Tip of the Week: How often should you sharpen your mower blade?

There are a lot of things to consider. How much mowing do you do? How sandy is your soil? Do you walk around the yard and pick up sticks, rocks, and other items in the yard? The larger the yard the more often you will need to sharpen the blade, it you live in a sandy area you will need to sharpen it more often. If you don't take time to walk around the yard and look for sticks, rocks, nails, and other items in the yard you will need to sharpen your mower blade more often. Plus one of these days you’re going to hurt you’re self or someone else when a rock or something else fly’s out from under the mower. The tip of the average mower blade on high speed is going around 60 miles per hour. What happens to your car when you hit something going 30 mph? It is hard on your mower blade and your mower when you hit things like sticks. Mowers are to mow grass.

The best thing to do is every two or three times you mow tip your mower on its side and check the blade. Always tip it so the carburetor is tipped up not down. If the carburetor is on the low side you will get gas and oil in your air filter and can rune it. A blade does not have to be razor sharp, it just has to have a little of an edge on it. The longer you put off sharpening your blade the more of the blade you will waste trying to get it sharp. Take your blade in two or three times a year and have it sharpened and balanced unless you do a lot of mowing then take it in more often. It's not a bad idea to have an extra blade on hand and always have a sharp one ready to go. Remember that when you’re changing the blade always unplug the spark plug wire and use caution even a dull blade can cut you. And always follow the instruction in your owner’s manual. If you have a question just email The Hardware Guy and watch for an answer.

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