lawn mower blade problem

[JDgreen227]

If you cut your grass short like many people like it will pick up quite a bit of sand, thus eat your blades. Commerical grass cutters don't cut as low thus the same problem is minimzed. You might consider letting your grass get a bit higher. It's actually healthier for the grass, by developing deeper root system and your mower will put those nice patterns in the grass after a cutting. JMHO.

Agree about letting the grass grow higher and not cutting it off short. My neighbor has a very small lawn and he has a company come in to treat it during the growing season to keep it lush and free of weeds, and then he practically scalps it off when mowing. When dry weather arrives he puts out sprinklers to make it grow and then he scalps it off again...makes no sense to me.

 

[LMan1967]

I may be a minority when it comes to blade sharpening but I never let a grinder of any type near my blades, because I think no matter how careful one is, a grinder is going to heat up the metal to some degree and cause the blade will lose it's temper. I have nothing but praise for the Oregon brand Gator Mulching blades, they appear (at least in my situation) to be superior in hardness to even the much more expensive JD blades.

These are the blades I got this time, after the stock blades crapped out on me. Same thing happened.

I took a cpl of pics of the blades this weekend. As soon as I figure out how to transfer them I'll post.

 

[JDgreen227]

These are the blades I got this time, after the stock blades crapped out on me. Same thing happened.

I took a cpl of pics of the blades this weekend. As soon as I figure out how to transfer them I'll post.

JEEZE !!! That sand you are mowing on must be super. super abrasive !!! The attachment shows a pair of my OEM 7-Iron blades, they had gone thru 7 or 8 mowing seasons of at least 60 hours each at the point you see them. This is how they looked when I replaced them early last year. The Gators have required only one minor edge touch up with a file early this year Oand they have gone at least 130-140 hours of mowing.

Oh CRUD....I feel kinda dumb because I forgot to ask if you guys with the fast blade wear are using mower decks that are mulcher or recycling type...and if it's the case that would explain a good part of the fast wear as the grit stays in the deck a longer time compared to mine which spits most of the clippings out uncut....changing over to the Gator blades reduced windrowing and the time I used to spend raking clippings by at least 90%.

 

[aczlan]

The OEM 7-Iron deck blades on my Deere lasted 8 mowing seasons (about 75 mowing hours per season) with only minor touch ups to the cutting edges every year and when I replaced them with Gator blades two years ago they (OEM) were still reasonably decent and could have been resharpened and used. Much of the 5 acres of yard here are rough weeds and my ATV trails that I cut are full of grapevines, etc. but after 2 years the Gator blades still look almost new and there is no erosion anyplace. LMan1967 says he only goes 25-30 hours a season...I am amazed any blade can be that worn down so quickly but I don't have any sand.

+1 on the Gator blades. They are MUCH heavier and in my experience last much longer.
For fun, go to OREGON brand Lawn Mower Blades and look up the blade thickness for different blades.
Thicker blades will weigh more which helps the mower not bog down as much in thick stuff.

Aaron Z

 

[LD1]

+1 on the Gator blades. They are MUCH heavier and in my experience last much longer.
For fun, go to OREGON brand Lawn Mower Blades and look up the blade thickness for different blades.
Thicker blades will weigh more which helps the mower not bog down as much in thick stuff.

Aaron Z

If you get gators, get the magnums. Those are the heavier ones that are thicker and a bit wider also. Last time I bought a set, I also got the G6?? coating. Supposed to have like carbide imbeded in the steel where the cutting edge is. Time will tell if they are better, but they werent much more $$

 

[LMan1967]

JEEZE !!! That sand you are mowing on must be super. super abrasive !!! The attachment shows a pair of my OEM 7-Iron blades, they had gone thru 7 or 8 mowing seasons of at least 60 hours each at the point you see them. This is how they looked when I replaced them early last year. The Gators have required only one minor edge touch up with a file early this year Oand they have gone at least 130-140 hours of mowing.

I wish my blades looked that good

I'll post the pics tonight.

I dunno about mulching, its a standard Hustler Fastrak 54" mower. Nothing fancy. Only cut about 30 hours this season and they are toast.

 

[LMan1967]

pics of my blade ends

 

[Creamer]

Mower blades have become a big liability. Think about it - how much would it cost to buy the steel, form it, heat treat it, and grind it if you wee doing them by the thousands. The actual cost of the blade is negligible compared to the cost of the insurance. Lawn mowers used to have blades that were fully hardened at the tips but these are brittle if you hit a rock or something. Consequently blade manufacturers have taken to hardening just the cutting edge so you can only get 2-3 light sharpenings and stay in the hardened zone. The trick is to re-harden these edges as you grind them back. It is really quite simple if you have an Oxy-acetylene torch. Just heat the edge of the blade up until it is a dull cherry red color and dunk it in water. The rest of the blade will not get hardened as long as you heat only the edge and do it quickly. If you heat it too slowly you get the rest of the blade hot and then you can create a brittleness situation.

Steel basically does not harden unless it gets hot enough to be in the red range. There is no reason not to use a grinder on a blade as long as you keep it moving. You should not let the blade get red and keep cooling it while you are sharpening by dunking it in water a time or two. you can tell if the blade is hard if the grinder is putting out little sparks. If it is putting out big sparks the blade is soft.

 

[JDgreen227]

pics of my blade ends

Those look really bad...must play h*** with the blade balance when that occurs.

 

[Gary Fowler]

JEEZE !!! That sand you are mowing on must be super. super abrasive !!! The attachment shows a pair of my OEM 7-Iron blades, they had gone thru 7 or 8 mowing seasons of at least 60 hours each at the point you see them. This is how they looked when I replaced them early last year. The Gators have required only one minor edge touch up with a file early this year Oand they have gone at least 130-140 hours of mowing.

Oh CRUD....I feel kinda dumb because I forgot to ask if you guys with the fast blade wear are using mower decks that are mulcher or recycling type...and if it's the case that would explain a good part of the fast wear as the grit stays in the deck a longer time compared to mine which spits most of the clippings out uncut....changing over to the Gator blades reduced windrowing and the time I used to spend raking clippings by at least 90%.

Why on earth would you replace a blade that looks like new? A quick touch up on the edge and it would be ready for mowing. Heck they arent even dull enough to require sharpening yet. At over $20 per blade for my mower (x3) I use it till it wears out the lift tabs.