Sharpening Lawnmower

Reyman

I have a 4hp petrol mower that's given me great service the last few years. I was thinking of trying to sharpen the blade (which rotates) myself. Has anyone done this successfully ? I'm hoping to save €50 which is what my local guy charges.
I was going to buy a simple bench grinder in aldi or somewhere and use it to touch up the blades. Is this the right approach?

Alun

A bench grinder will make a real mess of the cylinder very quickly, even assuming you could manage to hold it in the right position to get the right angle. You can get a special device to do this easily ...

http://www.multi-sharp.com/index.php?cPath=6_11&option=com_oscommerce&osMod=index

Reyman

My mower is a rotary one so it doesn't have those cylinders, just one blade that rotates.

dh0661

Reyman wrote: »

I have a 4hp petrol mower that's given me great service the last few years. I was thinking of trying to sharpen the blade which rotates myself.

Spend the €50 on getting it done professionally.

jordo76

you could also try removeing the blade and using a grinder, there's also a tool on the that website mentioned above that can be just placed into a drill and can be used with the blade in place, i would recomend forking the few pound out and get it as you can reuse it and wont cost you 50 notes to get it done every time its due to be done

let us know what you decide to do and how you get on

http://www.multi-sharp.com/index.php?products_id=12&option=com_oscommerce&osMod=product_info

Reyman

dh0661 wrote: »

Spend the €50 on getting it done professionally.

Thanks dh but 'professionally' doesn't exist in Ireland. I like to do things myself - then I know it's done properly

Reyman

jordo76 wrote: »

you could also try removeing the blade and using a grinder, there's also a tool on the that website mentioned above that can be just placed into a drill and can be used with the blade in place, i would recomend forking the few pound out and get it as you can reuse it and wont cost you 50 notes to get it done every time its due to be done

let us know what you decide to do and how you get on

http://www.multi-sharp.com/index.php?products_id=12&option=com_oscommerce&osMod=product_info

Thanks Jordo that's just what I was looking for. I'll give some feedback when I use it! (Profit: €41)

Alun

Sorry, I assumed from the original post that it was a cylinder mower we were talking about.

If it's a simple rotary blade then I've always found a simple file is more than adequate for the job, no fancy tools required in this case.

gsxr1

Dont try and sharpen it with a grinder while still mounted on the machine.

Extreme fire risk with petrol and sparks.

Dont want ya losing your eye browes now.:D

Reyman

Good point GSX! Thanks, I'll keep it in mind.

misterm

I sharpened my lawnmowe blade at the end of last year.
I tilted it on its side and used a dremmel type tool on the blade underneath.
Took a while to do, about half hour and the dremmel grinding stone got really worn.

Works fine since and cutting the grass well.

In the past I've used files (standard metal files) to sharpen these blades, but the dremmel takes less time and gives a good finish