Keeping Your Blade Sharp Over Longer Periods of Time

Once you know that your mower blade is sharp there are several things you can do to help it stay that way for a longer period of time.

When you start your mower, always try to do so on a clean, flat, hard surface. In other words, avoid starting your mower over uncut grass, gritty concrete or loose sandy soil. The ideal situation here is to start up your mower such that, as it revs up to speed, the blade will not be encumbered in any way and it will not be sucking up loose debris from underneath the deck. I have seen homeowners start their mowers on a sidewalk or driveway where there was loose grit or sandy soil on the concrete and below the mower. If you do this, your mower will lift this light weight debris and the sharp blade will strike these small particles and it will immediately start to take the sharp edge off the blade. If you understand the concept of sandblasting, you'll understand what I am trying to say.

The mower blade is meant to be striking only the fresh supple blades of uncut grass. Anything that offers more resistance to the blade than this is going to cause the blade to become duller than it should be much faster. Another common practice of both homeowners and lawncare providers is to use a mower to suck up and/or mulch dried leaves on a lawn. I am not suggesting that you avoid doing this - in fact I have done it myself on many occasions - but you should understand that dry tree leaves are going to take their toll on the sharpness of your blade. This was never a problem for me because I was in the habit of sharpening my mower blades on a daily basis. Most homeowners won't be doing that. If you are going to suck up leaves in the fall with your mower, I highly recommend that you sharpen (or have sharpened) your mower blade before beginning next season's routine mowing.

Another all-to-common observation I have made with homeowners is not walking out onto their lawn before mowing and picking up any debris that doesn't belong under a powered-up lawn mower's deck. Examples of this include mowing over: litter, children's toys, small tree branches, or - god forbid - a sprinkler head that has not fallen back down into place after watering. There are many other objects that will take the edge off a sharp mower blade. This is one of the reasons why it is important to walk out onto your lawn before starting up the mower.

If you use common sense and inspect your lawn before mowing you should have little problem keeping your mower blade sufficiently sharp to last the mowing season.

NEXT TIME: Early Spring Cleanup

A dated picture of Paul. 

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.