Recently bought a Hustler zero-turn with 54 inch deck. It has three blades.
I’m sure there are a zillion YT videos on how to sharpen mower blades. But am wondering if the teeming millions have some good advice.
Battery or AC angle grinder and a “flap Wheel” 80 grit is what I use, and I’ve got the same mower.
I’ve got three sets of blades. exchange dull for sharp and put the dull ones on the “To Sharpen Stack”. Never fond a need to balance either, unless you;ve got some really bad damage.
Do you have a grinder? My method was via a bench grinder.
- Clean
- Debur with a course file.
- Follow the original angle of the blade to sharpen on the grinder. Check often.
- Remember, you’re not got for knife sharp, just a clean consistent cutting edge.
If you can find new blades in a store, feel the sharpness of them, that is all you need.
You can always count on Todd.
Just yesterday I was watching an episode of “Ask This Old House” where they were talking about sharpening lawnmower blades. They showed various tools to use, one of which was a grinding wheel that attaches to a drill, like this.
They also spoke of and demonstrated how to balance the blade post-sharpening.
The kit I linked to, which I ordered, has a grinding wheel and a balancing device for a very reasonable price. I plan on going to town with all my garden implements.
mmm
Coincidentally I recently came into ownership of a zero-turn mower. I used to sharpen my blades with a simple file, but with 3 blades now to sharpen at once, I looked up better ways to sharpen online and I ended up getting the same type of sharpening kit that MMM linked to. Works great.
Disconnect the spark plug FIRST.
Actually, for utmost safety, disconnect the plug and remove it If you just disconnect the plug and the piston is at the top of its stroke, the blade could move suddenly while you are holding it. I’ve heard.
Even better, disassemble the mower completely (using the exploded diagram schematic) down to its component parts. Scatter them in random, out of the way locations in alternating adjacent zip codes in reverse alphabetical counties while blindfolded on alternating Tuesdays. Don’t leave anything to chance.
Sharpening is a lot easier if you take the blade off of the mower and clamp it in a vise on a workbench. But yes, if you’ve got a gasoline-powered mower, pull the plug wire first; if you’ve got an electric mower, pull the battery.
That’s as far as I go for sharpening my mower blade.
A mower blade needs to be sharp - though not too sharp, a razor exged sharp blade will just get banged up and fold over. A dull blade tends to shred the tip of the turf versus a nice clean cut. This can actually invite turfgrass diseases.
I messed around rebuilding a vintage lawnmower and found that on setting everything up a properly balanced blade and straight blade is very important for achieving the correct RPM, with an out of track or out of balance blade the overall vibration level is excessive. I am not a lawnmowing enthusiast. But if I gotta do it, it needs to lay waste to all those belligerent grass blades. F$&kers keep growing back, too.
No one has mentioned the bane of lawn mowing, the reel lawnmower.
A single blade with two ends to sharpen? Hah. Try a bed knife and six curved blades where each is twenty something inches long. And of course they all need perfect contact with the bed knife.
Angle grinder makes it easy. It can be done without removing the blade. However, I recommend not doing that while the mower is running.
Some reel mowers have a guide to slide a stone along the blades at the proper angle. The blades on my reel mower are as sharp as the day someone gave it to me. Not using blades keeps them fairly sharp.
My only experience with reel or manual push mowers is when I saw one in the garage, my dad brought one home. Seems one of my older brothers constantly kept breaking the gasoline powered lawnmowers, eventually dear old dad decided that enough was enough. “Here ya go kid. Don’t let the grass get too long, it gets hard to push”. It was great, I was pretty young but I remember him pushing that thing, thought he was gonna cry. He thought dad was bluffing and he let the grass get pretty long. Oops. LOL