Lawn Mower Blades

A lawn mower is a gardening tool that uses revolving blades for cutting the grass to maintain lawns at an even length. Lawn mowers can be broadly classified into rotary and cylinder lawn mowers. Rotary lawn mowers are the ones in which the blades rotate about a vertical axis whereas cylinder lawn mowers contain blades that rotate about a horizontal axis. Lawn mowers come in various sizes. Simple hand-pushed land mowers are generally used for small residential lawns or gardens whereas bigger multi-gang mowers work well for larger parks and golf courses. At times, the lawn mower blades might get blunt or develop nicks when the blades get hit by large stones or rocks. When that happens, the lawn mower is unable to cut grass at an even length and you might find uneven patches of grass in your lawn. Sharpening the blades, therefore, becomes an important aspect of maintaining lawn mowers. If your lawn mower is not working properly, you must first check if the blades have been damaged or not.

Lawn Mowers

If your land mower has not been working properly and the grass is being cut at uneven lengths, you must get all the lawn mower parts examined. A lawn mower contains blades, belts, pulleys, battery parts, air filters, wheel height adjuster, tires and so on. If any part gets damaged, you might have to take the mower to a service shop for lawn mower repair, but if the blades have become blunt, you can sharpen them at home. Most of the time, excessive vibrations, poor cutting or grass catching is caused due to blunt or damaged blades. Blunt blades can be easily sharpened, but if these are damaged beyond repair, you always have the option of replacing them. Do buy good quality blades that work well for the model you have.

How to Sharpen the Blades of a Lawn Mower

You could either go to a service shop for getting the blades sharpened. You can even sharpen the blades on your own. Before you start sharpening the blades, make sure that you have removed the spark plug wire. If you use a battery-operated lawn mower, then remove the battery. If you are not too keen on removing the lawn mower blades, you have the option of using a shaft angle grinder. If you don't have the flexible shaft angle grinder, you need to detach the blades from the lawn mower. Detach the nut that attaches the blades to the mower by using a wrench or a spanner. Do it very carefully or you might end up cutting yourself with the blades. After sharpening the blades, you need to reassemble them in the same order, therefore, number these blades. It would be a good idea to place the blades in a vice or a holding device while you sharpen the blades.

You will need a grinding wheel for sharpening the blades. If the lawn mower came with a sharpening kit, you can follow the instructions given in the manual. As you sharpen the blades, ensure that they are positioned at a correct angle. Sharpen the edges by following the contours or moving the blade back and forth across the sharpening tool or grinder. Once you have sharpened the blades, you can use a blade balancer to check if the edges have been sharpened evenly. You can either use a wall-mounted balancer or a cone-shaped blade balancer. Place the blade on the balancer, whichever end dips down will have to be sharpened. If there are a few nicks left, you can use a metal file to remove them. If there are no more jagged edges, bolt back the mower blades.

Since blunt or damaged blades will not cut the grass at an even lengths and make it prone to many diseases, therefore, make sure that you sharpen the blades of a lawn mower regularly. If the mower has developed too many nicks, you can either sharpen the blades or have them replaced.