Here in Graniteville SC, I have nothing but sand. I call my lawn the beach without the ocean. Anyway, I have an Ariens zero turn and whenever I would cut the grass, I would get a sand storm from the blades rotation. I have it set at three and a half inches. Purchased a new set of blades and prior to installing them I placed the blade cutting ends in a rather large vice and with the aid of an oxy/acet torch I heated the turned up portion of the blade to almost cherry red and took the curled edge out of them to make the blades nearly flat. This stopped the sand storm effect yet still cuts the grass very nicely. By putting the cutting edge of the blade into the vice, this prevents the cutting/working edge from loosing its temper. I call the zero turn my flying carpet because it is very much like what I can imagine being on a flying carpet feels like. Bob