i bent a mower blade on the pushmower and went and got a brand new one and the very next time I used it within 1 minute I bent the new blade so I had to go buy another new one again. :laugh:
Funny that you mention that. I've had two customers ask me this week if I plan to hire any employees. My usual answer is NO. I'd rather do 60 lawns by myself then 120 with an employee. Just my personal preference. One day I might run some crews, but that's when my body can't take it anymore and is calling for a break. Next year or in the future years, I think I could be efficient one other crew member aside from myself. I love working by myself, but at times I think about how nice and efficient it would be to have me or another guy to jump out with the trimmer then another mowing behind. As of right now I'm happy being solo, but I think that might be my next step. I don't want any crews until my body is hollering for a crew.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying having 10 crews while you sit in the office isn't the way to go. But when your out in the field working, I couldn't be happier working by myself. I think I would actually do good with one side man, but I wouldn't want anything bigger when working in the field. One day, and I say one day, when my body can't take it, I'll be the one sitting in the office, running crews.
i bent a mower blade on the pushmower and went and got a brand new one and the very next time I used it within 1 minute I bent the new blade so I had to go buy another new one again. :laugh:
I'm unfortunately feeling like crap this am. We've been needing rain for weeks. Everything is like hay fields around here. The weather calls for a heavy rain finally today. Now I'm watching the radar and the rain is surrounding us, and we just happen to be right in the gap or dry spot of a huge rain storm. How crappy is that. Someone pray for some rain for Central Texas!
I stayed in to catch up on paper work this morning because the weather shows we're about to get hammered with rain. Waited an hour or two to see what the rains going to do and got caught up on my paper work. Still bone dry and the sun started to come out. Made the call to load up because the rain wasn't showing up. As soon as I load up it starts pouring! What gives? At least we needed the rain! Now I get to go do some brush and tree trimming in the rain! Sounds like a fun day!
i bent a mower blade on the pushmower and went and got a brand new one and the very next time I used it within 1 minute I bent the new blade so I had to go buy another new one again. :laugh:
:laugh: Same thing here. Just about every time I buy a new set of blades, I hit something that knocks some big chunks out of them. Sometimes on the first day!
:laugh: Same thing here. Just about every time I buy a new set of blades, I hit something that knocks some big chunks out of them. Sometimes on the first day!
yeah but not with my pushmower. I trimmed the rest of it with the trimmer.
I actually took a mini sledgehammer out of my truck and beat that metal stob below ground level so no worries ever again at that place. it was like a grounding thing for something but nothing was hooked to it.
I bent the next blade on another yard that was a first cut so I was not familiar with the lawn.
About the same as what I did, bought a 36" Exmark Viking, took it out to get used to it before using it on a customers yard and maybe 30 minutes later I took a huge chunk out with a rock I didn't see, in my own yard no less....
Funny timing. I just put a new set on mine Monday. It's been about three days and missing chunks out of them on a new yard already. Luckily it started raining hard enough today I got to take a trip to the dealership. Went ahead and bought three sets of the commercial Turfmaster blades today. We'll see how long they last and I pray I don't hit nothing for a while with these.
But hey, on a positive note, I just finished a big tree trimming job right at dark, loaded up the equipment, and we just got a huge, huge, huge storm. Almost seemed as if we we're in a hurricane. As of today we had got our first .04" (which is nothing at all) of rain for the first time in a few weeks and everyone was pissed off thinking the rain passed over us once again, and the drought would continue. Needless to say, we just got hammered and it is the best thing that's happened for me in weeks! My prayers are answered!
yeah but not with my pushmower. I trimmed the rest of it with the trimmer.
I actually took a mini sledgehammer out of my truck and beat that metal stob below ground level so no worries ever again at that place. it was like a grounding thing for something but nothing was hooked to it.
I bent the next blade on another yard that was a first cut so I was not familiar with the lawn.
Last mow of the season last year I killed my old Sears 20" push.
This customer has a pipe with a cap sticking up in the lawn. I knew where it was. Some how that day I lost sight of it. This year I am bringing a can of red paint so I never miss that pipe again.
Though in a way I am glad because I bought a new 21" Honda SP. Also retired my JD 42" LT180 and bought a JD 36" WB.
Good thing all my lawns were not ready to cut this week because they could not deliver the 36" until today.
I actually did something similar 2 years ago. it was the last cut of the year and I somehow let one of the wheels go off the curb and the blade hit the curb and bent it. :laugh:
the blade had lasted me 2-3 years prior to that. I hardly use it and I never even sharpened it and it was still sharp as a brand new blade. I may have sharpened it once I can't remember.
I only use a 21" on 2 yards I mow and it's just about 10min of mowing at each one. I use the ztr for everything else.
Do you guys salvage your old blades somehow? Not the bent ones of coarse, but the ones that got nicks and took hits from rocks? I've heard of people grinding them out? But it seems like every time I try it with the Bench grinder I can't get it looking like I would like. Either I'm not grinding properly or the nicks are too big.
I don't worry about the nicks. I just get the blade sharp and balanced. Trying to grind out the nicks will greatly shorten the life of the blades. My mower still cuts good with nicks in the blade
Yeah I've gone to running 2 sets of blades, I get a new set every year and I use the old nicked set for the rocky yards after I sharpen them as well as I can. Keeps my new set in good shape for my better yards, and worst case I double cut and the bad set works fine on the rough yards.
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