Would you shave yourself with a dull butter knife?

Whether you are using a power mower with a rotary blade or a manual "reel" type mower, the cutting edge of the blade must be maintained.

At best, a dull blade will leave a jagged edge at the top of the remaining blades of grass instead of a nice straight clean cut. At worst, a dull blade will not even cut the grass blades. It will just whack at the grass blades and tear off the top growth. This may even leave the turf with a light, almost white, appearance at the top or mowing height. When this happens, it weakens the grass plants and therefore the entire lawn. A weakened lawn will be more susceptible to other conditions that are unhealthy to the lawn.

The easiest way to tell if the mower blade needs to be sharpened is to look at the result of a recent mowing. If you pull out and closely examine a few leaves of grass here and there from the lawn and they look more pulverized than cleanly cut, it is time to sharpen the blade.

If you are up to sharpening the blade from a power mower yourself, be sure to disconnect the spark plug before removing the blade. If you want to be sure your blade is properly sharpened and balanced or if you are using a reel type mower, I suggest taking your mower to a mower shop that has the equipment to professionally sharpen your blade.

NEXT TME: Keeping your blade sharp over longer periods of time.