Yes, low lift blades will require less power to drive them. Discharge force will be less, meaning a potential poor clipping distribution, and unable to load bagger.

However, the quality of cut will most likely be much poorer. In my experience, the lower lift blades leave many stringers. My lawns are cool weather grasses, ones that will grow very well in the Spring. With the heavy growth, the mower will go through the tall growth, but the outcome is unacceptable in terms of quality.

The higher lift blades will lift the grass better for cutting. This means more of the grass will be cut off, and the final cut surface will be smoother. For me, that is important.

Mulching blades have a lesser lift, as these blades are intended to recut clippings and have them fall back to the ground. Using a high lift with mulch kit will not work, as the clippings will be kept under the deck too long, being held against the upper surface of the deck. The operation can come to a halt because the deck is too badly clogged with clippings -- not enough debris has been allowed to drop out from under the deck.

I don't know what mower you are using. I have two hand mowers, an Exmark w/b and John Deere ZTR. I use quad-cut blades on the Honda hand mower, high lift on the Toro Proline hand mower, and high lift blades on the w/b and ZTR for grass. I do use Gator blades on the w/b and ZTR during leaf mulching season in the Fall.

I'm sure your seasons are much different than mine, mowing starts about April 1, and ends near the end of November, sometimes as early as end of October for poorer lawns. My heavy growth period is between April 15 and June 15 (roughly), but may also have another period in the Fall (Sept 10 to Oct 15), depending upon weather.

Remember, conditions vary so widely because of type of grass and growth rates that what works for one LCO does not work very well for another. You will have to experiment to learn what works best for your conditions.

 

Never use Gator Blades!!!!!!!!

They cut horrible!!!!!!!!!!

 

Never use Gator Blades!!!!!!!!

They cut horrible!!!!!!!!!!

Really?

I had very different results. I love them on my Scag.

 

....

Remember, conditions vary so widely because of type of grass and growth rates that what works for one LCO does not work very well for another. You will have to experiment to learn what works best for your conditions.

Never use Gator Blades!!!!!!!!

They cut horrible!!!!!!!!!!

Really?

I had very different results. I love them on my Scag.

Statement confirmed in only two posts! Thank you.

 

The blades on my scag cut horrible with gators, probaly our type of grass and soil in tn
(when i had a scag)

That piece

 

I have a 23hp/52" wright sentar. I put on some Extra high lifts and the engine just can hardly handle cutting grass. It's not has bad mowing weekly accounts, but as far as bi-weekly accounts, forget about it.

 

The high lift G6 Gator blades by Oregon will be the only type of blade that I buy from now on for my Bob-Cat. The cut quality is better with the front mulching baffle in place though.

 

I have a Scag walk-behind and a Bob-Cat walk behind, and have always run the stock blades on both. They are high-lifts on the Bob-Cat and medium-lift on the Scag. I have mostly Bermuda lawns here, and I bag a fair amount of grass. They both work well, but I prefer the Bob-Cat with the high-lifts for bagging and making a yard look really clean. I suppose I should play around with other types of blades and see if I like anything else.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

I like high lift gators in early spring when there are still some leaves and weeds. I leave my mulch kit on normally for the first month of the cutting season, because there is more presence of debris. Then I put on regular high-lifts and start discarging. High lifts do require more engine power, but are a must around here to pick up the bahia.

 

I run high lifts and only use gators for mulching leaves.

 

we like gators in early spring first cuts and all fall long to chop up leaves. really helps cut down the amount for bagging them if you run over them a couple of times, it usually mulches them up very well.

in thick growth, we like medium lift blades as they still deliver a clean cut but dot pack the grass as much under the deck. this of course will depend on brand of mower.

then in late spring and summer we like the higher lift blades.

 

About midway in the season I put a med lift on the left side, a high lift in the middle and a high lift gator on the right. Really worked good for me and looked good. went back to al gators in the fall. When running all high lifts better have some hp.

 

that is a very odd set up southside cutter.

what deck and size was that run on?

 

61 Velocity, wasn't my Idea. Was my local mechanic who runs a repair shop and worked for a Scag dealer before. Doesn't take as much power as running all high lifts. But does a better job than all med lifts.

 

I use a Toro reel mower . You should do a high speed video of that ! These are EXTREMELY high tech cutting units capable of cutting as low as 0.0625" off the bed . The blades and knives must be sharp enough to scissor paper when you roll the reel by hand. I cut at 0.250" which is like shag carpet with these machines . This is a shot of some of my Barbuda at my house ....

 

just for clarity:
"extreme-lift" is defined for the rear foil being 1.0" or taller
"high lift' is defined for a rear foil being between .25-.99" tall
low lift is defined for a rear foil being under 1/4"

SO WITH THAT concerning OREGON their G-3 gator blades ** specifically G3's are low lifts...the G5 is a high lift and the G-6 has a 1.0" air foil.

IMHO the G-3's are junk... the G-5's are G6' want-a-bees. The g-6 work just as well as high lifts and exceptional mulching capabilities in cool season yards.

I would imagine that the lift difference is less of an issue in the South where the grass species is thicker and denser. So its more about the slice vs. the deck suction.

Speaking of which your deck/mower has to be set up correctly. 3.5-4" deck depth gives the air volume needed so that the clippings circulate above the blade and that gator air foil does its job.

I personally run a series (4) with baffles and the g-6's all year around as the cut quality is the same as the xteme lifts. I liked the set up so much I went and purchased a twelve pack of G6 blades.

 

Low lift only work well in the south if the lawn is even and you are cutting low. Not so good on dips in the yard. Just not a crisp cut. Same way with regular gators. G6 Oregon blades sound interesting to me. Never tried them. We are getting a lot of rain and my high lift blades are bogging. Leaving piles of grass. G6 could help with that problem

 

I've run Highs, Mediums (what they come with) and Lows on my Scags. Highs make lots of noise and dust. Your covered up and so is the machine. I don't care for them. Mediums seem to be a best bet. They toss the clippings and disperse them widely. Not TOO much dust and they leave a nice cut.
Lows are interesting. Quiet and use less fuel. The clippings tend to windrow. If they are kept sharp they cut just as well for me. They seem to cut tall grass better. Gives your machine more power. All in all you just can't beat Scag mediums and that's what I got on my two turf tigers now. Lows would be good if your cutting overgrown lots or yards that didn't mind some clumps.

 

I just use a standard lift blade on my V-Ride, does just fine.

 

I noticed that this thread was started in 2011, but I have to chime in on my experience with blades -as I went through a bit of trial and error with different manufactures of blades.


To simply cut to the chase: the XHT blades manufactured by Sunbelt products were the most consistent in terms of sharpness, longevity, lift, and MOST notably- right out of the box -the 12 blades that I bought (when I made my final decision) not one of them had to be put on a grinder to be rebalanced.


They hold their edge longer and I really do believe that the hardness of the steel makes a huge difference. I can cut 15 to 17 lawns in a row, and the blades still hold a very good edge. I have seven sets of blades for each of my mowers and I change them each night. Many times I have thought that they could go another day and sometimes depending on the properties I will go two or maybe three days. Most of the time I change them every night.

 

Chock the tires so they won't turn

 

I finally got it off with a 1200lb take off gun but even then still had to hold the blade. I don't know what was hit but it had to be enough force to stop the motor dead in its tracks

 

Any damage to that stuck blade?

 

No one mentioned the warped style mulching blades. Exmark brand for 60 inch. They're not that great in the spring/summer but in fall they do real well chopping up even without a mulch kit. I use OCdc closed.
Be prepared to put some power behind them though, my exmark x series with 999cc efi feels the pull turning them on. Sucks fuel down with them too. A little tough to sharpen.

 

If that didn’t effect the mower I would be shocked. Blades on a 60” spin at 19k feet per minute. Coming to a dead stop at that speed .....wow!!

 

I use gator blades here in oklahoma. I personally love them year round. I mulch and discharge and bag a little. Either way it make the grass clippings so fine it works no matter what.
I am running a 36" snapper pro and a 48" babcat stander

 

My lawn is bermuda grass in Fort Worth, Texas. Yes different areas and lawn types will yield different results.

I've been mowing with a Gravely ZTX 42" my yard and a neighbors for the past two years. Recently switched from the Gravely mulching blades with mulching baffles installed to their standard high lift blades with the mulching baffles removed. I installed a Quickchute blocker on it today and mowed side discharge with door open. Then went over it with door closed and dusted over it with an Echo 8010 for clump streaks.

Looks good, definitely a difference between open chute mowing with high lift blades and mulching blades. I like the way it looks better. Looks to be a more even cut and it just looks better.

Only took a second with the blower to make residual clippings disappear.

Early in the season, and I've just started experimenting with high lift blades. But, so far the way it looks I don't see mulching blades going back on the machine. Next thing I'll probably try is X blades on it with the high lift blades. I did some of that back in the 90's when I did it for hire and liked the results. Back then instead of stacking blades, I took them to a guy that builds race car chassis and he sectioned the width out of the center of one blade and TIG welded them to make a real X blade.