How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades

A lawn mower is an equipment used to cut the lawn at an even length in order to beautify your garden. Lawn mowers come in various sizes, ranging from hand pushed mowers, which are used for home lawn, to large sophisticated mowers, which are used for larger areas such as golf courses. It is one of the most useful gardening tool for maintaining a beautiful garden.

Lawn Mower Blades
Lawn mowers, use the sharp blades, within the equipments, to cut the lawn at an even height. Depending on the blade used in the mower, lawn mowers are broadly classified into two types, rotary mower and reel mower. The blade in the rotary mower rotates on a vertical axis, whereas the blade on the reel mower rotates on the horizontal axis. Blades are one of the most important components of the lawn mowers. Dull blades rip the blades of grass instead of cutting it in a sharp and even manner, which makes the grass vulnerable to various diseases. Therefore, it's important to sharpen the blades at least once in a month.

Lawn Mower Blade Sharpening
The foremost thing to be done to sharpen the blades of your lawn mower is to make sure that all the sources of power are disconnected. If the mower is powered by a battery, you should remove the battery. Properly check and make sure that all the power controls are off, disconnecting the spark plug is an even better option. Once you are done with this, the next step is to remove the blades from the lawn mower. To do this, you would need a spanner, as you need to remove the nut which attaches the blades to the mower. Be careful while doing this, as a little negligence and the blades will cut your fingers. While removing the blades, make sure that you number them. It would be helpful as you would have to fix them back in the same order. If you notice any specks of rust, use steel wool or steel brush to remove them. Though the blades may appear to have become blunt, they can still be dangerous for your hands. Always use a stable holding or a vice to grip the blade while you sharpen it.

Most of the large mowers come with a sharpening kit, so if you have such a kit, you can use it. If not, you will need a sharpening device, such as a grinding wheel or a file, to sharpen the mower blades. Follow the contours of the blade and sharpen it along the edge. Make sure that all the blades are sharpened in an even manner. You can also sharpen the blades without removing them from the mower, using a flexible shaft angle grinder. Although this process saves time, it is very uncomfortable to execute it. If you don't have either of the equipments, then you can remove the blade and take it to the mower shop. Doing this you will save time, and you don't have to take the risk of leaving the lawn mower at the shop. While refitting the blades into the mower, make sure that the blades are properly balanced, or else its operations would be hampered. You can use a balancer to check whether the blades are balanced. Another easier way, is to support the blade at the center to check the balance. If it isn't balanced, adjust it on either side until the balance is achieved. If the blades are not fitted correctly, the lawn mower will make some weird sounds. In such circumstances, open the mower and crosscheck the blade fitting and refit them. In case the blades have been totally worn out, you can use the same removing and refitting methods to change lawn mower blades.

Knowing how to sharpen lawn mower blades can help you to take care of your lawn by keeping it well trimmed and clean on regular basis. Therefore you need to take care of the equipment to make sure its efficiency prevails. Sharp lawn mower blade is an important trait of an efficient lawn mower.