Your yard’s health entirely depends on the effort you take to clean it and tools that helps with cutting. The improvement of overall look inside your yard depends on how precisely you take them.
A lawnmower is one basic vehicle tool that helps the most with yard or garden management. It gives them even surface that everybody loves to see into their space.
However, with everyday usage, a lawnmower might lose its touch. There are dirt, sand, and debris to make that happen quite frequently. And so, the need to sharpen its blade seems more common and important. But some of us have this weird will to sharpen or do maintenance without removing blades.
No doubt why people are so interested in knowing how to sharpen lawn mower blades without removing it.
Sharpening Lawn Mower Blades: The Whole Idea of Blade Removal, Sharpening Process & More…
With a dull and non-working blade, you will soon notice that your grasses are close to tears. This makes a very ragged edge left over after cutting them all. And this brings home various pests and diseases. Maybe you read about it somewhere or your lawnmower is already showing uneven cuts. And so, you are asking, how do I sharpen lawn mower blades?
The task hardly needs a few minutes. And also, this regime is manageable for every week. So, after spending a fortune over fertilizer and weed control, it’s high time you think about giving a few bucks for sharpening the blade of your lawnmower.
I promise the grasses will thank you for your mercy.
BUT FIRST, Here’s-
Why It’s Not a Good Idea to Keep Blades Attached…
There are more than a few ways when it comes to sharpening lawnmower blades. You are free to use hand files and angle grinders. Also, rotary tools are quite famous for such applications. For those who are curious about how to sharpen mower blades with a grinder, we’ll talk about that as well, have patience.
Anyways the point is, with many options and methods to try some people want to make it quicker and easier. And so, not removing the blades from the lawnmower sounds practical to them.
Now depending on the design of your lawnmower, you can try sharpening blades without any removal action. However, make sure you check this with the instruction manual provided.
In my concern, I would never want to take the risk of sharpening blades attached to the mower. And there’s a very logical reason behind that.
Sharpening lawn mower blades need you to have better access to them. The greater contact with cutting edges will let you determine damages better.
For example, stress fractures and excessive wear out in the non-visual areas of blades. This needs to come within your attention. And it might not happen when you decide to keep the blade attached.
So, for the sake of complete maintenance, not just sharpening, you should think about detaching the blades. And to be honest, detachment and reattachment do not take a very noteworthy amount of time to seem like it’s a waste.
The Lawn Mower Sharpening with 4 Steps
Step One – Start with Blade Detachment
If you have not done maintenance for a pretty long time than the blades are going to give you pain. In such cases, I prefer using some penetrating elements. There are blade penetrating oils that I like to use over nuts also.
I like to keep it that way for five minutes. It could be longer if the conditions demand. While the penetration takes place, you can simply pull the spark plug. This is really important if you don’t wish to encounter your lawnmower starting suddenly.
Now once the waiting period is over, it’s time to extract blade nut. You need to block the blade in such case. Also, a blade holder will help you better here.
You also need a scrape to get the blade out from lawnmower. There could be grass stuck within the blades. And this tool will help you get rid of these excess grasses.
Step Two: Sharp It Up
Now that you are done with removing the blade, time to sharp comes next. Here you should be very careful with maintaining the correct angle. With a narrow angle, you can cut really well. But then it gets dull pretty quickly.
Also, with a less severe angle, you won’t be able to gather good cutting quality. And so, most manufacturers recommend using a milled edge. These are best for blades.
However, the tools that provide such edges come with a high price tag usually. And so, using a professional blade grinder can save you from both miseries.
Just keep on moving the blade forward and backward. Do so by applying the needed pressure, nothing too much. With proper angling, you will be able to get a good sharpness by the end.
However, if you try to apply more than necessary force, it’s surely going to show you some temper. Mishaps and accidents usually take place because of such forcing. So, don’t do that!
Step Three: Balancing Blade
You should not keep grinding blades until nicks come out. However, do make sure the edge is pretty sharp on blade with no nicking area almost. If you can witness plenty of amounts for nicks, then maybe replacement will be a better option. For fewer amounts, it’s okay to keep using it with frequent sharpening.
Once you are done with grinding both edges and there’s no metal at those ends, check balance. For this, you need a tool called a cone-shaped blade balancer. There are a few models that support wall-mounted features as well.
These are great to figure out whether the blades are straight or not. Don’t forcefully try to straighten it. This will cause pretty heavy damage over your blade. And you don’t want that to happen.
Step Four: Blade Reattachment
Once you are done checking straightness and balance, it’s almost over. You just need to clean that jagged-edged of blade. Here a metal file can help you a lot.
Once the edges are nicely even, you can put them back on mower deck. It’s time for you to use the lawnmower again. But this time with sharp blades.
The Frequency of Sharpening
Now that you know the method, there must be one more question popping around your head. And it is, how sharp should lawn mower blades be until you know it’s time to sharpen again.
Well, in most cases, you should try this every few weeks. Also, if you notice that blade is not cutting down grass as it should, then it’s probably time to sharpen.
Conclusion
So now you have a better idea of why sharpening lawn mower blades without removing them won’t be effective. Also, the actual sharpening method should be useful for your next maintenance session.
Don’t forget to use some good gloves that can save you from the calamity of blades. Also, make sure you don’t skip the regular maintenance needs of your lawnmower. This is something that will affect the overall longevity of this excellent gardening vehicle.