Blade life duration

[wxmn6]

I did some searching but did not find much. I am wondering on average how many hours do a set of your blades usually last when kept sharpened before it is shot? Around how many hours do you run the blades until it is time for you to resharpen it?

Is there a difference between the life duration of standard and mulching blades?

[TLS]

There are a lot of variables here. Soil conditions, mowing height, mower deck construction, blade tip speed, turf type, turf debris, mowing practices.

The more sand in the soil the quicker they will dull.
The dryer the soil (dusty) the quicker they will dull.
The lower you cut, the quicker they will dull.
The more efficient your deck is, the quicker they will dull.
The faster your blade tip speed, the quicker they will dull.
The coarser your grass blade, the quicker they will dull.
Sticks and stones will dull your blades!
Blowing off the street :eek: with the mower (some people actually do this!) will quickly dull a set of blades.

I get around 8-12 hrs out of a set before sharpening is needed.

As for the number of times you can sharpen a blade before its "shot", all depends on if you gouge the blade tip beyond sharpenable. (is that a word?)

Take a brand new blade and measure from blade "TIP" to the opposite blade "TIP" if this measurement gets much smaller, your quality of cut will diminish significantly. The blade technically gets shorter.

I've had good "hard" blades and bad "soft" ones. Soft ones will dull quickly just cutting grass, while good hard ones last a lot longer.

I dont think a mulcher would last any different than a regular, aside from the fact that mulchers tend to have less "lift" and wouldn't suck up as much debris, so yeah, they may last a bit longer.

Cant think of anything else right now.

[GCS LawnService]

I usually sharpen blades about every ten yards to be sure that they are sharp and in good condition. The owners manual for my John Deere 757 Z Trax says that blades should be changed every 25 hours.Do know the mowing conditions that you are experiencing to determine how long blades will last. I keep 1 extra set of blades in my truck.

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