Thread: New mower blade
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Old 28-09-2006, 06:31 PM posted to rec.gardens
hob hob is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
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Default New mower blade


"Jen" wrote in message
...

"JaxDawg" wrote in message
oups.com...
This seems like a silly question... but here goes...
I've just purchased new blades for my Craftsman 42" mower. The blades
are not at all what I'd call "sharp" - which surprised me. Should new
mower blades be sharpened before they are used? or is this angled edge
(but again, not "sharp") proper for a mower?
If it makes a difference, these are mulching blades.



I was told to never sharpen blades on a lawnmower because it can unbalance
it, which would cause other problems.


1) Dull blades often go out of balance, especially if nicked. A blade needs
to be balanced as well as sharpened, or the blade-shaft bearing will rapidly
wear.
2) Dull blades smash the grass into two pieces, rather than cut it, which is
hard on the grass; and also the grass looks grey in a day or two.

To balance a mower blade, put the lightly-cleaned-with-sand-paper smoothed
hole in the middle of the blade onto a horizontally driven small nail (the
blade should not be near the head of the nail, and centered on the hole), or
onto a cone-shaped blade balancer.
Put the blade horizontally on the nail/balancer, centered on the hole.
Grind a bit off the edge on the side that drops. And recheck balance.
Repeat until the blade end does not drop more than an inch or so.
(or, if klutzy, repeat until the blade has been completely ground away
) )

To double check the setup and balance, flip the blade end-for-end and
recheck.


The blades always seem blunt to me
when I get a new set, but new ones always cut really well, much better

than
old blunt ones.

Just give them a go. See how they go.

Jen