharp but I know one who blunts his very slightly.

Of course in my area "commercial" usually means people who mow lawns for industries and in my area that tends to mean a lot of grass area, i.e. acres per site.

 

[SPYDERLK]

All depends on your ground speed and blade [tip speed]. If appropriately proportioned, yep it's a known truth. The more out of proportion, the less truth.

[refresh rate]

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I have never bought new blades. My 6' finish mower is 16 yrs old i think. i probably should sharpen a little more often, but i dont try to keep up with the jones.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have found a set of blades I really like. I am at 80-100hrs and still havent sharpened them (allthough they are about due). And I am not easy on them at all. Doing alot of construction around my new place and same at the old with living in a woods. Always running over rocks, sticks, dirt clods, dragging one edge into the ground running down the ditch, etc.

After the first season with these blades I took them off to sharpen, but didnt and put them back on as they were still sharp.

They are Gator Magnum blades with Fusion. Standard blades for my ZTR are 2.5" wide and 1/4" thick. The magnums are 3" x 5/16" thk. Fusion is a coating added to the underside of the cutting edge that is like a layer of sintered carbide. Its on the underside so as you sharpen, you dont grind it off. I was really amazed at how well they held up after mowing countless dirt clods and scalping after I had the pond dug.

And I too use a flap disc, but dont leave a blunt edge. If you maintain the 30 or whatever degree angle, they wont dull any quicker per-say. IE: if you sharpen to 1/32 and consider 1/16" as dull. Making them sharp wont result in dulling down to 1/16" quicker. But they will wear down to that 1/32" blunt edge quicker, but from there on, they would dull at the same rate as if you started there.

Where did you get those blades from? I am looking to buy Gator type blades for my zero turn.