Rotary Cutter Sharpening shredder, bush hog, rotary cutter blades.

[MutzFarm]

At this time of year I may be getting the wagon in front of the horse, but down in South Central TEXAS we have customers already calling wanting their fields cut.

What position is your shredder in when you sharpen blades?
We have two different units. I prefer to stand one on the 3 point and the other on its side.

How do you sharpen your blades?
I just hit them with a grinder trying to follow the same angle / bevel as they come with while extending the cutting edge a pinch more each time I sharpen them.

How often do you sharpen your blades?
If it was just personal use I might say once every other year, but as we do have customers and use are units a lot sometimes it is a s often as every other week. Most of the time every other month.

Do you hold the blade?
We use a board and C clamp to hold the blade in place.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

We call them a brush hog not shredder. Those have gone beyond doing an efficient job. I Inspect periodically and sharpen when the edge gets blunt or chipped. I take them off and clamp in a vise. Grind with a 4 1/2" angle grinder to a less that real sharp edge n(like you are supposed to do with lawn mower blades. I weigh them and grind off extra if necessary to have close to equal weight to assure dynamic balance. Vibration will destroy bearings in the gear box quickly. My manual gives the tolerance for the weights. I have an extra set ready to go and grind the others when I have time.

Ron

 

[mcfarmall]

I remove the blades and clamp them in a vise, then proceed to create a "sharp" edge...any bevel with a 1/16" radius on the edge will do just fine. My cutter is 30 years old with BIG bearings and I've never attempted to balance the blades. Seems like you'd do more gearbox damage striking a rock or fresh tree stump than being a few grams out of balance.

 

[BTDT2]

I sharpen the blades on the tractor. I use the top-n-tilt to raise the bushhog to maximum height and then put heavy duty jack stands under both sides in case the hydraulics leak down. As the previous poster's video indicated I use a board and a c-clamp to restrict movement while I grind the blade back to its original angle. I try not to grind too fast to avoid overheating, and try to use about the same amount of grinding time on both sides to maintain balance. I also inspect for cracks and discard both blades if I find any indication of splitting. If the blades need a lot of work, I will remove them to a vise for grinding and then use a scale for balancing, or buy replacement blades if I think they are too worn.

I lost a friend from being pinned under a bushog while sharpening the blades. Trust me! Farm machinery can, and will kill you, if you don't respect it, always think safety first.

 

[MutzFarm]

Never thought about balancing / weighing them. I see it as if Im taking them off it is getting new ones.

Never thought about the edge chipping off though. I have two units. I do use one for rough cut and rocky country. The other is for the nicer pastures and want an almost manicured look. I believe that rough cut I wont make such a sharp edge any more.

 

[EddieWalker]

Never sharpen any blades. On my bush hog, I run them until the break, then replace them. On my lawn mower, I put a new set of blades on every Spring.

 

[Shaneard]

I have 3 sets for my mower and just switch them out when they need sharpening and sharpen the ones I took off when I get time. The bush hog gets it about once a year and I always take the blades off. Easier to sharpen in a vise and it keeps the bolts from getting hard to take off 5 years later if not removed. If a blade bolt needs replacing then it gets replaced, safety first with how fast they spin!

 

[scdeerslayer]

Take them off, put in vise, sharpen with 7" grinder. Tried sharpening with the blades still on because one of the nuts wouldn't come off, I'll never do that again, much easier to take them off.

 

[Fallon]

I ran mine dull. Sharpening the blades makes for sharp stumps. Sharp stumps make for flat tires. Dull blades make for shattered fuzzy stumps. Still cuts grass & brush just fine.

 

[MESSMAKER]

lift your mower , put some jack stands in place and go at it with a grinder. They work best on brush if only slightly sharp. You don't want a delicate edge. Spend time on the outer 6 inches of the blade. That is where most of the cutting takes place. It will only take about 10 min. total. Don't worry about the balance thing. You would have to really get them out of whack for it to make a difference.

 

[Xfaxman]

I have to stand on a ladder to reach the blades. :laughing:

 

[kebo]

I have to stand on a ladder to reach the blades. :laughing:

View attachment 497153

View attachment 497154

Show off!!!!

 

[Xfaxman]

Show off!!!!

Well I guess I could lean it against a tree.

But I have to sharpen both sides of the blade, so it takes me longer.

 

[ovrszd]

I've never sharpened brush cutter blades. Seems like a good way to get rid of blade material to me. :confused3:

 

[RalphVa]

I remove and pseudo sharpen mine once/year. Usually run them in a while with the trail wheel off and retorque later and put the trail wheel back on.

I just hold them by hand against the wheels of my grinder and sorta sharpen them: mainly take out the imperfections.

 

[aczlan]

I've never sharpened brush cutter blades. Seems like a good way to get rid of blade material to me. :confused3:

I square up the edges on mine, bring them to a 3/16" edge (vs a rounded one) and sharpen the edges of the dings from hitting rocks.

Aaron Z

 

[atcNick]

I was told you werent suppose to sharpen brush hog blades, that theyre suppose to look "dull". I was told if you sharpen them you will just weaken them and reduce their life span.

 

[aczlan]

I was told you werent suppose to sharpen brush hog blades, that theyre suppose to look "dull". I was told if you sharpen them you will just weaken them and reduce their life span.

There is a noticeable difference in cut quality when I sharpen them. Note that you do NOT want the edge to come to a point, you want to leave the cutting edge square and 1/16" to 3/16" tall so that it will shatter sapling stumps rather than leaving them to impale your tractor tires.

Aaron Z

 

[adventure bob]

So sharpening seems to be a subjective term on bush hog blades. According to all the manufacturers (bush hog, land pride, tarter, woods...) your supposed to sharpen the blades. While there's a million opinions on this, its what the manufacturers suggest...
They are not supposed to be knife sharp. They are supposed to have around a 1/16 round radius or square edge grind. All of the owners manuals tell you that it will get you a cleaner cut and use less power to cut the same material. The main reason I "sharpen" blades is balance, cause out of balance heavy fast rotating things cause vibe, vibe destroys bearings.
Back to OP: There's a million ways to sharpen blades, depends on what tools you have at hand. I've done it laying on the ground with a hand file. I also have bench grinder with a jig for mower blades. The hand held grinder works great as well. I'm a little OCD so the bench grinder with a jig satisfies my OCD problem of perfectly ground edges.

 

[LD1]

All depends on what you cut. If you are using your bushhog to its capacity and cutting brush, saplings, small trees, etc. Then no you dont want sharp blades, you want blunt so it shatters the stumps instead of leaving little spears.

If all you do is maintain pastures, cutting grasses and weeds with no saplings, then sharpening them like you would your lawnmower increases their performance.

I take mine off to sharpen. I actually have 2 sets. One set for brush, one set that stays sharp for the grasses/pasture. By taking them off everytime, and frequently, they come off easy everytime. IF you never take them off, they are gonna be a PITA when you actually need to.

For the average user, mowing a little bit of everything at slow speed, blade sharpening is of little concern. When you are trying to mow a 10 acre pasture of nothing but grass that is ~12" tall, that gets done once a month, Having a sharp set of blades leaves a much better cut when mowing at ~7.5MPH