Xfaxman
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I have to stand on a ladder to reach the blades. :laughing:
Rotary Cutter Sharpening shredder, bush hog, rotary cutter blades.
- Thread starter MutzFarm
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kebo
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Xfaxman
Super Star Member
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Well I guess I could lean it against a tree.Show off!!!!
But I have to sharpen both sides of the blade, so it takes me longer.
RalphVa
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I remove and pseudo sharpen mine once/year. Usually run them in a while with the trail wheel off and retorque later and put the trail wheel back on.
I just hold them by hand against the wheels of my grinder and sorta sharpen them: mainly take out the imperfections.
I just hold them by hand against the wheels of my grinder and sorta sharpen them: mainly take out the imperfections.
aczlan
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I square up the edges on mine, bring them to a 3/16" edge (vs a rounded one) and sharpen the edges of the dings from hitting rocks.
Aaron Z
atcNick
Bronze Member
I was told you werent suppose to sharpen brush hog blades, that theyre suppose to look "dull". I was told if you sharpen them you will just weaken them and reduce their life span.
aczlan
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There is a noticeable difference in cut quality when I sharpen them. Note that you do NOT want the edge to come to a point, you want to leave the cutting edge square and 1/16" to 3/16" tall so that it will shatter sapling stumps rather than leaving them to impale your tractor tires.
Aaron Z
adventure bob
Platinum Member
So sharpening seems to be a subjective term on bush hog blades. According to all the manufacturers (bush hog, land pride, tarter, woods...) your supposed to sharpen the blades. While there's a million opinions on this, its what the manufacturers suggest...
They are not supposed to be knife sharp. They are supposed to have around a 1/16 round radius or square edge grind. All of the owners manuals tell you that it will get you a cleaner cut and use less power to cut the same material. The main reason I "sharpen" blades is balance, cause out of balance heavy fast rotating things cause vibe, vibe destroys bearings.
Back to OP: There's a million ways to sharpen blades, depends on what tools you have at hand. I've done it laying on the ground with a hand file. I also have bench grinder with a jig for mower blades. The hand held grinder works great as well. I'm a little OCD so the bench grinder with a jig satisfies my OCD problem of perfectly ground edges.
They are not supposed to be knife sharp. They are supposed to have around a 1/16 round radius or square edge grind. All of the owners manuals tell you that it will get you a cleaner cut and use less power to cut the same material. The main reason I "sharpen" blades is balance, cause out of balance heavy fast rotating things cause vibe, vibe destroys bearings.
Back to OP: There's a million ways to sharpen blades, depends on what tools you have at hand. I've done it laying on the ground with a hand file. I also have bench grinder with a jig for mower blades. The hand held grinder works great as well. I'm a little OCD so the bench grinder with a jig satisfies my OCD problem of perfectly ground edges.
LD1
Epic Contributor
All depends on what you cut. If you are using your bushhog to its capacity and cutting brush, saplings, small trees, etc. Then no you dont want sharp blades, you want blunt so it shatters the stumps instead of leaving little spears.
If all you do is maintain pastures, cutting grasses and weeds with no saplings, then sharpening them like you would your lawnmower increases their performance.
I take mine off to sharpen. I actually have 2 sets. One set for brush, one set that stays sharp for the grasses/pasture. By taking them off everytime, and frequently, they come off easy everytime. IF you never take them off, they are gonna be a PITA when you actually need to.
For the average user, mowing a little bit of everything at slow speed, blade sharpening is of little concern. When you are trying to mow a 10 acre pasture of nothing but grass that is ~12" tall, that gets done once a month, Having a sharp set of blades leaves a much better cut when mowing at ~7.5MPH
If all you do is maintain pastures, cutting grasses and weeds with no saplings, then sharpening them like you would your lawnmower increases their performance.
I take mine off to sharpen. I actually have 2 sets. One set for brush, one set that stays sharp for the grasses/pasture. By taking them off everytime, and frequently, they come off easy everytime. IF you never take them off, they are gonna be a PITA when you actually need to.
For the average user, mowing a little bit of everything at slow speed, blade sharpening is of little concern. When you are trying to mow a 10 acre pasture of nothing but grass that is ~12" tall, that gets done once a month, Having a sharp set of blades leaves a much better cut when mowing at ~7.5MPH