Lawnmower blades and Bush Hog blades, Whats your prefered method of sharpening.

M

mattd88

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Sep 24, 2013
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I usually just use a side grinder, but I'm interested in how the rest of you do it.
 
You can get fussy to the extreme and treat them as knife blades if you so choose. Most people merely run the blades over a fine grinding wheel or use a hand held electric or air grinder to re-shape the blades. An axe file in fact works great and gives you a nicer/sharper finish but takes a heck of a lot longer to accomplish. As soon as you cross over a sandy ant hill or a dusty driveway the super-sharp edge will erode away anyway so there really is no point in aspiring to surgical precision edges nor fine tapers. In fact a rough edge, much like a steak knife, tends to be better than mere smooth sharp.
 
I just hit them with my bench grinder. I normally only sharpen them once or twice then buy a new one.
 
What about bush hog blades? I've heard its best to take them to a blacksmith to be heated and re-hammered.
 
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The main point with bush hog blades is to make sure they are balanced when done. Same for a lawnmower blade. On lawn mowers, it is usually better to just replace them as they are not generally very expensive, and an out of balance blade can be dangerous and harmful to equipment. Think I paid about $8 for the last one I bought for my mower. YMMV.

Blessings,

Omar
 
lawnmower blades. I use a bench grinder along with a blade balance to make sure I'm taking an even amount of material.

bush hog blades I've only done a couple times but I did some reading last time and ended up clamping it to the deck and using a belt sander. I did not create a sharp edge but left about a quarter inch face which I squared off. a sharp edge is unnecessary and will just lead to needing new blades sooner. balance is of course also important but I just eyeballed it. worked fine
 
A blacksmith told me that you actually dont lose much metal when the blade gets dull, it just gets beat back up toward the back of the blade. He recomended heating it and hammering back to the edge then finishing with a file or sander.
 
I use a large single cut file and a vice, finishing with a draw-file technique. The blade can be balanced the old fashioned way by hanging it on a nail and seeing which way it wants to tilt. I sharpen my mower blade at least 2x a year, makes mowing a lot easier.
 
File. Going to try the nail trick next time, though. Never thought about balance....makes sense.
 
File for an every day push mower blade - unless you get some large dings you have to take out, and if they're too large to take out with a file, the blade might be better replaced anyway. Filing takes less material off so if you do manage to create an imbalance, it takes less material removal from the other side to correct it.
 
I just sharpened my mower blades with my KO worksharp And they turned out great! In the past I have used files.
 
I usually clamp mine in a vice and use a 400 grit belt then fine tune with a file. They don't stay sharp long enough to do much more than that.
 
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