Lawnmowers work best when the blades are sharp. And for you to get the blades to your lawnmower sharp, you have to do it right.
One key question that may arise is the angle in which you sharpen your blades. Whilst thinking on the same line, it does not matter, if you use a glider run by electricity, an ordinary file, or a filing stone.
The critical thing is to get the sharpening angle right.
Without much fuss, the best angle to sharpen your lawnmower blades is at 45 degrees.
Pro Tip:
Whatever tool you chose to sharpen your blades, run the tool in one direction, keeping the 30 to 45 degrees between the edge of the blade and the sharpening tool.
Next, ensure to sharpen in one direction. In other words, do not run the filing tool like you would a saw, back and forth. Sharpen in only one direction.
Sharpening the blades to your mower is a relatively interesting task. Some will love doing it for themselves, while others do not enjoy it at all.
If you fall among the latter, do not hesitate to work with regular workshops around. It’s simple, and the workshops should do it for you. You can either take the mower to the workshops or get ion a technician to bring in the grinder and do it within your premises.
Why Sharpen Blades of a Lawn Mower?
If you want to keep a very healthy lawn, pay great attention to the sharpness of the blades of the lawnmower you use.
Sharp blades if combined with correct rotational speed, ensure that your lawn gets a sharp and even cut.
Think about tending your lawn with a blunt mower as similar to craving a smart haircut from a blunt shaving machine.
Quality has a price, and the price you pay for a smart lawn is the excellent maintenance of your lawnmower, right starting from the sharpness of its blades.
What Are The Downsides of a Mower With Blunt Blades?
If your lawnmower is blunt, you end up tearing grass instead of mowing it. The edges can tell it, and instead of giving the grass an even appearance, the grass will discolor with greyish to brownish at the edges of the blades.
Ideally, it would help if you realized the effort you put in unusually while mowing.
The best way to sharpen the blades to your mower is to use a bench grinder. The other essential requirement is to have the right wheel on the grinder.
Pro-Tip: Always keep extra blades sharp and within reach. When a current set gets blunt, you should not stop at that for sharpening.
With extra ones, swap and carry on with mowing. You can always sharpen the detached blades much later while the sharp one gives you all the convenience you required and the right time.
Tips About How Bench Grinders Work
An ordinary bench glider is fastened on a work surface at a comfortable working height.
So, you hold a blade against it while it gets sharpened. For household use a grinder with a wheel with a diameter of 5 to 6 inches is well enough for household purposes.
Note: Never attempt to test the sharpness of blades with bare hands, unless you are pretty sure of the angle are certainly sure not to hurt yourself from your expertise.
Advantages of Sharpening Using Bench Grinders
Well, it seems tedious, moving the blades of a lawnmower against the rotor wheel. But, it’s worth every effort. If your blades are somehow beyond blunt, the grinders help you salvage them quite fast.
Handheld and powered equipment take you too long to sharpen the bleeds.
Grinding Wheel Materials
Not every grinding wheel and its material are best for sharpening the blades to your lawnmower.
Check out. Lawnmower blades get best sharpened by grinder wheels made of vitrified aluminum oxides. The essential pointer here is that nonferrous materials sharpen best with wheels made of silicon carbide material.Â
Recall, a good bench grinder allows you to work with two wheels for grinding, allowing your two choices for the grit concurrently.
Caution While Sharpening Mower Blades on a Grinder
A grinder is a powerful but dumb machine. It works wonders when used well but can not think for itself. As the user, always pay maximum attention to it. Always ensure you inspect your lawnmower before embarking on mowing.
Pay special attention to the wheels, specifically to ensure none is detached or broken.
One innovative way is to tap the wheels lightly with a mallet. None of the wheels should produce a dull thud. An almost similar tip is used in inspecting floor tiles. A broken tile and an intact one give out different sound intensities when tapped lightly.
Second, always put on a pair of safety goggles in addition to eye guards you have on while grinding mower blades to sharpen them.
Third, ordinary grinders let off heavy sparking while sharpening other metallic parts. Ideally, work safely away from any flammable components: paper, hay, twigs, oil diesel, and petroleum. Observing caution with flammables will do you a great deal avoiding unnecessary fires around.
Procedure to Detach Blades from a Lawn Mower
Start by turning the mower on its side. While turning it, ensure the side of the mower with the oil dipstick faces the ground. Turn the mower adequately to an angle where you can access the mowing deck with ease.
In case your mower is significantly heavy, like the once you ride around your lawn, use car jacks to lift them carefully.
Wipe or scrape off any grass they may have accumulated around the under-side of the mower.
And, it is advisable to always scrape the underside of the mower after every day you carry out the task.
Use a wooden block to hold the blades from spinning and the, use a socket wrench to untighten the nuts holding the blades to your mower. In case the blades have too long since they were detached, you may use some penetrating oil to ease up the grip of the nut.
It is wise to work around tight nuts instead of getting a technician to do it for you- of course, waiving yourself an extra yet avoidable cost.
Lawn Mower Blade Balancing
The detaching, sharpening, and replacing of blades should be done carefully to attain a good balance for the mower. Most lawnmower blades spin at an average of 3000+ RPM. Unbalanced blades can destroy other pieces like the bearings and spindles of the mower.
Refer to a local expert to help you buy a blade balancer or pick one from Amazon.
Use the blade balancer to check in any side of the blade is heavier than the other. Grind off the heavier side slightly to get an actual weight for either side. Finally, put the blades back and replace the cover to the mowing deck.
Conclusion
Sharpening the blades to a mower is easy. If it is a task you have no experience, get a technician to handle it for you. Wise enough to save yourself the time by keeping an extra set of blades sharp in your store. If one gets blunt, replace, and get on with mowing.
On average, mowers require you to swap blades after mowing for durations of between 8 to 12 hours. That is a full day. If you work full time with a mower, you should keep five sets of blades and change them daily.
Sharp blades give you the cut you deserve on your lawn, while blunt ones haunt your efforts.
Finally, the best angle to sharpen your blades is between 30 to 45 degrees.
