A lawn-mower is a beneficial tool in keeping your garden clean and your grass in standard height.
As time passes, the mower blade wore out its sharpness, and you need to sharpen it. If your Blade is completely worn out or has some damages that can not be repaired, you may need to replace it with a new one.
A less sharpened blade can tear your lawn’s grass and spread disease. It also consumes extra power and damages the components of a lawn-mower.
Now you don’t have to go to some experts to get these things done. You can do it yourself with some knowledge and the right tools.
How? In this article, you will find the proper way to sharpen or replace the mower blade all by your self.
How to Replace Mower Blade?
If your mower blades are worn out and are not working correctly, you need to replace them with a new one. We are going to see how to do it step by step.
Finding the Right Blade
Most Lawn-mower manufacturers use a blade that is specifically made for their mower only. So you have to find the one for your lawn-mower. See which type of blade does your lawn bower uses and find the right one for you.
Placing the wrong type of mower can result in poor mowing and extra vibration to the mower. The wrong type of blade doesn’t work correctly, which can affect your mower’s life expectancy.
Take Out Spark Plug and Bolt
First, take out the spark plug for safety and then Turn the Lawn-Mower to the side to get access to the blade. Keep the lawn-mower in a position where the gas chamber and carburetor are facing upwards to ensure that there is no oil spilling.
Unscrew the mounting bolt using the right tools and hold the blade steady while doing it. Remember the direction of the blade because you have to install the new one in the same direction.
If the old blade is not all worn out, you can still use it as a spare blade for your lawn-mower.
Install the new Mower Blade
Sharpening The Mower Blade
When you should sharpen your blade is entirely based on its usage and the quality of the blade.
If you use it for home lawn mowing, then once a year is a perfect time and if you are a professional and you use your mower regularly, then sharpening it every month would be great.
See if your Blade is not working correctly. You can see how well it is working after every mowing. If the results are not great, then it is time you sharpen those blades.
Now let’s see how you can sharpen those mower blades step by step.
Remove the Mower Blade
Set the mower in the right direction and remove the blade carefully. Removing the blade will allow you to clean the blades of any debris. Use a rag to need to clean it.
You can use a file to get your blade as sharp as it needs to be. It is an easy and efficient way of sharpening your blades, but it takes time and some hard work to do it, so get ready.
Put your blade onto a clamp securely to ensure a safe and effective sharpening. Then start to move your file back and forth against the mower blade. Make sure you are sharpening the edge that already exists on the blade, so always sharp it from the top side of the blade. Keep the right angle for correct sharpening.
Keep moving the file to give an even sharp to your blade.
Don’t try to sharp it too much because more sharp blades need sharpening more often, and it will shorten the blade’s life expectancy. You want to make it butter-knife sharp, not razor sharp.
Sharpening with a file is less costly and more efficient than other sharpening methods.
This Method takes some expertise to do it properly. If you haven’t used it before then I don’t recommend you doing it, you can use the file method.
Now before using the bench grinder, you need to wear an eye-protecting glass, gloves, and full sleeve shirt. It will protect you from the tiny particles and the spark that is going to come out while grinding.
Now, turn on the grinder and move your blade against it. Keep a light hand and keep it moving, so the blade doesn’t overheat or gets over grind. Overheating can cause some serious damage to your blade.
Make sure you are grinding it to be even sharp on each side.
Balance The Blade
After Sharpening it, make sure to check the balance of the blade. If the blade is not balanced, it can vibrate too hard while mowing and cause damage to the lawn-mower.
Hang the blade on something by its center hole. If one side’s balance is not correct, then you need to take out some more metal from the side. Keep doing it until it is balanced.
Reinstall the Blade
After you get the balance right, reinstall the blade in the same direction as it was before. Don’t leave any loose bolts.
Now your Blade is ready to mowing again.
In The End
The Lawn-Mower is a great tool that most people with a lawn needs. Time to time maintenance doesn’t hurt anyone, and it keeps the mower working as good as it can.
Replace the blades if your Mower is not giving you the results that it should and sharpen it if you want to get better results. Now you know how to do it.
Let me know in the comments if you learned something from this article.