How sharp do you guys sharpen your blades

[HacMan91]

Do you guys put a razor sharp edge on your blades or do you put a moderately sharp blade so it wont damage or brake easily. It seems to me the sharper the blade it dulls quicker and damages easier. Not all my yards are golf course quality, some have occassional pepples or twigs etc. I usually put a clean semi sharp blade. I know most guys use a grinder but I have always used a belt sander with 50 or 80 grit sand paper, it last a while and puts a smooth factory looking edge on it.:confused:

[Jay ALC]

I would say to just do a search on some of the key words you mentioned. You will find all kinds of useful information.

[Eric ELM]

I install razor sharp blades every day I cut grass. I feel it is very important to help make lawns look as good as possible.

Here is a search on blades with 124 threads in the result. I'm sure you will find several threads and hundreds of posts on this same subject.

[Mr.Ziffel]

My blades are so sharp that ... the other day I was under the Lazer taking off dull blades and something caused me to need to jump right up [senior moment here, can't remember what it was].

I put my hand out to push myself up, kind of gripping the top blade of the three newly sharpened ones I had stacked next to myself. The stack slid causing the ball of my thumb to run right down the seven inch razor sharp bevel of one of the blades, slicing right through my leather glove [I'm not completely stupid] and of course into my thumb. I immediately pulled the glove off and put as much pressure as I could on it, pushing both sides of the wound together [used to be an EMT].

My wife thought I needed stitches and was ready to take me to the ER, but I just held pressure for about 15 minutes and then had her wrap a bandaid as tight as she could around it. Since we had just vacationed at the beach I had bought some waterproof band-aids made by 3M and I've never had a product work so well. These aren't like the regular bandaids you think about, they are clear, very thin, stick like crazy, have a protective coating on both sides which has to be removed and have a smaller than usual wound pad. I had to wear the bandaid for about a week but at least it didn't need stitches.

Yes, my blades are sharp. Be careful out there! Will M>

[kutnkru]

If I ever reach puberty I will be able to shave with em.

Not only will our blades out perform the 'ol Ginsu Knives, we change them twice every day to keep the cut meticulous and production at its peak of performance.

Kris

[mowahman]

RAZOR SHARP !!!!!!!!! Once, my foreman got cut real bad, across three knuckles when wrench slipped. Got the cure for that, went and got a $200 chain male glove and a kevlar meat cutters glove we now wear when changing blades. Kinda pricey, but WAY less expensive than stitches and lost time, not to mention the bad feeling that one of your guys just got hurt. Accidents take no hoidays !!!!!!!

[vipermanz]

i use a wizard rotary tool with a grinding disc on it,

it's effective

[Grapevine]

The key is sharp and changed every day on the mowers your using full time. We do very little hand mowing so that may get done every week. Most guys are probably doing a minimum of 20-25 lawn a day, that's equivalent to Joe homeowner
cutting his lawn for the entire season. (in my area) So in my opinion, they need to be sharp every day. Also if your blades are getting dull quickly, you might want to check the angle your grinding them at.

[EJK2352]

Razor sharp & done daily. I have been useing a 4 1/2" grinder w/ a 36 grit grinding disc. The disc works excellent and I can sharpen blades very quickly :) ED

[awm]

naw fellas yaw dead wrong. you want a nice blunt edge
so it wont nick up as bad.:D . i couldnt resist that.
im gona try to behave the rest o the day.later nowTM

[Albemarle Lawn]

"The leading edge should be 1/64" flat"

Ie; not razor sharp as it will become dull quickly from being to thin.

Look at a weed-wacker, it is a "dull blade" yet cuts grass. And at part throttle, is spinning much slower than a mower.

KB

[GrassChopper]

It depends alot on what type of grass you are cutting also. The thinner blade grasses require a razor edge, while the broad blade varieties (like the St. Augustinethat I cut) can be cut with a scissor edge, instead of the razor edge. A scissor edge will last longer. I sharpen the blades once a week.

[Eric ELM]

Originally posted by Albemarle Lawn
Look at a weed-wacker, it is a "dull blade" yet cuts grass. And at part throttle, is spinning much slower than a mower.

KB

A dull blade will shorten the grass, but it's beating it to death, not cutting it. Take a look at the grass tips a few days later after cutting it with dull blades. They are split and brown. I know a company that cuts with dull blades and their lawns are brown even in the spring. They cut right next to me and the lot line is very easy to see. It goes from brown to green. The grass cut with a trimmer will look the same way if you look at it close.

I feel the blades as the day goes on, when I figure they won't cut me, I change them. :)

[SummitFarmer]

I too change blades every day that I mow. But Eric, I want to know how many sets of blades do you go through in a season. I have 3 sets and I'm wondering how much longer they are going to last.

[Keith]

Originally posted by SummitFarmer
I too change blades every day that I mow. But Eric, I want to know how many sets of blades do you go through in a season. I have 3 sets and I'm wondering how much longer they are going to last.

3 sets? I must be very wasteful :confused: I have at least 40 sets that are usable. I probably trash 15 sets a year. Man, I gotta get a better grinder :eek:

[Eric ELM]

SummitFarmer
When I got the diesel Chopper last summer, I started using 2 sets of blades that I had bought in the spring of last year as the main blades on my double set up. I only used those two sets of blades all summer and I got a 3rd set of blades like it this spring. These 3 sets will probably make it through this season and next season. I have put 580 hours on the diesel so far, plus several hours on the other two sets before I got the diesel. I do have about 24 sets of different blades, but I wanted just see how long 3 sets would hold up. I hope this helps. ;)

[Fallguy]

razor sharp blades - all the way - anybody cutting with anything less are gonna end up with bart simpson head looking frays on the top of their grass and eventually when it gets duller your gonna kill the grass cause your beatin the hell outta it . im in the routine of where if i make a strip mowing if on the next pass if i see even one blade of grass that needs gone back over then i slap on another pair of razor sharp blades - your grass will love you for it.

[trimmer]

Blades down here in Florida don't last hardly at all. I am lucky to get a month of use out of them the sand just eats them up. I also sharpen mine every day.

[Charles]

I am supprised you guys are still answering blade sharpening questions. Just a zillion of them in the archives. How do u shapen them? why do you sharpen them? What do you use to sharpen them? How often do sharpen them? At what angle do you sharpen them? Can I hammer bent blades? etc etc and now how sharp do you sharpen them? LOL

[crazygator]

Hey Charles, can you come sharpen my blades for me???? LOL!