What do you do with bent blades

[bdemir]

I am in my garage and having a hard time with a bent blade. Is there an easier way than pounding it like heating it then pounding or will this make it to weak and dangerous. What do you do?

[JB1]

throw it away.

[gorrell]

Bdemir, the only safe thing to do with a bent blade is discard it. You'll take the temper out if you try to heat it. It's not worth the hassle. Lynn

[Alan]

With the cost of blades, I straighten mine. BUT, I have a very serious block of steel to clamp them to, with the bent end suported on a piece of 1" hardwood. Put enough pressure on the clamp to bend them in reverse, then smote hell out of them with a 6 lb hammer. Not easy, but it works and I've never had one break afterwards. If you heat them you will likely have a very soft piece of scrap afterwards.

[Keith]

Alan, what kind of blades are costing so much? I guess I am just wasting money, because the minute a blade becomes questionable...it's trashed.

[Tony S]

Buy new ones<p>----------<br>&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/procut/index/sign.jpg&quot;&gt;<br>&lt;A HREF=&quot;mailto:procutlawn@hotmail.com&quot;&gt;Email&lt;/A&gt;

[AB Lawn Care]

In my opinion the only good use for bent blades is to put them on when you trade your mower in at the dealer:)<p>----------<br>from:Adam<br>AB Lawn Care

[lawrence stone]

I give them to Carl from the movie Slingblade.<p>He knows what to do with a sharp lawn mower blade.

[Keith]

ummm-huhhhhhh

[Getmow]

Auction them on ebay.

[Alan]

Exmark factory blades are around $12, aftermarket is under 10 but most are worth just about that much. Like I said, I can straighten them unless they are twisted as well as just bent down

[bdemir]

Thanks everybody for your posts. When i set up a bench with a vise on it in the winter i will try to bend all those bent lades back ti flat and straight again.

[HOMER]

How are you bending blades? Do a walk through if you don't know the terrain, if you hit something hard enough to bend your blades it sure would do some damage to a persons head........ref. slingblade again!<p>Be careful, it's a jungle out there, jungle of people waitin' to sue the shirt and pants off of you!<p>Homer

[bdemir]

Oh everything from carpet matts, to sign posts to, big rocks to just rubble and garbage filled grasses. It is a jungle on one of my commercial jobs. there is a dump in the back and they never clean the lot or the lawn. But the job pays so good i just keep cutting it.

[KirbysLawn]

bdemir, no offence but if the job pays so good buy new blades! It pays to walk the area to clear any debris from the mowing field. If you mowed it last week and it was clear, where is the new debris coming from? Are you hitting the same thing over and over again? Talk to the property owner if new debris is showing, consider an additional charge to replace the blades.<p>I would throw away bent blades. Period. Why risk damage to your mower for a $12.00 blade?<p>----------<br>Ray Kirby - Kirby's Cuttin' Edge Lawn Maintenance<br>Home Page (http://www.kirbycuttin.com), My Truck (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=681893&a=4967153), Lawn Photos (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=681893&a=4967155)

[Charles]

Vibrations from bent or an unbalanced blade will do more damage to your mower than anything else. I vote for buying new blades

[curlawngreen]

Give Right Parts a call. The blades will run around $7-8 apiece.<br>1-800-458-2853<p><font size="1">Edited by: curlawngreen

[gene gls]

Throw out the bent ones.You guys may be in shock when you buy new blades this year.The price for mine went up $3.00 each,OEM Walker.

[bdemir]

Ray the job pays good but not good enough to get new blades every time. It is also not my only job that i bent my blades on. Its also a part of teaching new employees.

[1stclasslawns]

I had one of those... I also had a set of blades just for them too. A little bent...yep they were. It was cheeper to change the blades every time then to buy new ones. When they complanied I explaned the problem to them that I have a set only for their lawn and showed them the marks on the blade to keep them seperate from my good ones and presto!!! They cleaned the place up! Jim

[KirbysLawn]

Jim, that's good!!

[Ocutter]

Is this lawn paying you enough that you can spend extra time repairing your blades instead of replacing them?

[bdemir]

how many blades does everyone go through in a season.

[Alan]

I wipe done out yesterday. Utility pole guy wire anchor. Used to be cut off below ground but it's so wet this year that the mower has been making a little deeper track every time I go around that pole. Caught just the top of it and chewed up and bent one blade. It was the one near the discharge so I was able to get a bar and chain on it and bend it back enough to finish the job. Furthest stop on the route, it was quicker to go by the dealer and get a new blade and use their tools to change it out. New Exmark blade was over $13 by the time we added in tax.

[TGCummings]

Alan says: &quot;New Exmark blade was over $13 by the time we added in tax&quot;<p>That's nothing. At that price you can't afford to do anything but replace your damaged blades. Aside from the possibility of causing further damage to your machine, how much is your time spent on them worth?<p>If the job isn't paying enough to replace $13 (or so) blades, and the damage is recurring, lose the job...<p>-TGC

[bdemir]

O.K ok ill buy new blades i just thought i would save about 6 blades a season or so and save about 60 to 75 dollars. Gators cost 14 bucks before tax.

[Alan]

TGC, when I can straighten one in under 5 minutes I'd say that is a pretty good return. As far as damaging the machine, I doubt it. Have you looked a new blades lately? Plenty of them are NOT straight from the factory. I understand dynamic vs. static balance and all that, but I can't see any vibration increase in reusing my blades. By the way, had over 500 hours before I had to replace a set of spindle bearings and taht was because one got water in it and rusted, not because the bearing got beat to death from imbalance

[Guido]

I give my bent blades to the 2 people out of 1050 on this forum that &quot;fix&quot; them!! I have some barely used trimmer line if you'd like to tie the little pieces back together. It might work.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[thelawnguy]

Lol, LOL!!! And I can picture some of those guys scraping the globs of grease off of the trailer deck with a putty knife, pressing it back into the grease cartridge...<p>Bill

[Charles]

Hell I got some worn out trailor tires if you want them too. Just buy the mower drivers some glasses so they can see obstacles

[bdemir]

Thanks for the insult guys really!

[bdemir]

Oh and dont let me forget to tell you what to do with your worn out trimmer line and tires and that grease.

[Charles]

Well bedmir, you ask for everyone opinon. And the majority said BUY new blades And you just ignored it. So why ask if your mind is already made up anyway? Using bent blades is like reusing old oil.

[bdemir]

Charles, I did reply.

[Charles]

Duh. lol But you ignored the good advice of the majority

[bdemir]

How about my post on june 17. I did not ignore the advice, I will always buy new blades because of this.

[Alan]

Gee,, since I straighten my blades I must be some sort of loser according to the consensus. On the other hand it is my opinion, based on my equipment and mowing conditions that I'm money ahead. I don;t think the smartass replies really did much for the thread.

[klite]

I heard that Lawn mower blades made good knives. Make some and sell at flea market in the winter.<br>Ken

[Charles]

Bdemir, but then you go on to talk about how high blades are. Blades are cheap compared to replacing a mower deck cracked by vibration. Anyway glad you have seen the light. End of discusion lol

[TGCummings]

Alan,<p>Sounds like a good return to me. If it's working for ya, do it. For the price, I'd just as soon pick up a new blade as to go through the hassle/take the risk. However, I've rarely had a problem with bent blades so mine is the voice of presumed reason as opposed to experience.<p>I suppose if I had a recurring bent blade problem I might seek a more inexpensive method of operation. <p>More power to ya. ;)<p>-TGC<br>

[Guido]

You guys don't seem to grasp the concept many of us are trying to bring accross the table to you. WHAT IS THE REASON FOR CONSTENTLY BENDING YOUR BLADES? Thats your problem, (besides the fact that you don't understand what a re-bent unbalanced blade can do to damage a deck, spindles, bearings, etc on your mower) Go to whatever job it is that your bending blades on and mark whatever the hell it is that you or your crew keeps on running over!!! If its new trash every week up the price enough so that you can afford to buy a set of blades every time you mow that property. Then, the odds are in your favor. Just some ideas! (Bill, I like the grease one!)<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody:<p>I very seldom bent a blade, when I did I would throw it away.<p>But now that I'm not a much of a SCRUB any more, I just save them up & sell them at the Local Profescional Lawn Equipment SCRUB Auction.<p>Yes that's with a c!<p>When I sell enough I will buy me a high maintenance, fuel burning Powerstroke diesel!<p>I better be under that hood once a week & I better be filling up that tank every second day.<p>If not I will sell it & buy me a Fuel efficent, low maint Chevy or Ford that burns high test gasoline.<p><p><p>----------<br>GrassMaster - Home: www.lawnservicing.com<br>My Start Up Page www.lawnservicing.com/startup/

[MOW ED]

Melt them down and forge another - my goodness are we good at beating the dead horse or what. Reuse them and buy new spindles - lets start a post - What do you do with old spindles?<p>Sorry for being a smart ass but this is too much.

[Alan]

Guido, let's get a few things straight here. First, I don't think anyone has said they bend blades constantly. Secondly, I DO understand vibration and related problems. What I don't understand is why YOUR approach is etched in stone while the idea of straightening them is justification for ridicule. Also, I think I only bent one blade prior to getting the Exmark. Those blades are thin, and they seem very prone to bending. This year has been worse than normal, it has been very wet and the mowers are sinking slightly, so things that have been cleared in the past are now borderline obstacles. Another thing is that if you are lucky enough to have sandy soil you rarely find rocks growing out of it. Up here it is pretty common to have most of a lawn that was an old pasture, rocks and all. And they DO move up with frost, there is a new batch every spring. Last week I smacked a cut-off utility pole guy that I had been clearing for 3 years at that site. Hidden in the grass, soggy ground around it and only one path to follow around the guy that you could see. Mower finally pressed enough of a track to let me catch just the very tip of the steel rod. Crap happens! In this case the blade is beyond repair so it is in the scrap bucket.<br> <br>

[thelawnguy]

I think bdemir and the guy with the new walker oughta go halves on a stump grinder and clean up those lawns that seem to eat blades and gear boxes lol.<p>Bill

[jaclawn]

Talk to your friendly neighborhood metalurologist about what happens when a 4# hunk of hardened steel spinning at 18,000 fpm, comes to a sudden stop from hitting a solid object. Then talk to him about what happens to the molecular structure of the metal when it is re-stressed back into its origional shape. I guarantee that you will never try to straighten a blade again.

[Doug406]

Around here in michigan, with the heavy spring growth, we have bent a good 15 blades. Only one from hitting something. The rest are from cutting off too much grass at a time with too much speed and too much hp. the actual lift of the grass will bend them. I chalk it up to productivity. Buy new ones, at least you save on sharpening time once! Oh, we were bending some back between two peices of steal using a sledge hammer. Then a blade came flying back at me and I broke my thumb and cut it open pretty good, so I stopped doing that.

[Toroguy]

I save my bent blades as souveniers, to sell to tourists at the Mall of America. Stop in and see me, Im on the fourth floor near Hooters. I also sell bendies on consignment.<p>toroguy's mangled blade stand, Inc. Ask about the LawnSite discount!

[bdemir]

Boy I'll never hear the end of this<p>I didnt expect to get so many replies for such a simple question.<p><font size="1">Edited by: bdemir

[BUSHMASTER]

Throw them out ......
find out what your hitting and remove it...
use the bent blades in welding projects RECYCLE.....

[bob]

Toss it out!

[Runner]

Hey Guido!, You got any used edger blades I can get from you? lol and Allen, you are right- Exmark blades ARE thin. This is why I opt to buy the Dixie Chopper blades for my Lazers. Their thicker, heavier, and here in Flint Mi., their a buck cheaper. (I think everyone would probably make THAT decision).

[Edited by Runner on 08-07-2000 at 03:55 AM]

[REO]

I have some advise for you as far as straightening bent blades. I bent one 2 summers ago and by trying to straighten it I cut two fingers off and had to have them put back on. Trust me buy new ones. At $50 a set is still cheaper that $1500 per finger to put back on.

[Edited by REO on 08-18-2000 at 11:47 AM]

[Greenkeepers]

Just throw it away, its not worth it to try and straighten it for the cost of a new blade.

[greenflag]

Guido-
LMAO!That might have been the funniest post I have ever read!!!

[TGCummings]

REO,

How did you happen to cut the fingers? That's awful...

-TGC

[Eric ELM]

I never did respond to this post, but the one thing I noticed that nobody asked about is your fisrt line. "I am in my garage and having a hard time with a bent blade." Do you have a computer in your garage? If so, I'm jealous. I just have to get one in mine too, so I can read posts while sharpening blades.
BTW, I have straightened blades for a guy that I used to sharpen his blades. He was getting them sharpened every 2 weeks at a dealer and I told him he needed to sharpen them each day. I ended up sharpening them for a couple years once a week until he finally got a hand grinder and a vise so he could do it himself. He never had any problems with the ones I straightened. I have some nice lawns and haven't bent one yet, knock on wood. I guess it depends on how bent they are and if you have the right tools to straighten them. I would advise throwing them away after reading about all the bad luck. Safety first.

[bdemir]

I should have said i was in my garage, my computer is close to the garage but not inside but i do want to say that is a good point made and is pretty funny compared to the other insults. I would also like to add that the blades were all expark 60" blaes cutting the thickest grass i have seen during a tough spring and all of them were not by me they were from my other employees and the lawn care school that i run for toddlers and oh i wont leave out the weed wip class i offer for kids straight out of Romper Room!!

Anyhow Im over it and would like to apalogize to guido and everyone else for all of the crazy stuff i said and will learn to laugh at my mistakes in the future.


bdemir