View Single Post
  #3   Report Post  
Old 03-03-2009, 01:32 PM posted to alt.home.lawn.garden
[email protected] trader4@optonline.net is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 431
Default Sharpening Mulching Blade

On Mar 2, 7:28*pm, Art wrote:
Fleemo wrote:
I'd like to keep my mulching mower blade sharp over the mowing season,
though as I understand it, the extra ridges make it more difficult to
sharpen. (Last season I took one to a mower shop and it came back
duller than it went in.) Would one of those hand-held sharpeners like
the one pictured at the link below be effective on a mulching blade?
http://tinyurl.com/aku75q


Maybe to keep it sharp. Once it's dull you'd spend hours with that
thing. Just get yourself a bench grinder or a friend with a bench
grinder. 3/4hp or more works just great. Count the strokes you grind on
1 end then flip it and do the same number on the other end. I grind the
lower, outer, cutting edges on both ends first and then the inside,
upper mulching edges second. It doesn't have to be pretty and it doesn't
need to be knife sharp. Balance it on a nail or you can buy a balancer
for about $10.

--
Art



I agree that trying to hand sharpen is going to be a pain and you'll
quickly give up using that thing. For about $45 you can get a hand
held grinder, which is what I use and it also comes in handy for other
uses. I find it better than a bench grinder, because with a bg it can
be hard to get at all the blade areas, especially with a mulching
blade. Also, I got one of the little plastic balancing cones at Lowes
(might have been HD), for just a few bucks.