I'm a believer in sharp blades too... but a Dremel?!? No way! Blade in the vise, 4" or 6" angle grinder, does it in no time. No need to take too much off though. I have one of those cone balancers, you can do it with the nail or a screwdriver or whatever, but the cone balancer was so inexpensive how could I not buy it?
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Gimme my Dremel and 5 minutes and my blade will be more balanced and sharper, while holding the edge longer and taking less material off the blade overall. Your move Frank...
Aren't those cone balancers great? Like 5 bucks and you'll only ever need one.
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Back on topic - I know that sharp blades work "better" and "faster"... but I still don't bother, b/c I also know that it's going to cut the grass either way, and it's really just splitting hairs as far as using more fuel b/c you're technically using more power.
Excellent job. Wish I had one. Not that I need another project at the moment. I bet they could sell these again. Heck, they probably still have all the dies.
Dull blades are morally wrong. In fact, just about dull anything is wrong.
There was a guy on CL up here (Binghamton, I think) that was selling a JD model 212(?) that was an electric conversion with PTO drive for the blades... it was nice, motor was all painted up to match the JD tractor (Green and Yellow). I wish I'd had $5000... I'd have bought it. Looked to have about 3 batteries, and the guy said it had around 1hour run time on a charge.
Sharp blades are better for the grass. They cut instead of tear the grass. More water is lost through the leaves when the grass tears.
Rotary mowers have a tendency to slightly tear the grass anyway. Do your lawn a favor & sharpen the blades.
You could get a gang reel & get rid of the mower deck altogether.
Sharp blades are better for the grass. They cut instead of tear the grass. More water is lost through the leaves when the grass tears.
Rotary mowers have a tendency to slightly tear the grass anyway. Do your lawn a favor & sharpen the blades.
You could get a gang reel & get rid of the mower deck altogether.
Don
I have a reel-type mower. I don't sharpen that one either.
I don't water my grass, either. I could care less what my lawn looks like, honestly. I'd rather not have one. Watering the grass at my dad's house would only serve to make the swap directly adjacent to his property a little wetter, and most of his grass is about as green as it's going to get. Ever.
Even when I lived in suburbia, I never watered my lawn. I never understood why people put so much "care" into one weed, while attempting to kill all the other ones. (Grass is in fact a weed, according to every horticologist I've ever talked to.) I would only mow the lawn (with the lawn tractor) when the tips of the grass started changing colors and getting hard. That's the signal that your "grass" is turning into a "weed".
Losing water from any of my lawns hasn't ever been an issue for me... I don't waste the stuff on them.
I got new bearings for the drive end of the blade motors.
I hope to have some time to work on it tomorrow. I am planning to get the motors back together, sharpen the blades, repaint the mower deck, and re-install it on the mower.
Don't worry, I now have my camera handy and will take some photos.
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