Blade Sharpening Interval

[RhettWS]

Good morning,

I searched the forum and couldn't find a thread which discusses how often you sharpen you blades. I might have used the wrong search terms. Specifically, how many hours do you go between routine blade sharpening? I've seen an occasional comment on it but no thread focused on this subject. I suspect you guys in the lawn care business will have the most input on this.

Back in ancient times I worked for a horticultural & landscape service who were so busy they had a shop mechanic for all their equipment. They swapped out a clean, sharp, set of blades daily. Seems like overkill but it was not my money, time or decision.

Looking forward to your feed back. ........... Rhett

 

[Carscw]

I put on sharp blades twice a week.
Best thing to do is just look at them. If the edge is gone sharpen them.
Some guys say they sharpen the blades when they see the grass tips are brown. That's to late.
Watch a video on using a file on the blades. Good way to keep them sharp and only takes a minute.

 

[RhettWS]

I put on sharp blades twice a week.

Specifically how many hours do you have on those blades that you change our twice a week?

Yes, I know looking at them is the best way to go. If I get enough responses with hour intervals I hope to do a little statistics (for fun). I'm a nerd.

 

[Carscw]

Specifically how many hours do you have on those blades that you change our twice a week? Yes, I know looking at them is the best way to go. If I get enough responses with hour intervals I hope to do a little statistics (for fun). I'm a nerd.

Between 15 and 20 hours.

A set of blades last me about 6 weeks. Around 500 yards.

 

[jekjr]

I guess that would depend on how much grass you cut and what kind it is. We bladed this AM about 6:00 and again today around 2:00 PM.

We were running two Tiger Cat Scags with 52" decks.

When we have to start slowing down to keep bahia grass from stringing we stop and change blades.

In lower Alabama most yards are cut at two week intervals and most have some Bahia grass in them if not all of it.

 

[RhettWS]

I guess that would depend on how much grass you cut and what kind it is. We bladed this AM about 6:00 and again today around 2:00 PM.

So that is 8 hours. Is that routine for you at this time of year?

I know everyone's conditions are different (grass type, soil type, how often a particular yard is cut, etc.). It will be interesting to see how the time between sharpening varies with conditions.

Thanks again. ......... Rhett

 

[Ric]

So that is 8 hours. Is that routine for you at this time of year?

I know everyone's conditions are different (grass type, soil type, how often a particular yard is cut, etc.). It will be interesting to see how the time between sharpening varies with conditions.

Thanks again. ......... Rhett

How often you should change or sharpen your lawn mower blade depends on the type of blades your using, the type of grass your cutting, size of yard and how often you mow. The a typical homeowner can get by sharpening his blades IMO perhaps once a month maybe every couple of months could or would be sufficient and replace them at the end of the season or once a year.
I'm sure if you do a search over the net you'll find a dozen different answers to your question and they will all be different. There's really no set time limit. Generally I'll watch the cut when I'm mowing and when I see uneven cuts or I have to start double cutting then the mower goes on the jack and a sharp set goes on.

 

[jekjr]

So that is 8 hours. Is that routine for you at this time of year?

I know everyone's conditions are different (grass type, soil type, how often a particular yard is cut, etc.). It will be interesting to see how the time between sharpening varies with conditions.

Thanks again. ......... Rhett

Actually Rhett we probably had 6 hours or so run time in that. We move constantly because we cover so much area. Day before yesterday. We cut 12 yards and finished the last one in the rain to do it. That was working from 7:00 till 2:00. We did not blade in between but on the last one we needed to. If we had not rained out we would have bladed and got some more.

We run the Oregon Blades and try to maintain them sharp because we cut so much and need to run as fast as possible. Double cutting and stringing grass are not an option for us. We can blade one of our Tiger Cats in 5 minutes or so normally in the field and it is just faster to change blades instead of running slow and the yards look so much better.

We have a guy that sharpens blades for like $10 a set. I normally keep 20 to 25 sets of blades. I have three mowers that are identical and we normally run two of them and keep the third at home for a backup. There are days that we run all three of them.

Right now the grass is getting rained on almost daily here and is growing like crazy.If we were cutting just centipede or St. Augustine we would be able to run much longer intervals. However knee deep Bahia grass is a buggar to keep blades sharp in. Also many yards have sticks and so forth in them that many times you won't see till you have cut them up and they work on blades as well.

Guys that talk about going so long sharpening blades like weeks or so forth are normally cutting small lawns and they are cutting grass that is cut weekly.

We cut a property that is 15 acres. It has three houses on it and a funeral home and cemetery. We can normally be out of there in 4 to 5 hours or so running three mowers and a couple of weedeaters. We go into it with fresh blades on all mowers and do not change. By the time we are finished we are definitely in need of a blade change.

I have seen us have to change blades in as little as three hours but again that is under extremely brutal conditions......

 

[BlazNT]

Sharpen after 6 hours of use. Every day after I'm done. Sharpened set goes on and old set gets sharpened. I have 3 sets of blades. I am not that big of a company.

 

[RhettWS]

Right now the grass is getting rained on almost daily here and is growing like crazy..

Thanks for all that information. I hear you about the rain. My grass is going ape *h#@. I'd say my yard is at least 50% bahia, if not more. Was a cow pasture at one time.

I can certainly see where the sharp blades would eliminate double cutting. I just received a set of Oregon G5 blades for my mower. I'll change them out this weekend to see how they do as well as sharpen the original blades that came with the mower. I'm sure they are somewhat dull although I have not looked close at them yet. I have not yet had to double cut while cutting considerably more than 50% of the grass off. Having said that the quality is slowly degrading, I suspect a combination of the uber long grass and the blades getting dull.

Interesting to see what the pros are doing. ........ Thanks