How often do you sharpen your lawnmower blades?

[140mower]

The discussion here makes me wonder how many of you actually balance your blades?

I confess that I sharpen but never balance. The only time I ever noticed that balance was a problem, the blade had a huge missing piece.

For those that do balance - can you really tell? Or is this a feel good thing?

I guess I've always assumed that chopping grass on mostly the leading part of the blade rotation, was a way bigger off balance load than an off-balance blade could ever be. Who cares if it vibrates a bit when it's just sitting there? Either way, I've never noticed a problem even just sitting there. Yet I can easily feel a rough engine.

What's your opinion?

I always check the balance after sharpening. I don't know if it helps any, but, it is one of my few good habits.

 

[historicalarms]

I also cut a large farm yard of around 5 acres. When we used the Hardware variety of lawn tractors with the light 42" mowers a set of blades would wear out in a year and a half. I never sharpened them , just run them untill the ends wore down so they were leaving thin grass standing when going around a curve....now we have the "industrial grade" Kubota tractor with 60 " mower, 1st set of new blades that came with the mower lasted five yrs and I never sharpened them...hope the new set I installed last summer lasts as long. One thing I was surprised about, purchasing the industrial quality of blade from Kubota was not much more than the last blades from Craftsman.

 

[DPittman]

I always check the balance after sharpening. I don't know if it helps any, but, it is one of my few good habits.

I've known about blade balancing for quite a while but have never done it, I figure the operator is so unbalanced that a little of vibration from the blades won't matter much. For those more balanced I suspect it's a good habit to balance your blades.

 

[Stellrammer]

I’ve used an ancient National Triplex reel type fairway mower for years. I’ve even purchased an Ideal, reel and knife sharpening machine from the 50s to do the reels, the sort of machine advertised in Popular Mechanics to the homeowner to make money on the weekends sharpening the neighbors reel mowers. Back when they were popular.
On the flip side I have a digital Jacobsen greens mower, has reel speed to ground speed control, auto or select your own, a $15k piece of kit I picked up for $400, it needs to be sent out for sharpening.
The old National cuts the lawn in 40 minutes, about a liter of gas, the 46” Cub Cadet takes an hour and a half, uses about 2 gallons and spits deck belts every other cut.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I have a $400 jacobson greens mower too. A few years ago I built a chipping green in the backyard, with 9 tee boxes from 30-150ish yards into it from 360* around. Was fun for a year and a half, but got so busy last year I just let it grow back in. When I fix my tractor I'm going to give it a big better grading, and proper drainage and give it another go.

I "balance" my Kubota blades. Usually only if I have to clean up a bunch from one side. By balance I mean I stick a screwdriver through the hole, and grind a bit more off the low side to "balance" it out. Certainly not high tech..... I'm sure there are gains to be had by going the extra mile, but IMO it's never been worth the extra time for me. I barely have enough time to cut the grass and maintain the place as it is, and I'm not going for a show quality lawn.

 

[jcdammeyer]

I'm not sure that balancing the blade on my mower could be felt. Mostly because all the shaking is from the uneven ground. I suspect I'm going to need a big heavy roller, pulled behind a garden tractor, to flatten it down. I suspect the frost heaves are the cause.
How do golf courses keep their grass so smooth?
As far as vibration I do find my hands tingling so I suspect that a balanced blade might reduce that.

 

[Susquatch]

I always check the balance after sharpening. I don't know if it helps any, but, it is one of my few good habits.

I see......

I think that eating lots of sugar is one of my few good habits too......

 

[FatherWes]

I checked balance for the first half dozen sharpening jobs. Only once was any action required, and that was after having to do some heavy grinding to repair a nasty rock hit.
As long as I’m just sharpening, and I take the same amount off each side, they’ve never needed any balancing.
I have some rocky areas, and as we know, the earth hates rocks and spews them out of the ground. Where you mowed last year without hitting, this year the rocks will have risen up to smash the blade. That defines how often I sharpen…

 

[Susquatch]

When we used the Hardware variety of lawn tractors with the light 42" mowers a set of blades would wear out in a year and a half.

Well that's a twist I didn't expect. But I had the same experience. After years of coop MTD mowers, craftsman mowers, and even a blue Ford, and each with several engines and rebuilt engines, a crafty Deere Salesman talked me into buying a gold plated lawn tractor. On the other hand he promised me free on-site service for 3 years, a 5 year warranty, and zero percent interest. I fell for it hook line and sinker.

He lied through his teeth. He didn't tell me how much better my lawn would look. He didn't tell me that the only service it would ever need cutting an acre of grass all summer long was filters, oil changes, and blades every 5 years or so. He didn't tell me it was also worth way more than I paid for it either.

I would have happily paid interest. I went through 2 Mowers a year before that, but that industrial 48" Deere Mower ran steady for 20 years and never even needed a belt. When we bought the farm I treated myself to a bigger Deere with a 62" deck, and gave the older smaller machine to my son who changed the belt, replaced the deck wheel spindles, and another 12 years later it is still going strong.

My new machine is 12 years old now and still going strong too. But the grandkids are really hard on blades.

I've heard Deere is selling sub-standard machines at home depot now. That scares me. I hope that a focus on low quality products doesn't affect their better models.

Anyway, all this is to say that my experience is the same as others have said. The better brand name mowers are worth the extra coin.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Well after spending another 2 hours mowing the rest of the lawn I am looking forward to using my new Princess Auto 2T engine hoist to pull the motor off this and replace the CAM shaft on the B&S engine. The tractor was a gift from a friend who bought a new JD since the quote for a commercial repair on a 2011 tractor was over $1000. He's just had the blades sharpened and the belt replaced. So he bought his new toy and he and his son pushed it from their house to mine..

It's sat under a tarp since last summer since the CAM from B&S was on indefinite back order. Now they are available again and I'm ready to fix the engine. It's an easy repair as long as the broken parts don't cause issues. The far east Amazon CAM kits apparent have a life of a few hours before they die. Not worth the risk.

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[jcdammeyer]

Yahoo. Now just to clean up the driveway area (coniferous needles, cones, grass and dirt.) and then I can wheel the garden tractor out, pick up the front end and remove the engine.

I even swept that little bit of floor there before I rolled it into place. Really do agree with one of the remarks on the Princess Auto site for this unit though. The two front 3" casters should really also be the type that can turn. Easier to move around when it's folded up. Only one crappy nut that was malformed. Luckily I had one of those metric nuts.

 

[trevj]

Well that's a twist I didn't expect. But I had the same experience. After years of coop MTD mowers, craftsman mowers, and even a blue Ford, and each with several engines and rebuilt engines, a crafty Deere Salesman talked me into buying a gold plated lawn tractor. On the other hand he promised me free on-site service for 3 years, a 5 year warranty, and zero percent interest. I fell for it hook line and sinker.

He lied through his teeth. He didn't tell me how much better my lawn would look. He didn't tell me that the only service it would ever need cutting an acre of grass all summer long was filters, oil changes, and blades every 5 years or so. He didn't tell me it was also worth way more than I paid for it either.

I would have happily paid interest. I went through 2 Mowers a year before that, but that industrial 48" Deere Mower ran steady for 20 years and never even needed a belt. When we bought the farm I treated myself to a bigger Deere with a 62" deck, and gave the older smaller machine to my son who changed the belt, replaced the deck wheel spindles, and another 12 years later it is still going strong.

My new machine is 12 years old now and still going strong too. But the grandkids are really hard on blades.

I've heard Deere is selling sub-standard machines at home depot now. That scares me. I hope that a focus on low quality products doesn't affect their better models.

Anyway, all this is to say that my experience is the same as others have said. The better brand name mowers are worth the extra coin.

I bought a Deere 425, made by Yanmar. out of a lower mainland BC Prison, off CADC. Came with a 20 HP Kawasaki gas motor, a 54 inch deck, and a four way hydraulic front end mounted push blade.
For the $1K it cost me, it has been a GREAT purchase. Came not running. Found where the rats had chewed off the wires, and replaced those. Been running like a champ since! I should fix the oil leaks, but it's easy to wash, and cheap to refill....

Liked it so much, I talked the family in to buying a JD 445, essentially the next model up, for use here on the farm. That one was $5k off the lot, but has a three point hitch, and a PTO, and came with a JD 450 Rototiller, that is wider than the wheels, AND the same 54 inch deck as the old one I have! It was also VERY low hours, despite it's age!

As hard as it is to find decent quality, commercial grade equipment these days, and as expensive as it is when you do, I will heartily recommend that you at least try to do just that.

FWIW, I use a screwdriver shank to see if there is an 'obvious' imbalance. I whip over the cutting edge with a hard wheel on an angle grinder, and change out the blades, maybe, every second season. Have far bigger problems with spindles blowing off their mounts due to rocks. Those are pretty cheap though.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Well I've been making progress on this. I figure there's no point in investing any money into it if the deck is toast or has only a year of life. Therefore I pulled it off the tractor today and removed the blades. They are/were in really sad shape. Sharper now. Still needs a bit of work but they were getting kind of warm to hang onto and I've only used the coarse white wheel on them. Not even sure I'll use the fine wheel.

I started but first just straightening the blade and grinding past the rock gouges. Then grind the bevel until it has a nice slope to it. The bottom of the blades are still a bit rough but overall they should cut well. Again, until I deal with the deck and motor there's no point in buying $70 worth of blades.

More on the deck on the Craftsman Tractor thread.

 

[trevj]

Well I've been making progress on this. I figure there's no point in investing any money into it if the deck is toast or has only a year of life. Therefore I pulled it off the tractor today and removed the blades. They are/were in really sad shape. Sharper now. Still needs a bit of work but they were getting kind of warm to hang onto and I've only used the coarse white wheel on them. Not even sure I'll use the fine wheel.

I started but first just straightening the blade and grinding past the rock gouges. Then grind the bevel until it has a nice slope to it. The bottom of the blades are still a bit rough but overall they should cut well. Again, until I deal with the deck and motor there's no point in buying $70 worth of blades.

More on the deck on the Craftsman Tractor thread.

Yeah, but compared to buying a new deck, or a new mower, that is where you have to make the comparisons.

IMO, when you can actually do the work yourself, the costs go through the floor, vs. buying a new replacement or paying the dealer to fix it.

Blades and spindles are pretty cheap, if you shop around. The deck itself, is pretty repairable, for anyone that decides they can actually weld.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Yeah, but compared to buying a new deck, or a new mower, that is where you have to make the comparisons.

IMO, when you can actually do the work yourself, the costs go through the floor, vs. buying a new replacement or paying the dealer to fix it.

Blades and spindles are pretty cheap, if you shop around. The deck itself, is pretty repairable, for anyone that decides they can actually weld.

I can even weld. Took the NAIT course in gas welding so many many years ago. Self taught for MIG though. Haven't done much thin stuff. I'd have to practice a lot. But luckily I don't need to weld it.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I've got some new G6 gator mulching blades in the mail this week. Will put them on, and do some deck repair this weekend. Grass is pretty dry here, Hoping for some rain soon.

 

[jcdammeyer]

What I read about mulching blades was pretty well confirmed by what I scraped off the underside of the mower deck. Wet grass turns into a sticky residue that hardens and then grows white mold.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I had them on my swisher tow behind for years, and really like the cut. I'm hoping I get the same from the Kubota.