Since I spent about three hours field mowing today with a set of newly sharpened blades, here's some input. I mow 18 acres of rolling grass fields at about six inches. No brush, no rocks, just grass out there. So for me, to eliminate all the whispies and leave a relatively finished look when I'm done, I sharpen the blades on my Land Pride 60 with a small grinder, but to a fairly sharp edge. Not quite like I do my home mower blades, but pretty sharp. The cut today was remarkable, almost zero whispies left and very little clumpy residue left after lopping off about a foot of grass.
I fully understand the low service life of a sharp blade, but hey, it's only going to get duller right? I also understand the danger of creating "pungie stakes" in your fields by cutting with super sharp blades, like I did once with my Gravely tractor, and then got a flat tire when a perfectly sharpened little woody twig pierced the sidewall of my front tire. Psssssssss.
here's a picture of the gigundo nut that has been referenced by others. Ok, I bought the big socket set too and can actually get a pipe on this, but then what? I have only a 300 foot pound Dewalt electric wrench, and that looks really inadequate, not to mention it's a 1/2 inch drive and this nut must be close to 1.75 inches so figure at least a 3/4 drive powered something to get if off. I guess I'm going to be buying a much bigger tool...
But using the hand grinder, with a good set of all around safety goggles on, worked really well.
No question if you hit a two inch sapling or log at the edge of the field with a mower blade sharpened to a fine edge, there's going to be more permanent damage to the blade than if the original tougher edge was left on. All a matter of task at hand. And I sure wouldn't take my mower into the woods any time soon with the current blades on.
