Video tutorial on how to sharpen the blade on a lawn mower. The three signs of when you have a dull blade is when the freshly cut grass will not have a clean cut. The blades of grass will have a torn appearance. You will also find when you make a pass in cutting the grass, there will be high spots left behind. And finally upon visual inspection of the blade, the cutting edge will be dull or chipped. A lawn mower blade should be sharpened about every 20hrs of usage. This will vary sightly depending on what type of grass is being cut, height, and contact with dirt. The blade should be replaced if the chipped are too deep, has already been sharpened several times, is rusty, too thin, or is bent.
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Tools/Supplies Needed:
-socket and ratchet
-gloves
-rag
-wire brush
-thread locker
-file
-bolt
-axle/jack stand
Procedure:
-remove the spark plug wire and tuck it off to the side, if your lawn mower is equipped with electric start, then also disconnect the battery
-tilt the lawn up on the air filter carburetor side
-here I am using jack stands to keep the lawn mower safely elevated
-I would highly recommend wearing gloves to keep your hands safe
-wrap a cloth or rag around the one side of the blade so you have an area you can hold it into place and using a block of wood to jam the blade in place just to give you a bit of variety on techniques
-use the appropriate size socket to loosen and remove the center bolt
-finally the old blade can be removed
-now is a great time to clean any suck on grass underneath the deck if needed
-it’s good practice to clean up the flange with a wire brush to remove any baked on dirt or rust which may cause problems when bolting down the new blade
-we’ll also clean up the threads on the bolt too
-for sharpening the blade, I’ll be using the least costly method which is a file
-it’s best to clamp the blade somewhere so you can have a secure surface to work on
-using a flat metal file begin to sharpen the blade
-push into the sharpened edge, pulling material away, matching the existing angle
-normally you can start with the rough cut on the file first, this will take material away quicker removing any edge damage
-I would highly recommend keeping your gloves on just in case you slip, you at least have some protection from the sharp edge
-once you’re getting close to a final edge, then switch the file over to the finer cut side, giving you a smooth finished edge
-you may need to clean up any material which has slightly pushed over on the other side if the blade has hit a harder object such as a stone
-finally we now need to balance the blade, which is needed to prevent any vibrations which can become a safety concern or cause premature failure on the mower
-take a wire brush and clean any rust or stuck on dirt
-I’m using a bolt inserted in the lawn mower handle bars and will be preforming a vertical balance check
-watch for which side falls
-the side that falls is heavy, therefore material needs to be removed from here
-continue to file the sharp edge of the blade to remove some material and check again
-once done, the blade should sit level
-apply thread locker to this bolt as it will prevent it from loosening and also resist the threads from corroding
-install the blade and ensure it is in the correct orientation
-a block of wood can be used to jam the blade if needed
-if you wish to use a torque wrench, the torque valves for a walk behind mower’s blade is normally between 35 to 60 foot pounds, but this will vary between models so be sure to consult with your owners manual
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Post time: Jun-13-2017