Sharpening mower blades

[kloe0699 12]

I have been looking around for a few weeks at different ways to do it. You tube videos and such. Bench grinder, hand held grinder, die grinder, flat file and a few gadgets I've never even heard of. I use oem blades and a 1" foley belsaw free standing belt sander. It seems to work well for me, just wondering how everyone else here sharpens them?

[KC9KAS 4,744]

Mower blades are to be sharp?

Just kidding....I have 2 sets, and swap them out when I need sharpe ones. I sharpen them with a 4" hand held grinder.

I then dress it with a flat file.

While using the grinder, I am careful to NOT get the blade too hot....

[Kelly 1,033]

I use a air grinder/body sander, being a body man I guess it is just handy, then to balance them I use a nail in the wall hang the blade till it sets level or at least close, a peg in pegboard works or anything else like that.

[bowtiebutler956 650]

I use my angle grinder, but not with a stone. I use a sanding wheel on it. leaves a very smooth surface on the blade.

Matt :flags-texas:

[pfrederi 18,681]

Angle grinder with a flap wheel.

[Duff 206]

If I take the blades off the deck, a bench grinder with a fine stone, then a flat file. If I leave them on the deck, I use an angle grinder with a fairly fine-grit wheel. Either method seems to turn out about the same in terms of sharpness, but taking the blades off allows me to be sure they stay balanced. Like KC above, I try not to overheat the blades.

Duff :thumbs:

[kloe0699 12]

I was thinking I was missing out on something sharpening them with my 1" belt sander. They cut almost as good as new after I sharpen them. Nice to know that everyone here has their own recipe that works.

A question also about balancing the blades. This is from an older manual I inherited with the foley belsaw equipment. I always grinded a bit more of the cutting edge to balance them?

[dsholler 54]

I always assumed that this was to lengthen the life of the blades. Grinding a little extra off the wear surface means they will reach their limit a bit faster.

[scifi4all 6]

Angle grinder with a flap wheel.

Ditto! I also use one of those plastic stepped blade balancing cones, on a flat Level surface.

[CRE1992 135]

I use a commercial 1.5hp blade grinder with a 12 grinding wheel. However belt sanders work very well as pointed out above, mainly because they don't produce as much heat as a grinding wheel does so they do no temper the metal

[Zeek 2,286]

I sharpen them with a 4" hand held grinder.

I then dress it with a flat file.

While using the grinder, I am careful to NOT get the blade too hot....

Exactly what I do . . . makes them razor sharp

[CasualObserver 3,411]

A question also about balancing the blades. This is from an older manual I inherited with the foley belsaw equipment. I always grinded a bit more of the cutting edge to balance them?

Are you asking why would you grind the back side for balancing? It's because a blade measurement is diagonal from the outside cutting tip point across to the backside cutting tip point. Not the length of the flat bar it's made from. If you start taking too much off the outside, you run the risk of making your blades to short and they won't overlap when cutting. If you grind the cutting edge to balance, essentially you're giving away a little extra life on your blade.

[CasualObserver 3,411]

An example....

[Don1977 605]

I was thinking I was missing out on something sharpening them with my 1" belt sander. They cut almost as good as new after I sharpen them. Nice to know that everyone here has their own recipe that works.

A question also about balancing the blades. This is from an older manual I inherited with the foley belsaw equipment. I always grinded a bit more of the cutting edge to balance them?

I grind my blades at 45 Degrees. With 30 Degrees I get too much blade damage as I have a lot of driveway and parking areas with gravel and lose stone to mow around.

[SousaKerry 503]

I used to use a bench grinder now I use a 12" disc sander at work. If I have a blade out of balance I grind a notch in the back side of the blade