best blades?

[davedenooy 0]

I have a 314-8, 48", side discharge mower. I have sharpened the existing blades, which I believe were the original and in horrible shape. I have heard a bit about the gator blades and the oregon blades. When I mow, I want to mulch as much as possible so that minimal grass comes out the side discharge. I am trying to eliminate the rows of discharged grass clippings, or at least minimise the rows of grass clippings. I would appreciate any feedback on blade styles and their effectivenesss. Or, is a person better to stick with original style blades and just keep them very sharp? Thanks for any help

[Hodge71 663]

Dave,

I switched my 48" deck to Gator mulcher blades 3 years ago and I am exstatic with the results. They mulch great when the grass is a normal length and dry. What I have found though is that if for some reason I get behind due to weather or lots of rain and the grass is extraordinarily high, I cut it twice if I have time. If I dont have time I will cut it once in a counterclockwise rotation thereby throwing all the clippings off to the right and stopping the windrow look. If you have a sweeper its no big deal to throw them tothe left into a row and then sweep them up in a couple passes. I know a few on here have spoken highly of the Oregon blades too, having great success with them as well. One thing I have noticed is with the Gators my baflles fill up with clippings a bit quicker. I actually drop the deck at least twice during the summer to clean them and throw a quick edge on the blades. I think from having the smaller clippings makes them stick together better and fill the baffles easier. Just my opinion.... and welcome to REDSQUARE

[CRE1992 135]

I partially agree with hodge. You can get gator blades which will help hide the clippings due to chopping them up smaller but not really reduce the amount that come out of the deck. I still prefer hi lift blades which have a steep angle to the tail and because of this creates a vacuum which sucks the grass up into the deck and results in a great cut and it also stripes in the process and throws grass almost 10 feet which spreads it out. However in reality which many people seem to neglect, mower blades should be sharpened every 8-10 hours they are used. So really it is your choice. Also if you didn't know some lawn maintenance professionals "double cut" to reduce the amount of clippings further, and to also make a better stripe pattern. My vote is for oregon high lift blades. I had a set on a 42" side discharge I had and it cut great!

I run two high lifts per spindle on my dixie chopper. They are set up in an X blade pattern.

[bowtiebutler956 649]

I don't know how your deck is set up, but on my 36" SD it had a removable baffle under the deck that I took off, so now it discharges out both the side and back. Very minimal amount of grass rows, and it cuts great.

Matt :flags-texas:

[ce318 13]

I just went through the process of finding blades here in Central Oregon. Since we dont have a toro dealer I checked several of the Ag stores and Farm stores. Online I found toro blades for i think $ 70.00 my local John Deere dealer was $ 48.00, supprising I have gotten all my WH belts there cheaper than anywhere else. I ended up buying Oregon blades from the local New Holland dealer for $33.00 for the set. I guess it pays to shop arround. I also found that they have the shafts and bearings for the mower hubs as well. Best of luck on your blade quest.

[can whlvr 991]

the toro blades are pricey,up here the dealer wants 24 bucks a blade,id try the deere dealer but they went bust in our town and i dont want to drive 40 min to the next one