Thanks so much Andrew. That's a lot of extra effort you go through just to pass on good information to your subscribers. Very much appreciate your efforts.
I've been sharpening my mower blades frequently for many years. I'll itemize some issues and you can decide if they have enough merit that you might want to try one or more. 1. Sharpen OFTEN! I slap on a fresh, sharp blade after mowing 2-3 times. Try exposing your blade after mowing and see how fast that sharp edge is lost. I find that it goes away pretty rapidly. 2. Have more than one blade. I have two mower blades. When I change out mower blades it's just a matter of removing and replacing with the second blade. You can sharpen the spare at your leisure. 3. Have a separate tool kit that contains allthe tools you need to change the blade. If I have everything handy and don't have to hunt for anything, it only takes ten minutes to swap out blades. And by having all the tools, that includes something to jam the blade so you can use a wrench without turning the blade. Even if you just use a block of wood for that, have that block of wood where it's instantly available when you need it. That goes for something to hold the back of the mower down to expose the blade, too. I use a bag of sand, and I always know where the bag of sand is. And I have a 4x5 foot piece of plastic that I run the mower on, then use the sand to hold the back of the mower down. The plastic insures that when I drop something ---- a bolt or whatever, I can find it easily. If you don't keep everything together, you're probably spending more time looking for gear than changing out the blade! 4. Personally, I hand file my blades. That's what I find works best for me, but use whatever method you prefer. I hand file blades because the blades last forever, since negligible amounts of steel are removed. It's easy to do once you practice the skill. And it only take five minutes or so, because my blades aren't badly beat up, nicked and gouged due to neglect. If they are badly gouged, I'd start working on them with my bench grinder and then hand file after working out the bad spots. And I work my mower HARD, reducing branches and such to go in the compost pile. A sharp blade makes that work effectively. It doesn't take many strokes to get the blade sharp like a knife. If you don't have a good file, treat yourself to an inexpensive new file to make the job a pleasure: Here's the file I use --- $3.49 at Harbor Freight: www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/planes-sanders-files/files-rasps.html But if you have a file that's in good condition and has a handle ---- use it. It will probably be fine. If you find it wont cut into the steel of the blade after sharpening for a couple of minutes ---get yourself a new file. I find that the first few strokes over the blade tend to skip along rather than dig into the steel. But then the file gets a grip and you can feel it cut. I mainly sharpen the bevel, but file away any steel curling up on the other side of the blade. A good vise that will hold the blade in place is important, as is a handle for your file. If you develop the skill to change and sharpen your mower blade as described here ---- congratulations! You are a CRAFTSMAN, using a real skill. I find that satisfying. Not a hack with a grinder. And except for the first lawn mowing or two in the spring when the grass is thick, I mow with the mower on it's SLOWEST SPEED! Cuts really fine on that slower speed, too! When I'm chomping into tree branches and such to reduce them, that's when I use the mower high speed! And once you develop the skill, you can use it to sharpen the blades on planes, files and lots of other tools. For example, I sharpen the splitting maul every week or so during the heating season when I'm heating with wood. Again, if the blade is in good condition, it doesn't take much to put an edge back on it ----one that really CUTS!
Bought one of those machines last year…… fantastic. All my neighbors come to me for their blade sharpening now. I even got the mulching blade attachment. 😊
Great video , I’ve been sharpening my mower blades for years , I use a bench grinder, I’m not getting the angle exactly right I’m sure but I do save money by not tossing blades until they’re done , thank you for sharing .
Hi, Andrew! You’re right. This is a fun video. I never thought about balancing the blade. My favorite part was when you sharpened the ax and did the test for sharpness. Cool!
I've gotten consistently better at free handing with the angle grinder but i keep going back to look at this and thst angle jig. Maybe I'll break down one day. Good video.
I've always used the angle grinder method but I only have one mower with one blade and it works fine, but I know that I'm not getting the proper angle and rolling it like you said. I think you will definitely benefit by the sharpener with the amount of blades and acreage you have to mow
Thats not a bad price on the sharpener or disc. I noticed a big difference in price of mower blades from the local shops to HD to Amazon. Thanks for sharing.........
Excellent tool and comparison. Do yourself a favor and install a $18 Runleader tachometer on that zero turn, I discovered the wide open throttle on mine to be set about 500 rpm’s lower than factory spec. Mower is now brought back to life, yours may be fine but it takes away any guesswork about how the engine is running when you can see it real time.
Blades for my little John Deere lawn tractor has more than doubled since I bought a couple sets back in 2019. And now that I use an electric zero-turn for a majority of our acreage, I actually sharpen my blades now instead of running them until there's nothing left to sharpen. Sharp blades allow the blades RPM to be reduced, which extends the range; along with a better looking, healthier lawn. I bought a cordless grinder and some flat pads like those that you are using, and it takes me 5 minutes to sharpen all 3 blades. I have 2 sets of blades, and swap them every 3rd mowing. That tool sure would be handy if a guy was sharpening a lot of blades though.
@@TKCL that will definitely hog some off pretty fast. Before its over youre going to make some mods and change paper grits. Dont throw those blades away they are very useful for making tools and knives. They can be hardened really good. Ill tell you that if you even have a few minutes get some flat bar and just practice on some and make a chisel with it. You will learn a lot how to handle and sharpen the blades from that. Really give you that mind muscle memory and soon youll rock right through them. save all your oil changes cause one day youll use it for an oil burning forge and foundry.... oops sorry thats my dreams lmfao have a great night and thanks for great content!
Those blades look great. I can typically get a a couple of months out of my blades here. We have so much sand in the grass here it eats blades down to nothing left to sharpen.
Angle grinder + cutoff wheel = faster results, and you don't even have to take them off the mower. As for getting the correct angle... just make fast passes, and match the angle to the OEM pass.
I own a yellow hornet blade sharpener and it doesn't come with an angle grinder but it has a bracket to hold one and with the same disc on your grinder it gives a 30 degree angle. I bought this several years ago and i don't know if they are still made.
dang that's sharp! I can see you being benefitting from the sharpener. Myself, I have 1 blade that i replace about 1-2 times a year...or hand sharpen if i feel like it.
@@TKCL its a Toro 21in rear wheel driven, heck i am on a small plot of land, and our back yard grass is like a 1/3 size of your outdoor pool...i think posted me mowing the grass on my youtube....lol, i looked funny as heck...timelapse..
@@TKCL actually my timelapse video was much longer, heck if i walked that fast i be done mowing in minutes....lol, with you, speedy, 30 seconds you got done with mowing...on video that is....
Lawns are healthier when they are cut with sharp blades at good height and rpm of blades. The jagged grass blade tips of a dull mower blade result in a browning effect of the lawn.
I think those living on sand have a bigger issue with blades. I live in the notheast on 3ac and I'm on year 5 of my ZTR deck blades. I sharpen them about 1-2x a year.
Ditto on the flap disc. The flap attack does not heat up the blade. It also takes off very little metal.. I have 48 and 42 inch decks, so when the tips get too short,we just cut the blades off for like new on the narrower decks
I've been sharpening mower blades with the green back disks for 50 years. I found no advantage using a descaling disk. I would prefer the RBG 712 but my brother lives too far away to use it frequently. My angle is good. I measure the angles from time to time.
I mow 3 acres and hand sharpened my blades with a big 14 inch bastard file for 25 years before moving to an angle grinder with a flap wheel. Both work well.
Twice a mowing season, you don’t want to go too long if hand sharpening. Most people would be surprised how fast you can remove metal with a proper file.
@@daver6564 I agree. It doesn't take long to expose entirely new metal along the sharpened edge. But very little metal is actually removed to do that compared with using a grinder, in my experience. So even frequent hand filing allows you to use a blade for years ----indeed, I don't think I've ever discarded a mower blade where I have hand filed it rather than grinding it. I only use a grinder, usually a bench grinder, when there are major dings in the blade. Even then, hand filing can reduce those to a minimum and over several sharpenings they go away. Don't underestimate what a "sharp" ding can cut! And I take a measure of pride from using the skill I have filing by hand. Everybody needs a hobby!
One thing I noticed that you did not bring up is the price of continued use. You did mention that replacing the sandpaper on the grinder is like $1 I think you said. How much is the Flap Disc in comparison. If used correctly and used for only this how many times do you think you could sharpen before having to replace?
Seriously I think it depends on what cut quality you want. And I first got my mower. I was always worried about sharpening the blades and keeping them sharp and balanced, but I found if I don’t sharpen them at all they still cut and the cut is not as great, as sometimes, not as even so honestly for the past 10 years I just worry about vibrations that’ll mess up the spool if they get too out of balance all go ahead and balance them again, but it does make a little difference in the cutting of the grass. If they’re freshly sharpened, you get a pretty clean cut if their door it, Tatters, the end of the grass and, so if you’re doing it professionally and trying to groom a golf course or something I think it’s worth it but where I’ve lived the last 20 years the grass grow so fast it’s ridiculous so I’m just worried about getting to it before it gets too long and out of hand again. Now I’m looking at buying a more expensive mower and will probably be a little more picky about it for a while but I really haven’t been all that concerned about it for a few years unless I’m getting vibrations I don’t do anything to them when I get vibrations. I try to balance them and just because they’re already out. I usually hit them with the grinder but unless you’re picky about the quality of your cut, honestly I’m not sure it really matters too much. The only caveat to that would be as if you’re trying to mow wet grass but that should be avoided if possible but sometimes it’s just not possible and then it makes a difference because the grass seems to pack up more and you have to stop and clean it out quicker to wear a sharper blade seems to cut through it easier even when it’s in clumps. I’m still waiting for lasers, so I don’t have to worry about blades at all ;)
@@TKCL I have a whole set up built to where you don’t even need a mower, just like you have pop-up sprinklers you would have pop-up lasers that we just automatically mow your lawn on a timer. I’m still trying to work out a couple bugs like not cutting peoples feet off and of course the rabbits and squirrels aren’t happy about it and then of course there’s the whole fire thing that could be an issue. But I’m sure there’s a good solution for all of it. ;)
> I sharpen my blade after two or three cuttings. But I agree you could certainly let that go if you wish. A sharp mower blade is something of a hobby for me ----everybody needs a hobby! I find that with a sharp blade, I can set the engine speed on it's slowest setting and cut fine. Also, when I want to pulverize branches and stuff to throw on the compost pile, that's when the mower speed goes to max and the mower chomps stuff up pretty well! (Heh, heh! Perhaps that also explains sharpening frequently!)
@@SeattlePioneer I agree. But I haven’t even had a real shop area for a few years, when I had shop space, and all my tools out and organized it was a lot easier but I’ve moved three times since then and I’m moving again next month but I haven’t had any garage. Space and my tools have been pretty much packed up. Plus my mower is kind of small and has a 48 inch deck so I said a three blade is only $35 or so. I can tell the difference in the quality especially if it’s hot out it kind of tattered the end of the grass and it will get a little bit brown, but it goes away in a day and I’m in Kentucky now and there and Illinois in Tennessee and the grass grows so fast. I don’t really worry about it. Plus with a gravel driveway. I’m gonna be hitting rocks all the time anyway so that usually wipes the blade out pretty quickly. But I can understand it is someone is putting in all the work and trying to make their lawn look great. It’s worth the effort, and I think if you have larger more expensive blades, it would make a difference but I’m really not that worried about it, if you don’t cut it, you’ve got a bunch of weed. If you do cut it it all looks the same . But people who want it nice and even and especially if you have more expensive and better equipment, I can see the point to it but for me, I’m just trying to keep it from turning into a jungle. I just have to be careful and make sure it stays balanced fairly well because it starts vibrating too much. That’s pretty hard on the spindles and they’re kind of a pain to replace and they get a lot more expensive. Lol
Need to get blade balancer..bevayse all metal the grinders remove unless its light touch up..as comercial mower a bench grinder does same thing ..every company ive mowed for last 3 decades uses bench grinders wheels ..and a balancer or nail on the wall..ruralking sells balanceer few bucks with blade stopper but i use impact drill to remove them daily and swap them out takes 3 monutes ..sometimes have to grind them in the feild..takes about 5 minutes ...handfile is best but hard to do mowing all day ..plus doing tree work
> Sure. This blade shapening is highly elastic ----people might do a lot or very little. I simply present what I do and if someone wants to pick up an idea or two ---fine. And if not, that's fine too. I like reading about what others do, and why.
Tiffany, what about welding together trimmer lines together each other hybrid, abomination, Andrew uses lighter to weld trimmer lines each other, eg. Echo crossfire/Stihl Pentagon, Oregon Magnum Square/Stens Optimum, Yardworks .105/Stens Razor .105, Maxpower Square One .105/Cyclone trimmer line .105, etc..., Andrew and Tiffany.
the machine needs a better guide and good sand disc. could use a guide for hand sand disc. keep eye on the weather and ruger and coyotes. be bless and love and safe. raining here. SAVANNAH TN.
What I would like to see on this machine is an adjustable guide or even a hand grinder with an adjustable guide on it. But not for mowing. For precision welding. And I don’t really do a lot of precision welding but I just like to come up with new tools, but some sort of guide to bevel your edges to prep for welding, especially on thick stuff, it might be kind of nice to have some sort of guide on a grinder that you can just drag slowly and get a nice even Bevel on your edges to create a good gap. I do know on pipe welding for oil pipelines. They have torch cutters, that kind of do that they are driven and rotate around the pipe and cutter consistent angle on your pipe edge because they’re welding, such thick metal and filling in a nice big gap to get the two pieces joined. But the simple little grinder angle guide might be kind of nice where you just drag it along the edge of your piece and it takes a nice little bevel out without taking way too much material. Probably frivolous because it’s pretty easy to do with any grinder, but it might be fun to build one just for the sake of doing it
I've cut a careful angle on a piece of wood stock and used that to guide my filing when I was new to sharpening chisels. After some practice, I found that wasn't needed. Once you have some experience and confidence, such aids aren't necessary for my purposes. Of course, there's nothing like machine guided precision when that is important.
@@SeattlePioneer yeah, optimizing some thing is good, but sometimes it’s not really all that necessary, cutting grass isn’t exactly precision come on now if I was going to do a file for fine woodworking, where I was shaving thin pieces of wood that would make a difference. The one thing I have found is not to buy the cheap Chinese blades off of eBay, same with belts. Those blades get torn apart quick to where if I get John Deere or a namebrand the blades last way longer and the belts I’ve gotten off of eBay, sometimes are almost unusable. They break within a couple of hours sometimes and a good quality belt might last me two years and they’re cheaper but it’s not worth it because you got a buy more of them and it’s a lot more work to keep pulling all the guards off and going through the hassle of putting a new belt or blade on all the time so getting one that’s good quality even if it’s more expensive is definitely worth it and I’m guessing they hold their edge a lot longer as well. Some of the cheap Chinese ones just break off in chunks and dent really easily and they may shape them the same but there’s a huge difference in quality. That and keeping them fairly well balanced is all I worry about but I’m not really concerned about amazing cut quality. I just want to get it knocked down, so I don’t end up with the jungle.
Was the rotation of the disk pulling the blade down or was it up. Looks like it would pull the blade down if that the way it rotates and jam the blade and the disk. Hard to tell by the sparks.
Not at all. Your making contact across the entire disc when it's all the way in the holder, so it's neutral. As you pull back you enter the upstroke so it never binds.
Yeah I put the notice at the beginning I've held the video for over a month because they keep selling out. They got a few more in stock yesterday so I quickly posted. I hate to share something someone might be interested in, but it's not in stock.
Nice machine. Now you need to make some modifications to it, and make a blade holder and a lever so you can make repeated accurate movements across the grinder’s surface.
No, most go 40 degrees and it does come with angle adjusters for that angle as well. 30 degrees is preferred for lawn mowers. Your going to want a more aggressive disc for a thick bush hog blade. I just ordered a 24 grit, waiting for it to come in.
Being real sharp is not necessary. String trimmers do fine with a round surface. Most of my sharping is to get rid of dents from rock strikes and rebalancing. I sharpen when I see ripped grass rather than cut. My brushhog has flat blades. Cuts beautifully. Save the blades to make other tools or reinforcing items. It is a high quality steel.
I agree. However, a sharp blade lets me mow with the mower on it's slowest speed. When I use my mower to reduce brush and tree cuttings for my compost pile, THEN I mow them up on high speed and it does a pretty good job, most of the time! (Heh, heh! that can explain frequent sharpening, too!)
What are you do is make sure that they’re always rocks in my yard and that way by the time I go to change my blazer just to beat up to bother sharpening. 😂😂😂
Tricky part is cut each one of any of these trimmer lines and weld together with the lighter, once the nylon blend is melted use insulated gloves to weld string trimmer lines together to extend your life and the String trimmer line, sand with sandpaper to fit for trimmer line hole on any bump feed Trimmer heads, ECHO Speedfeed, Milwaukee, Ryobi and Husqvarna. For the Stihl fs91r in order to do so , disassemble the trimmer head and also re-spool the trimmer line. if its same line, color and shape. Then it's a single color and shape of a line. And if its different dual lines, then it's a Dual color and shape of a line. Eg. Round/Twisted, Square/Hexagon, Hexagon/CrossFire octagon, Twisted Triangle/Pentagon, Twisted Square/Hexagon, Pentagon/Twisted Pentagon, Pentagon/Crossfire Octagon, Triangle/Square, and even Square/Crossfire octagon. Crossfire shape that came from ECHO and is shaped like an octagon.
Useful surely, but my attention is at the number under the channel title and I'm getting ready to party. hopefully weather cooperates. It's worth a live, even a short one and not after midnight my time LOL
This isn't my first time. Using hard rock discs changes the temper of the metal ruining it. I've been using flap discs for a couple of decades with excellent results.
@TKCL - I don't use the hard grinder discs either. I use cutoff wheels, and make fast passes. 30 seconds to a fresh edge, if you don't have any gouges. Also, because they're MUCH more efficient at removing material, they don't get the blade hot enough to take the temper out.
Also thats not grass thats dirt.sorry but the point of zero turns is for grass ..should never mow below 3 inches ..thats what there made for.i see neighbors and homeowners mowing dirt..cannot understand that..if acperson is going to mow dirt just by a pull behind tractor with brush mower deck or a mtd steering wheel lawn tractor..it makes no sense
The best lawn companies sharpen their blades every morning. People don't realize as soon as you lose that razor edge you're no longer mowing; Now you're ripping which is very bad for grass you want to keep healthy.
I'll call this a single purpose waste of money tool (unless you can strip the motor off for something else). Cutting grass isnt cutting shushi, even the sharpest edge will be rounded in less than 5 minutes and then its just a tearing event. Angles dont really matter, just pull the blade off once or twice a year and dress it super fast with the flap disc. If you think sharpness matters, your kitchen knife is much sharper and much harder/tougher than a mower blade. It will dull after the first million cuts of grass or 5 minutes.
I don't disagree you lose an edge quickly. But I disagree it's only a twice a year event. You must not mow as much grass as me. If I only sharpened that often I'd have a blunt edge with missing blade material. I can for sure tell there's more of a load on my mower with dull blades and it leaves this thick bahia grass sticking up everywhere when dull.
That only applies to drills for me, I'm not touching hot or sharp metal without the gloves. Yes there's risk to getting gloves caught, just like there's risks to not wearing them.
Thanks so much Andrew. That's a lot of extra effort you go through just to pass on good information to your subscribers. Very much appreciate your efforts.
Thank you for watching
I've been sharpening my mower blades frequently for many years. I'll itemize some issues and you can decide if they have enough merit that you might want to try one or more.
1. Sharpen OFTEN! I slap on a fresh, sharp blade after mowing 2-3 times. Try exposing your blade after mowing and see how fast that sharp edge is lost. I find that it goes away pretty rapidly.
2. Have more than one blade. I have two mower blades. When I change out mower blades it's just a matter of removing and replacing with the second blade. You can sharpen the spare at your leisure.
3. Have a separate tool kit that contains allthe tools you need to change the blade. If I have everything handy and don't have to hunt for anything, it only takes ten minutes to swap out blades.
And by having all the tools, that includes something to jam the blade so you can use a wrench without turning the blade. Even if you just use a block of wood for that, have that block of wood where it's instantly available when you need it.
That goes for something to hold the back of the mower down to expose the blade, too. I use a bag of sand, and I always know where the bag of sand is.
And I have a 4x5 foot piece of plastic that I run the mower on, then use the sand to hold the back of the mower down. The plastic insures that when I drop something ---- a bolt or whatever, I can find it easily.
If you don't keep everything together, you're probably spending more time looking for gear than changing out the blade!
4. Personally, I hand file my blades. That's what I find works best for me, but use whatever method you prefer.
I hand file blades because the blades last forever, since negligible amounts of steel are removed.
It's easy to do once you practice the skill. And it only take five minutes or so, because my blades aren't badly beat up, nicked and gouged due to neglect. If they are badly gouged, I'd start working on them with my bench grinder and then hand file after working out the bad spots. And I work my mower HARD, reducing branches and such to go in the compost pile. A sharp blade makes that work effectively.
It doesn't take many strokes to get the blade sharp like a knife.
If you don't have a good file, treat yourself to an inexpensive new file to make the job a pleasure:
Here's the file I use --- $3.49 at Harbor Freight:
www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/planes-sanders-files/files-rasps.html
But if you have a file that's in good condition and has a handle ---- use it. It will probably be fine. If you find it wont cut into the steel of the blade after sharpening for a couple of minutes ---get yourself a new file.
I find that the first few strokes over the blade tend to skip along rather than dig into the steel. But then the file gets a grip and you can feel it cut. I mainly sharpen the bevel, but file away any steel curling up on the other side of the blade.
A good vise that will hold the blade in place is important, as is a handle for your file.
If you develop the skill to change and sharpen your mower blade as described here ---- congratulations! You are a CRAFTSMAN, using a real skill. I find that satisfying. Not a hack with a grinder.
And except for the first lawn mowing or two in the spring when the grass is thick, I mow with the mower on it's SLOWEST SPEED! Cuts really fine on that slower speed, too! When I'm chomping into tree branches and such to reduce them, that's when I use the mower high speed!
And once you develop the skill, you can use it to sharpen the blades on planes, files and lots of other tools. For example, I sharpen the splitting maul every week or so during the heating season when I'm heating with wood. Again, if the blade is in good condition, it doesn't take much to put an edge back on it ----one that really CUTS!
Bought one of those machines last year…… fantastic. All my neighbors come to me for their blade sharpening now. I even got the mulching blade attachment. 😊
I'm about to test new lower grit disc's.
where did you purchase your mulching blade attachment? Could you provide a link? Thanks!
I surely appreciate all of you on youtube showing us how to do mundane things like sharpening blades; good video
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you for the information and testing Andrew. I need to sharpen my blades now. Use a bench grinder myself
Thank you for watching
Great video , I’ve been sharpening my mower blades for years , I use a bench grinder, I’m not getting the angle exactly right I’m sure but I do save money by not tossing blades until they’re done , thank you for sharing .
Thank you for watching
Hey it’s not bad knock off but I would stick to the original RBG712.
Nice video
Hi, Andrew! You’re right. This is a fun video. I never thought about balancing the blade. My favorite part was when you sharpened the ax and did the test for sharpness. Cool!
Thank you for watching
Good information, Andrew, food for thought for sure. Appreciate it, Sir!
Thank you for watching
For the normal homeowner, hand sharpening with an angle grinder equipped with a flap disc is sufficient. Excellent comparison video. Thanks! 🍁
my method for sure, and it works just fine..
I've gotten consistently better at free handing with the angle grinder but i keep going back to look at this and thst angle jig. Maybe I'll break down one day. Good video.
I've got a newer video out, I swapped to a 24 grit disc and it works much better. I still like the angle grinder method myself.
I've always used the angle grinder method but I only have one mower with one blade and it works fine, but I know that I'm not getting the proper angle and rolling it like you said. I think you will definitely benefit by the sharpener with the amount of blades and acreage you have to mow
I think so too.
Thats not a bad price on the sharpener or disc. I noticed a big difference in price of mower blades from the local shops to HD to Amazon. Thanks for sharing.........
Thank you for watching
Excellent tool and comparison. Do yourself a favor and install a $18 Runleader tachometer on that zero turn, I discovered the wide open throttle on mine to be set about 500 rpm’s lower than factory spec. Mower is now brought back to life, yours may be fine but it takes away any guesswork about how the engine is running when you can see it real time.
Mine does sound low 🤔
Another great informational video. You have amazing presentation skills.
Thank you so much for watching
Well done brother!
Much appreciated!
Blades for my little John Deere lawn tractor has more than doubled since I bought a couple sets back in 2019. And now that I use an electric zero-turn for a majority of our acreage, I actually sharpen my blades now instead of running them until there's nothing left to sharpen. Sharp blades allow the blades RPM to be reduced, which extends the range; along with a better looking, healthier lawn. I bought a cordless grinder and some flat pads like those that you are using, and it takes me 5 minutes to sharpen all 3 blades. I have 2 sets of blades, and swap them every 3rd mowing. That tool sure would be handy if a guy was sharpening a lot of blades though.
I lose count of all the blades I sharpen throughout the year with my zero turn and lawn mower.
Thanks
COOP
...
Keeping blades in reasonable balance helps the mower run vibration free.
everything has a learning curve but once it sets in youll rock it.
I just ordered a 24 grit disc for it, I think that should shave the metal off.
@@TKCL that will definitely hog some off pretty fast. Before its over youre going to make some mods and change paper grits. Dont throw those blades away they are very useful for making tools and knives. They can be hardened really good. Ill tell you that if you even have a few minutes get some flat bar and just practice on some and make a chisel with it. You will learn a lot how to handle and sharpen the blades from that. Really give you that mind muscle memory and soon youll rock right through them. save all your oil changes cause one day youll use it for an oil burning forge and foundry.... oops sorry thats my dreams lmfao have a great night and thanks for great content!
I've been saving all my oil, got another project in mind.
Great video as usual Andrew. Something we should all be doing. Thanks👍👍❤️❤️🇨🇦
Thank you for watching
Nice video!
Curious to see how it would work on curved blades, not just the straight edge ones.
Not sure, all I run is straight.
Cutting edge technology.... 🙂
There he is!
Ahahaha 😜 good one 😆😆
Just saw your FB video so I opened this new account just to see y’all, thank you for your great content 👍
Truly do appreciate you following us over. It was a tough decision, but time to make it.
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Just looked at the weather down yalls way please be safe! We are getting pretty rough here in Moultrie now
It got real sporty this morning around 2 am. Lightning popping all around us.
Those blades look great. I can typically get a a couple of months out of my blades here. We have so much sand in the grass here it eats blades down to nothing left to sharpen.
We have a lot of sand too, the trick is to sharpen them once they start rounding over. If you let them go too long, they are toast.
NICE , I USE 80 OR 120 GRT FLAP DISK
Vice and 12" flat file is all I need
Great video. Thanks for sharing. Love the content. 🤠
Angle grinder + cutoff wheel = faster results, and you don't even have to take them off the mower. As for getting the correct angle... just make fast passes, and match the angle to the OEM pass.
I own a yellow hornet blade sharpener and it doesn't come with an angle grinder but it has a bracket to hold one and with the same disc on your grinder it gives a 30 degree angle. I bought this several years ago and i don't know if they are still made.
Try using a circular saw with a metal cutting disc or a diamond disc. You can also adjust the angle on it as well 😉
Have you tried meg mo blades they're amazing worth every penny
No I haven't
dang that's sharp! I can see you being benefitting from the sharpener. Myself, I have 1 blade that i replace about 1-2 times a year...or hand sharpen if i feel like it.
Good ol push mower or snapper rear engine rider?
@@TKCL its a Toro 21in rear wheel driven, heck i am on a small plot of land, and our back yard grass is like a 1/3 size of your outdoor pool...i think posted me mowing the grass on my youtube....lol, i looked funny as heck...timelapse..
3 second time lapse 🤣
@@TKCL actually my timelapse video was much longer, heck if i walked that fast i be done mowing in minutes....lol, with you, speedy, 30 seconds you got done with mowing...on video that is....
Lawns are healthier when they are cut with sharp blades at good height and rpm of blades.
The jagged grass blade tips of a dull mower blade result in a browning effect of the lawn.
you can sharpen blades way more than 2 or 3 times. my blades have been sharpened many many times and they are still going fine.
I do understand that and have some myself way past that. It truly depends on your yard and how long you go between sharpening.
I think those living on sand have a bigger issue with blades. I live in the notheast on 3ac and I'm on year 5 of my ZTR deck blades. I sharpen them about 1-2x a year.
Oh definitely, the sand here destroys blades
Learned somethings ty but will use the Harbour Freight grinder w/80 g flap disk
Ditto on the flap disc. The flap attack does not heat up the blade. It also takes off very little metal..
I have 48 and 42 inch decks, so when the tips get too short,we just cut the blades off for like new on the narrower decks
Also, it's not just the price of the blades you're saving. Fuel savings of keeping sharp blades is noticeable, to say the least.
Awesome video 👏👏
I wish that I had a setup like yours with a great shop.
Kind of looks like a fun project.
Blessings, Carlos ✝️🙏❤️😊🇺🇸
Thank you for watching
I've been sharpening mower blades with the green back disks for 50 years. I found no advantage using a descaling disk. I would prefer the RBG 712 but my brother lives too far away to use it frequently. My angle is good. I measure the angles from time to time.
Good information. What about building a fixture to hold your grinder angle properly?
Just so happens that same company makes that already.
I mow 3 acres and hand sharpened my blades with a big 14 inch bastard file for 25 years before moving to an angle grinder with a flap wheel. Both work well.
I've never hand sharpened.
So how often do you sharpen the blade?
Twice a mowing season, you don’t want to go too long if hand sharpening. Most people would be surprised how fast you can remove metal with a proper file.
@@daver6564
I agree. It doesn't take long to expose entirely new metal along the sharpened edge. But very little metal is actually removed to do that compared with using a grinder, in my experience. So even frequent hand filing allows you to use a blade for years ----indeed, I don't think I've ever discarded a mower blade where I have hand filed it rather than grinding it.
I only use a grinder, usually a bench grinder, when there are major dings in the blade. Even then, hand filing can reduce those to a minimum and over several sharpenings they go away. Don't underestimate what a "sharp" ding can cut!
And I take a measure of pride from using the skill I have filing by hand. Everybody needs a hobby!
I hope you sharpened that test one since you have the blades off. Interesting video.
I sharpened a lot of blades that day.
Love your show keep it up
Thank you for watching
One thing I noticed that you did not bring up is the price of continued use. You did mention that replacing the sandpaper on the grinder is like $1 I think you said. How much is the Flap Disc in comparison. If used correctly and used for only this how many times do you think you could sharpen before having to replace?
That's tough to say, I've never ran a dedicated flap disc for just blades.
Seriously I think it depends on what cut quality you want. And I first got my mower. I was always worried about sharpening the blades and keeping them sharp and balanced, but I found if I don’t sharpen them at all they still cut and the cut is not as great, as sometimes, not as even so honestly for the past 10 years I just worry about vibrations that’ll mess up the spool if they get too out of balance all go ahead and balance them again, but it does make a little difference in the cutting of the grass. If they’re freshly sharpened, you get a pretty clean cut if their door it, Tatters, the end of the grass and, so if you’re doing it professionally and trying to groom a golf course or something I think it’s worth it but where I’ve lived the last 20 years the grass grow so fast it’s ridiculous so I’m just worried about getting to it before it gets too long and out of hand again.
Now I’m looking at buying a more expensive mower and will probably be a little more picky about it for a while but I really haven’t been all that concerned about it for a few years unless I’m getting vibrations I don’t do anything to them when I get vibrations. I try to balance them and just because they’re already out. I usually hit them with the grinder but unless you’re picky about the quality of your cut, honestly I’m not sure it really matters too much. The only caveat to that would be as if you’re trying to mow wet grass but that should be avoided if possible but sometimes it’s just not possible and then it makes a difference because the grass seems to pack up more and you have to stop and clean it out quicker to wear a sharper blade seems to cut through it easier even when it’s in clumps.
I’m still waiting for lasers, so I don’t have to worry about blades at all ;)
Laser mower, sounds sweet! 🤔
@@TKCL I have a whole set up built to where you don’t even need a mower, just like you have pop-up sprinklers you would have pop-up lasers that we just automatically mow your lawn on a timer.
I’m still trying to work out a couple bugs like not cutting peoples feet off and of course the rabbits and squirrels aren’t happy about it and then of course there’s the whole fire thing that could be an issue. But I’m sure there’s a good solution for all of it. ;)
>
I sharpen my blade after two or three cuttings. But I agree you could certainly let that go if you wish.
A sharp mower blade is something of a hobby for me ----everybody needs a hobby!
I find that with a sharp blade, I can set the engine speed on it's slowest setting and cut fine. Also, when I want to pulverize branches and stuff to throw on the compost pile, that's when the mower speed goes to max and the mower chomps stuff up pretty well! (Heh, heh! Perhaps that also explains sharpening frequently!)
@@SeattlePioneer I agree. But I haven’t even had a real shop area for a few years, when I had shop space, and all my tools out and organized it was a lot easier but I’ve moved three times since then and I’m moving again next month but I haven’t had any garage. Space and my tools have been pretty much packed up. Plus my mower is kind of small and has a 48 inch deck so I said a three blade is only $35 or so. I can tell the difference in the quality especially if it’s hot out it kind of tattered the end of the grass and it will get a little bit brown, but it goes away in a day and I’m in Kentucky now and there and Illinois in Tennessee and the grass grows so fast. I don’t really worry about it. Plus with a gravel driveway. I’m gonna be hitting rocks all the time anyway so that usually wipes the blade out pretty quickly.
But I can understand it is someone is putting in all the work and trying to make their lawn look great. It’s worth the effort, and I think if you have larger more expensive blades, it would make a difference but I’m really not that worried about it, if you don’t cut it, you’ve got a bunch of weed. If you do cut it it all looks the same . But people who want it nice and even and especially if you have more expensive and better equipment, I can see the point to it but for me, I’m just trying to keep it from turning into a jungle. I just have to be careful and make sure it stays balanced fairly well because it starts vibrating too much. That’s pretty hard on the spindles and they’re kind of a pain to replace and they get a lot more expensive. Lol
John Deere tractor blades come at 40 degrees currently
Lowe's needs to send you a kick back for the product placement of the buckets in the background.
Right! And the 200 I've bought over the years that keeps going missing 🤔
Need to get blade balancer..bevayse all metal the grinders remove unless its light touch up..as comercial mower a bench grinder does same thing ..every company ive mowed for last 3 decades uses bench grinders wheels ..and a balancer or nail on the wall..ruralking sells balanceer few bucks with blade stopper but i use impact drill to remove them daily and swap them out takes 3 monutes ..sometimes have to grind them in the feild..takes about 5 minutes ...handfile is best but hard to do mowing all day ..plus doing tree work
I would like to know how to change the grinding wheel. we cannot get it off the spindle?
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Sure. This blade shapening is highly elastic ----people might do a lot or very little.
I simply present what I do and if someone wants to pick up an idea or two ---fine. And if not, that's fine too. I like reading about what others do, and why.
I have come over from FB. I have never used you tube but I will now…
Thank you so very much for the support.
Tiffany, what about welding together trimmer lines together each other hybrid, abomination, Andrew uses lighter to weld trimmer lines each other, eg. Echo crossfire/Stihl Pentagon, Oregon Magnum Square/Stens Optimum, Yardworks .105/Stens Razor .105, Maxpower Square One .105/Cyclone trimmer line .105, etc..., Andrew and Tiffany.
Nice 👍
I just picked up a client with a whole lot of mac nut trees in his yard. I wonder what those are going to do to my blades. I’m afraid to look honestly
It's more important to balance the spinning angle.
the machine needs a better guide and good sand disc. could use a guide for hand sand disc. keep eye on the weather and ruger and coyotes. be bless and love and safe. raining here. SAVANNAH TN.
Bad weather here now! I do have a quality 24 grit disc coming.
What I would like to see on this machine is an adjustable guide or even a hand grinder with an adjustable guide on it. But not for mowing. For precision welding. And I don’t really do a lot of precision welding but I just like to come up with new tools, but some sort of guide to bevel your edges to prep for welding, especially on thick stuff, it might be kind of nice to have some sort of guide on a grinder that you can just drag slowly and get a nice even Bevel on your edges to create a good gap. I do know on pipe welding for oil pipelines. They have torch cutters, that kind of do that they are driven and rotate around the pipe and cutter consistent angle on your pipe edge because they’re welding, such thick metal and filling in a nice big gap to get the two pieces joined. But the simple little grinder angle guide might be kind of nice where you just drag it along the edge of your piece and it takes a nice little bevel out without taking way too much material. Probably frivolous because it’s pretty easy to do with any grinder, but it might be fun to build one just for the sake of doing it
I like that idea, especially for pipe.
I've cut a careful angle on a piece of wood stock and used that to guide my filing when I was new to sharpening chisels. After some practice, I found that wasn't needed. Once you have some experience and confidence, such aids aren't necessary for my purposes.
Of course, there's nothing like machine guided precision when that is important.
@@SeattlePioneer yeah, optimizing some thing is good, but sometimes it’s not really all that necessary, cutting grass isn’t exactly precision come on now if I was going to do a file for fine woodworking, where I was shaving thin pieces of wood that would make a difference.
The one thing I have found is not to buy the cheap Chinese blades off of eBay, same with belts. Those blades get torn apart quick to where if I get John Deere or a namebrand the blades last way longer and the belts I’ve gotten off of eBay, sometimes are almost unusable. They break within a couple of hours sometimes and a good quality belt might last me two years and they’re cheaper but it’s not worth it because you got a buy more of them and it’s a lot more work to keep pulling all the guards off and going through the hassle of putting a new belt or blade on all the time so getting one that’s good quality even if it’s more expensive is definitely worth it and I’m guessing they hold their edge a lot longer as well. Some of the cheap Chinese ones just break off in chunks and dent really easily and they may shape them the same but there’s a huge difference in quality. That and keeping them fairly well balanced is all I worry about but I’m not really concerned about amazing cut quality. I just want to get it knocked down, so I don’t end up with the jungle.
Now that you have used the product awhile, who you recommend and go with 7” or 9”?
Stick with the same size pad at 7 inches, but go with the name brand 24 grit disc. Made a big difference in my sharpening.
Thank you! We love your channel and appreciate you.
Thank you for watching
Did you end up swapping the blade out for the RGB wheel? If so, how did you do it?
Yes I did and highly recommend it. Works so much better. I bought it from Walmart online and it was a quick change out.
Was the rotation of the disk pulling the blade down or was it up. Looks like it would pull the blade down if that the way it rotates and jam the blade and the disk. Hard to tell by the sparks.
Not at all. Your making contact across the entire disc when it's all the way in the holder, so it's neutral. As you pull back you enter the upstroke so it never binds.
Off topic but I noticed your shop ceiling is spray foamed. Can you notice a difference/worth it?
Absolutely! It was miserable hot up high before the foam. I wish I had done the walls too.
Hey Andrew, been working on this video for awhile? No pool when mowing.....
Yeah I put the notice at the beginning I've held the video for over a month because they keep selling out. They got a few more in stock yesterday so I quickly posted. I hate to share something someone might be interested in, but it's not in stock.
Lassie is Cash in trouble?😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
My exmark 60" blades are 95 a set
Yikes! That's crazy expensive!
Nice machine. Now you need to make some modifications to it, and make a blade holder and a lever so you can make repeated accurate movements across the grinder’s surface.
Oooooh that would be nice
@@TKCL with your fabulous fabrication skills, and your abundance of materials, you should be able to whip up an easy mod fairly quickly.
You have too much faith my friend. I'd take forever and over complicate the project.
Cannot find where equipment came from r the down under button any help ??
s.vevor.com/bfQeUo is the plug in sharpener. Here is my new video showing additional sharpening options. ua-cam.com/video/bTdiq0Ydaz4/v-deo.html
I sharpen my once a week. I do 12 to 15 yards a day
Wow! I'm assuming smaller yards? Must not be a lot of sand either.
@@TKCL landscaper. Live in Connecticut. ur
Out of work at the moment. Got hit by a car going to get coffee and going to work on my scooter
Sorry to hear that
@TKCL thank you. About 6 more weeks to heal. Left leg was shattered and right arm broke. Such fun.
The last 2-3 inches of the blade take’s probably 90% of the impacts and does almost all of the cutting keep the tips sharp and it will cut like butter
Agreed
BUT, What if my blade is bent?
What if my blade has a chunk
missing?
!
You need to toss those
Is that angle the same for a bush hog?
No, most go 40 degrees and it does come with angle adjusters for that angle as well. 30 degrees is preferred for lawn mowers. Your going to want a more aggressive disc for a thick bush hog blade. I just ordered a 24 grit, waiting for it to come in.
Being real sharp is not necessary. String trimmers do fine with a round surface. Most of my sharping is to get rid of dents from rock strikes and rebalancing. I sharpen when I see ripped grass rather than cut. My brushhog has flat blades. Cuts beautifully. Save the blades to make other tools or reinforcing items. It is a high quality steel.
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Really? Seems like just mild steel to me.
That raises the issue of what a mower blade made from heat treated tool steel would be like!
I agree.
However, a sharp blade lets me mow with the mower on it's slowest speed.
When I use my mower to reduce brush and tree cuttings for my compost pile, THEN I mow them up on high speed and it does a pretty good job, most of the time!
(Heh, heh! that can explain frequent sharpening, too!)
What are you do is make sure that they’re always rocks in my yard and that way by the time I go to change my blazer just to beat up to bother sharpening. 😂😂😂
Bro.... Autocorrect got you bad! 🤣
@@TKCL 😂😂 it’s kind of like a puzzle game that you get to solve. Lol
After you get sharp it should be balanced!
Unless you take too much off of one side.
You got a welder? Put a hard surface on the cutting edge. Will last longer.
I did in another episode
Just buy 10 Nannie goats and fence it, that’s what I would do 😊
Let them keep it mowed
We have 50 acres, that's easier said than done.
Tricky part is cut each one of any of these trimmer lines and weld together with the lighter, once the nylon blend is melted use insulated gloves to weld string trimmer lines together to extend your life and the String trimmer line, sand with sandpaper to fit for trimmer line hole on any bump feed Trimmer heads, ECHO Speedfeed, Milwaukee, Ryobi and Husqvarna. For the Stihl fs91r in order to do so , disassemble the trimmer head and also re-spool the trimmer line. if its same line, color and shape. Then it's a single color and shape of a line. And if its different dual lines, then it's a Dual color and shape of a line. Eg. Round/Twisted, Square/Hexagon, Hexagon/CrossFire octagon, Twisted Triangle/Pentagon, Twisted Square/Hexagon, Pentagon/Twisted Pentagon, Pentagon/Crossfire Octagon, Triangle/Square, and even Square/Crossfire octagon. Crossfire shape that came from ECHO and is shaped like an octagon.
If only they had parts available separately for their items.
That would be nice
Useful surely, but my attention is at the number under the channel title and I'm getting ready to party. hopefully weather cooperates. It's worth a live, even a short one and not after midnight my time LOL
Lol we shall see when it happens
Damn
Seems worth it if you have many blades.... I only have one blade.... LOL
I have way too many
I think two are worthwhile. That way you always have a sharp blade you can slap on rapidly, and sharpen the second blade at your leisure.
I paid $140 for my walker mower blades
Yikes that's expensive.
12 dollar metal file and a vice. Way cheaper. Better control over material you're removing. Toughguy method.
My blades are around 130 bucks
Wow, all the more reason to make them last as long as you can.
👀
why would you buy Finish lawnmower blades, why not buy American? heheh
LOL
For God's sake... don't use a flap disc. It puts a bevel on the blade. You want a good, straight bite.
This isn't my first time. Using hard rock discs changes the temper of the metal ruining it. I've been using flap discs for a couple of decades with excellent results.
@TKCL - I don't use the hard grinder discs either. I use cutoff wheels, and make fast passes. 30 seconds to a fresh edge, if you don't have any gouges. Also, because they're MUCH more efficient at removing material, they don't get the blade hot enough to take the temper out.
The rbg 712 or rbg 750 works better and is made in USA not in china
It may, but is ridiculously expensive. I'll stick to an angle grinder before dishing out $600.
Also thats not grass thats dirt.sorry but the point of zero turns is for grass ..should never mow below 3 inches ..thats what there made for.i see neighbors and homeowners mowing dirt..cannot understand that..if acperson is going to mow dirt just by a pull behind tractor with brush mower deck or a mtd steering wheel lawn tractor..it makes no sense
First ?
Beat Cash by 2 seconds according to UA-cam!
@@TKCL lies lies all lies 🙄🙄😞😞😞
Well if his comment was to disappear 🤔🤔🤔🤔 I technically would be first 🤔🤔🤔
Superglue36 congratulations 👏🥇🏆
@@5150cash not sure why is saying superglue 36 and not my name . Hmmmm I’ll check that out now
The best lawn companies sharpen their blades every morning. People don't realize as soon as you lose that razor edge you're no longer mowing; Now you're ripping which is very bad for grass you want to keep healthy.
I stop and sharpen blades between ever yard.
@@joshdozier4496😂
Dont need sharp blades to mow the dirt ..its beyind me..
Second 😞😞😞
Jimmy beat you by two seconds!
@@TKCL 🙄🙄😞😞😞😞
You must be on some kind of speed dial!📲☎📞
@@CrystalParanormally 😳😳😳😳 🫤🫤 maybe true.
I'll call this a single purpose waste of money tool (unless you can strip the motor off for something else). Cutting grass isnt cutting shushi, even the sharpest edge will be rounded in less than 5 minutes and then its just a tearing event. Angles dont really matter, just pull the blade off once or twice a year and dress it super fast with the flap disc. If you think sharpness matters, your kitchen knife is much sharper and much harder/tougher than a mower blade. It will dull after the first million cuts of grass or 5 minutes.
I don't disagree you lose an edge quickly. But I disagree it's only a twice a year event. You must not mow as much grass as me. If I only sharpened that often I'd have a blunt edge with missing blade material. I can for sure tell there's more of a load on my mower with dull blades and it leaves this thick bahia grass sticking up everywhere when dull.
Never wear gloves when using grinding machinery
That only applies to drills for me, I'm not touching hot or sharp metal without the gloves. Yes there's risk to getting gloves caught, just like there's risks to not wearing them.
@@TKCL the metal shouldn't get too hot where you're touching it.
LOL mower blades should never need to be changed unless you are chopping up tree branches or landscaping rocks!
Wow, you couldn't be anymore wrong. They dull quickly, a sharp blade is beneficial for the grass and mower.
Belt sharpener better
That's on my future tool list.