How do you detect when mower blades need sharpening ?

[Ric]

It's easy to detect your cut quality is lowered, your not mulching as well, its clumping, missing grass, grass looks beat up not cut.

I try to file mine nightly although I've been slacking lately, for heavy chunks I use a vice grip, angle grinder, and a cone balancer

You say it's easy detecting when your cut quality is lowered, your not mulching as well, its clumping, missing grass, grass looks beat up not cut, but that's not necessarily the case. All the thing you mentioned are maybe true but they can also be caused by grass build up in your deck and may not be caused by dull blades necessarily. To find out if your blades are dull or not you need to physically inspect them. Check them to see if there sharp or not, look for nicks in the blade etc and replace if needed and if your a homeowner that uses their mower once a week I'd replace them at the beginning of every mowing season. There not that expensive for a BBS mower.

 

[LoCo86]

You say it's easy detecting when your cut quality is lowered, your not mulching as well, its clumping, missing grass, grass looks beat up not cut, but that's not necessarily the case. All the thing you mentioned are maybe true but they can also be caused by grass build up in your deck and may not be caused by dull blades necessarily. To find out if your blades are dull or not you need to physically inspect them. Check them to see if there sharp or not, look for nicks in the blade etc and replace if needed and if your a homeowner that uses their mower once a week I'd replace them at the beginning of every mowing season. There not that expensive for a BBS mower.

I think he was talking about noticing as you are mowing throughout the day you can see your blades getting duller after every yard. As far as grass build up you should clean the deck after every days use. I know after mowing all day you don't feel like it but it needs to be done and it saves you time in the morning. Also I think you should sharpen your blades at this time as well. I personally sharpen them everyday of use.

 

[Ric]

I think he was talking about noticing as you are mowing throughout the day you can see your blades getting duller after every yard. As far as grass build up you should clean the deck after every days use. I know after mowing all day you don't feel like it but it needs to be done and it saves you time in the morning. Also I think you should sharpen your blades at this time as well. I personally sharpen them everyday of use.

I think if your seeing a change like that during the day it's probably the deck plugging up, not the blades going dull. Sharpening blades daily is a thing of the past with the blades they are making today. Manufactures are making blades now that you don't have to sharpen as frequently. Blades like the Gator Blades are made a lot more heavy duty than OEM blades are, the cutting edge they use are made using a electrofusion process that welds tungsten carbide into the blade, reduces the frequency of blade sharpening and lengthens blade life. You can believe that the blades sold at and on your BBS mowers are about as cheap as they come.

 

[Carscw]

I change my blades out every day.
Takes less then 5 mins
Keeps the ends from getting rounded.

I never clean my deck.

 

[badboypartsonline]

When the grass is not cutting in shape and sometime blade moves freely without cutting grass its time to change the blade of sharpening it.:confused2:

 

[X-man]

I'm notorious about not taking care of my blades

I usually wait until it does a poor job at cutting :/

 

[Carscw]

I'm notorious about not taking care of my blades I usually wait until it does a poor job at cutting :/

Always keeping the blades sharp saves you time and money.

You ever notice there are times you have to cut a yard twice or go slow ?

Take the 15 mins a week and sharping the blades. You can mow faster and less wear and tear in the engine and deck spindle bearings.

 

[X-man]

Always keeping the blades sharp saves you time and money.

You ever notice there are times you have to cut a yard twice or go slow ?

Take the 15 mins a week and sharping the blades. You can mow faster and less wear and tear in the engine and deck spindle bearings.

Yeah I know. The thing is with me, the only time I ever think about the blades is when I'm in the middle of mowing a lawn.

Or when I'm running over all the damn crabapples in my backyard.

 

[SeniorCitizen]

Yeah I know. The thing is with me, the only time I ever think about the blades is when I'm in the middle of mowing a lawn.

Or when I'm running over all the damn crabapples in my backyard.

The apple juice and clippings are easier to clean the under side of the deck with the blades removed. :laughing: Perfect time to sharpen.

 

[panabiker]

I only have a my own lawn to mow every 7-10 days and I sharpen my blades once a season, before the first cut in the spring. I never noticed any cut quality change throughout the season. If anything, the lawn looks the best just about now.