How do you detect when mower blades need sharpening ?

[exotion]

I would like to know what mower comes with more hp then it needs.

Most mowers are under powered.

Ya... I agree I want to push my mower through 12" wet grass with no troubles

 

[bertsmobile1]

3 to 4 inches of cut per Horse is more than adequate
the old 30" used to come with 6 to 8 Hp
Now they come with 15 Hp

Lots of mowers are getting down to 1.5" per Hp as the world has gone power mad and the mowers are so similar the last selling point is "mine is bigger than yours".
I have a customer with 61" Dane powered by a 22Hp .
His beighbour has a 42" Husky run by a 27 Hp.
the Dane will cut grass at nearly twice the speed of the Husky and leave a better finish.

Professional mowers are a slightly different matter as you blokes run them very fast but with sharp blades most would be able to cut faster than their maximum ground speed.
Mulching admittantly adds another 20 % load ( so the manufacturers bumph says ) but I see little difference to the load mulching as I do bagging and if anything the baggers seem more energy hungry.
Have a think back about your own mower over the past 10 years or so.If it has been current for all that time usually nothing has changed save a few compulsory safety switches and the motor packages offered now are nearly double what they came out with. Both B&S & Kohler recommend engines rated at 120% of the requirement of the mower and then most manufacturers fit the next size up. take a little cut in their margins in the hope you will sing the praises of their machine on places like this.
Every client who whinges about how slow their mower is generally has blades with no cutting edge left at all. I pop a new set of blades on and they ring back wanting to know what I have done as "it runs just like new" but try & get them to buy new blades before the flutes have worn off the old ones is next to impossible.

I have a lot of JD's no my run, both LT's & ZTRs. with the same deck ( 42" ) the ZTRs cut at nearly twice the speed of the tractors both having the same power rated engines ( although not the same brands ).

Apart from one contractor who mows roadsides I know of no one who regularly runs their mower at full speed.
Most will cut quite well flat stick but border on being uncontrollable at much over 10kph
perhaps if I drove them 10 hours a day in place of 1/2 hour every 6 months when they get serviced I might have a different opinion.
However I have 2 Dixie Choppers ( very appropriate name ) in my run and I have been fighting the owners to get them to run the engines at full speed as both cut running at about 1/2 speed because it goes too fast
One has a 2 acre block the other 5 acres which is why they decided they needed the really fast mowers

 

[Carscw]

3 to 4 inches of cut per Horse is more than adequate the old 30" used to come with 6 to 8 Hp Now they come with 15 Hp Lots of mowers are getting down to 1.5" per Hp as the world has gone power mad and the mowers are so similar the last selling point is "mine is bigger than yours". I have a customer with 61" Dane powered by a 22Hp . His beighbour has a 42" Husky run by a 27 Hp. the Dane will cut grass at nearly twice the speed of the Husky and leave a better finish. Professional mowers are a slightly different matter as you blokes run them very fast but with sharp blades most would be able to cut faster than their maximum ground speed. Mulching admittantly adds another 20 % load ( so the manufacturers bumph says ) but I see little difference to the load mulching as I do bagging and if anything the baggers seem more energy hungry. Have a think back about your own mower over the past 10 years or so.If it has been current for all that time usually nothing has changed save a few compulsory safety switches and the motor packages offered now are nearly double what they came out with. Both B&S & Kohler recommend engines rated at 120% of the requirement of the mower and then most manufacturers fit the next size up. take a little cut in their margins in the hope you will sing the praises of their machine on places like this. Every client who whinges about how slow their mower is generally has blades with no cutting edge left at all. I pop a new set of blades on and they ring back wanting to know what I have done as "it runs just like new" but try & get them to buy new blades before the flutes have worn off the old ones is next to impossible. I have a lot of JD's no my run, both LT's & ZTRs. with the same deck ( 42" ) the ZTRs cut at nearly twice the speed of the tractors both having the same power rated engines ( although not the same brands ). Apart from one contractor who mows roadsides I know of no one who regularly runs their mower at full speed. Most will cut quite well flat stick but border on being uncontrollable at much over 10kph perhaps if I drove them 10 hours a day in place of 1/2 hour every 6 months when they get serviced I might have a different opinion. However I have 2 Dixie Choppers ( very appropriate name ) in my run and I have been fighting the owners to get them to run the engines at full speed as both cut running at about 1/2 speed because it goes too fast One has a 2 acre block the other 5 acres which is why they decided they needed the really fast mowers

Come work with me for one day and you will change your out look on this.

Not saying that it's all HP a lot has to do with the pulley set up.

You run junk deere so you know a bad pulley setup hurts the mower in tall grass.

 

[Ric]

Come work with me for one day and you will change your out look on this.

Not saying that it's all HP a lot has to do with the pulley set up.

You run junk deere so you know a bad pulley setup hurts the mower in tall grass.

I think your wasting your time.

 

[Carscw]

I think your wasting your time.

I agree but you know I have to keep going.

 

[exotion]

People who have never ran a mow crew have very strong opinions on how we do things. It's like the 20 something single woman who has never had kids but has babysat telling me how to be a parent lol

 

[Ric]

People who have never ran a mow crew have very strong opinions on how we do things. It's like the 20 something single woman who has never had kids but has babysat telling me how to be a parent lol

:laughing::thumbsup:

 

[bertsmobile1]

Not trying to be obnoxious nor teach granny how to suck eggs, Just some thing I have noticed particularly as all of the mowers I own are under 15 Hp.
OTOH I do like to get into peoples heads to see where they are coming from and how they think. If we were always in agreement the world would be a very boring place, and being a conceited old git, naturally I am always right ( untill PROVEN wrong ), after which I will then be right.

My imediate thoughts are that you would like to do all your mowing, slashing & clearing with the one impilment and you see the solution as more grunt.
From my view, 12" wet grass is not the place to be using a finishing mower, it is a job for a slasher or flail . Down here we have the luxury of 300+ dry days a year so when it rains then that is down time for equipment maintenance so no need to mow in the rain or even mow wet grass. I appreciate your circumstance could be substantially different.
And no I have not run a team, but I do have 4 miles of road side 5 strad wire & post fence ( electric ) to mow under & both sides of along with around 6 acres of associated rural street frontage including 3 creeks , up a 15 - 40 deg hill plus some really steep embankments and a few cuttings. This being in the bush it is full of Lantanna, blackberries, Tussock grasses ( 3 kinds ), bull rushes, bogs, swampy sectiions , gravel , saplings, fallen tree branches and of course McDonalds , Coke bottles & beer cans ( people are such slobs ) and just to make life interesting snakes 3 kinds all killers plus the odd pile of garbage or building debris some moron dumps overnight. So I do just a little mowing and as this has to be fitted in around doing repairs, mowing time is time I am prevented from making money so we are sort of in the opposite ends of the same canoe . I am not a saturday arvo armchair mower cruising around in the sun with an ice cold beer in one hand telling the pros how to do their job.

The fun bit is as a small engine repairer I get to play with a lot of different gear ( mostly domestic ) and see a lot of different attitudes from the contractor who runs cheap equipment and sends his employees in every Friday arvo on the way home for a blade change & once over. They sharpen the blades, I just change them ( insurance reasons ) . right through to the types who run top shelf gear, fit Gator blades then never touch them till they start to leave a mowhawk down the lawns.

 

[OutdoorEnvy]

I just sharpened up my blade for the season. I use a file and get it plenty sharp in 10-15 minutes. I just did my low cut for the start of the season, it cut like butter. I'm a residential mower but I've been using the same blade for 5 years now and it does great getting sharpened once a year. I'm surprised to read how many replace their blades after pretty low hour use. I realize commercial mowing is totally different but that seems like it would add up to a lot of money over the course of a season and years.

I'd be curious if anyone knows what Rockwell hardness rating different blades have to compare durability and longevity. There's a got to be a sweet spot for mower blades that combines decent edge retention without being brittle. Similar to an axe.

 

[jekjr]

I just sharpened up my blade for the season. I use a file and get it plenty sharp in 10-15 minutes. I just did my low cut for the start of the season, it cut like butter. I'm a residential mower but I've been using the same blade for 5 years now and it does great getting sharpened once a year. I'm surprised to read how many replace their blades after pretty low hour use. I realize commercial mowing is totally different but that seems like it would add up to a lot of money over the course of a season and years. I'd be curious if anyone knows what Rockwell hardness rating different blades have to compare durability and longevity. There's a got to be a sweet spot for mower blades that combines decent edge retention without being brittle. Similar to an axe.

I just bought three sets of blades for my 52" Scag. We normally swap blades out every day if we are running hard. We normally get three to four runs out of a set I think before the ends start to wear out.