Blade shapening biz.

[A1Lawns]

All I know is that I pay $6 per blade sharpened. I have a relative who has a sharpening "kit" who could easily do it for $3-4 a blade and still make excellent money.

Tell me why we are not doing this on the side? Such easy money to be made. No??

[Sammy]

Maybe you should learn how to do this yourself and save a bunch of coin
Go to Sears and buy a angle grinder, it is easy.

I know a guy who charges $2.00 per blade.

[gene gls]

My dealer charges $10.00 per blade.

[gene gls]

Years ago the sharping business was a very real business. Just like the bread man, the milk man, the rag man, they all came to your house. They used to sharpen anything that cut. When disposiable cutting items became available it was cheaper to discard the old and buy new. Also, cheap stuff was not worth sharpening. Barbers still send thier cutting tools out for sharpening. Yes, i'm an old fart..........

[razor1]

You should be able to grind a blade for pennies on the dollar. I think the repair shops charge so much because it's usually an add on service people just agree to while they have other work done.

[justanotherlawnguy]

I use this old guy who has a sharpening biz. He sharpens anything. I pay him $2.50 per blade and he does a way better job then the local shop monkey with a grinder. Yes, call me lazy but at the end of the day, the last thing I wanna mess with is blade sharpening. He also does a wicked job on hedge clippers and saw chains.
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[LushGreenLawn]

I can't see how anyone mowing grass for a living pays to have their blade sharpened. Even at $2.50 per blade thats $7.50 per day. Thats money I could put in my pocket.

[ponyboy]

unless you do it yourself I pay $2 a blade for sharpen and balance it would cost me more to pay my guys to do it and also I have other work making more money for them to do so it is a matter of time. 90 blades as week x $2 a blade $180 a week $700 a month but usually do some barting with him so it cost me about $500 on average it is worth it to me

[txgrassguy]

I have a Foley United rotary blade grinder and balance with a Magnamatic magnetic balancer.
I have seen how my dealer hacks blades while supposedly sharpening - it might be alright for others but not for me.
So now I sharpen everything in house, rotary blades; hedge trimmers; chains and even reels with a Neary 180 spin grinder with the bed knife adapter.
My crews have gotten to the point supervision wise where I can occasionally check on them so I have much more time for details items like the sharpening, client meetings, estimates, etc.
I get people all of the time asking me to sharpen essentially anything for them - some times I accept but mostly I keep this part of my operation only for me.

[Exact Rototilling]

I pay $7 [did pay] per blade and it takes a week+ or so to get them back.

After I shelled out well over $75 for a stack of blades last time and it took 2 weeks :hammerhead: ..... never again.

I sharpen them in a vise and use a Dewalt 18v cordless angle grinder. As long as you keep up on them it goes quickly. Once you get the hang of it it goes very fast. Unless you're all thumbs you can get very good at it with practice.

I use a little stepped cone balancer and/or a nail - soon to be upgraded to a real balancer.

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS on a really well made balancer?

[doubleedge]

I pay $7 [did pay] per blade and it takes a week+ or so to get them back.

After I shelled out well over $75 for a stack of blades last time and it took 2 weeks :hammerhead: ..... never again.

I sharpen them in a vise and use a Dewalt 18v cordless angle grinder. As long as you keep up on them it goes quickly. Once you get the hang of it it goes very fast. Unless you're all thumbs you can get very good at it with practice.

I use a little stepped cone balancer and/or a nail - soon to be upgraded to a real balancer.

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS on a really well made balancer?

Magna-matic makes a very good balancer.

[Exact Rototilling]

Magna-matic makes a very good balancer.

Thanks- looked at the video .... looks great - who sells them the cheapest?

:waving:

[LB1234]

We are a small operation...only one crew (three men) and two mowers. We change out blades about every eight hours of mow time. Usually comes out to be 2 changes a week. Thats nine blades changed twice per week and our little 36 has two blades that we change about every two-three weeks (only used about 40 minutes per week). Even at two bucks a blade thats about 20 bucks a week or 80 a month...600 or so a year. Then add in time it takes to travel to get this done.

Makes zero sense to pay for it. My magna matic (paid around 800 for it) has paid for itself and then some. Three blades done in five minutes.

[dwlah]

Dealer around here charges 7
I can buy most of my blades for 8-10 online
I keep about 10-12 sets for each mower around and when it rains I can sharpen them and have a fresh stack to work from

[Exact Rototilling]

All I know is that I pay $6 per blade sharpened. I have a relative who has a sharpening "kit" who could easily do it for $3-4 a blade and still make excellent money.

Tell me why we are not doing this on the side? Such easy money to be made. No??To answer you original question - I was considering doing this last year myself. However after looking at all the factors I'd have to say I'd pass on this as a side job.

However if someone could sharpen all my mower blades perfectly with all the cutting edge pits gone, edges slightly concave and perfectly balanced I'd pay upto $3 per blade as long as I could pick them up on my way home after dropping them off that morning. Any more than that I'll just angle grind them in a vise myself.

[Sammy]

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS on a really well made balancer?

A round shank screwdriver works well for me.

[LushGreenLawn]

unless you do it yourself I pay $2 a blade for sharpen and balance it would cost me more to pay my guys to do it and also I have other work making more money for them to do so it is a matter of time. 90 blades as week x $2 a blade $180 a week $700 a month but usually do some barting with him so it cost me about $500 on average it is worth it to me

I'm not questioning your business practice, you know your situation more than me, but I wanted to give you a different prospective.

Once I got a couple under my belt, it takes me between one minute and 2 minutes to sharpen a blade. (I timed it on a stack of blades, working at a regular pace, to get an average)

If you were paying a helper $20 an hour, and those 90 blades could be done in under 3 hours, that would only be $60 a week. You would also not have the time associated with dropping blades off at you dealer. Most employees would gladly come in on their day off to sharpen blades for 3 hours for $20 an hour. If your already paying them $20 an hour, give them time and a half, it would still only cost you $90. Really it would be less or $60 or $90, it takes me under 2 minutes, right around the minute and a half mark.

BTW, I use an angle grinder with the blade in a vise, balance the blades on a screwdriver stick in the vise once their all done. I have a blade grinder, tried it, after a season decided it was faster to use the angle grinder.

[gene gls]

I'm not questioning your business practice, you know your situation more than me, but I wanted to give you a different prospective.

Once I got a couple under my belt, it takes me between one minute and 2 minutes to sharpen a blade. (I timed it on a stack of blades, working at a regular pace, to get an average)

If you were paying a helper $20 an hour, and those 90 blades could be done in under 3 hours, that would only be $60 a week. You would also not have the time associated with dropping blades off at you dealer. Most employees would gladly come in on their day off to sharpen blades for 3 hours for $20 an hour. If your already paying them $20 an hour, give them time and a half, it would still only cost you $90. Really it would be less or $60 or $90, it takes me under 2 minutes, right around the minute and a half mark.

BTW, I use an angle grinder with the blade in a vise, balance the blades on a screwdriver stick in the vise once their all done. I have a blade grinder, tried it, after a season decided it was faster to use the angle grinder.

I tried this with my help......No Good....They either ruin the blade or the grinding wheel.

[LushGreenLawn]

I tried this with my help......No Good....They either ruin the blade or the grinding wheel.

I'm sure you have reasons for keeping them, but if it was me, and I had an employee that could not sharpen a blade, I would let him go. Sharpening a blade is very easy.