A lot of homeowners take great pride in the appearance and neatness of their lawn, and it’s safe to assume that you are one of them. To achieve that perfect look and the best possible cut, your lawnmower equipment must work perfectly. Typically, one of the most important parts of this equipment that is also very crucial when cutting grass is the blade itself. Just like with anything metal, your lawnmower blade(s) can become dull or damaged with time, and will definitely need to be sharpened or replaced.
How Often Should Lawn Mower Blades Be Sharpened?
The general rule of thumb is that you should sharpen a lawnmower blade every 25 hours of run time. You can know when to sharpen your lawn mower blade when it is giving an uneven cut, the grass is not neatly-cut, or when you check the blade and find it is not sharp any more.
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Why do you need to sharpen a lawnmower blade?
Dull or damaged blades cannot cut grass very well. Instead, it will end up ripping or pulling the grass, leaving an uneven and unpleasant cut. This uneven cut can also weaken the grass, leading to the growth of fungal infections or other grass diseases. On the other hand, a clean-cut not only allows the grass to heal and recover quicker, but it also looks much more pleasing to the eyes.
A lawnmower with a sharp blade does the job efficiently while saving you time and effort. As stated earlier, the blade gives the grass a clean-cut and allows the grass to recover and heal faster and stay even greener. However, if your blade is dull, it will only weaken the grass, leaving a potential risk to promote grass infections and diseases. To know how often you need to sharpen your blade, you must first consider the length or entire time of your mowing operation as well as other factors other than the grass on your lawn.
It may be sometimes difficult to know how often to sharpen lawn mower blades, even for many home mowers and professional mowers. What might seem like a sharp blade to your eyes might require additional sharpening, depending on the usage. Do you want to know how often you should sharpen your lawnmower blade? Don’t look too far. In this article, we will show you all you need to know about the frequency by which your mower blade should be sharpened, including additional tips on how to keep the blade sharp for a long time.
How To Know When Your Lawn Mower Needs To Be Sharpened?
To achieve that neat and precise cut, as well as a healthy lawn, it is essential that you sharpen your lawn mower blade regularly. An experienced person can easily tell when a blade needs to be sharpened by simply looking at the lawn and condition of the grass after it has been cut. If the grass appears to be uneven in height (probably because the mower didn’t cut in some areas), or if you notice tears in the grass blades, then you most likely need to sharpen your blade. However, it is quite easier for an average homeowner to just remember to sharpen their lawnmower blade every other month.
Generally speaking, a good sharpening at the start of the mowing season and another around the middle of the mowing season should suffice, until you’re ready to store your mower for the winter. However, if your mower picks up any stray debris, sticks, or leaves throughout the season, it is often recommended that you schedule an additional sharpening when needed. The exact timing of when you should sharpen usually depends on the workload and how often you use your mower, but there are a few signs that can help you stay on schedule. Below are some tricks or signs that can help you develop a trained eye while keeping your lawnmower blade up to par all season.
● Unevenness:
The first thing to look out for after mowing is the unevenness of your lawn. If your lawnmower blade is sharp, your grass would be cut at the same height with just one pass of the mower. However, if you find yourself making multiple passes to make up for the missed areas, then it might mean that your blade is dull and requires sharpening.
● Not neatly-cut:
Another trick that can help you know if your lawnmower blade needs sharpening is by examining the grass closely. If the tip of each grass blade appears to be torn or not neatly-cut, it is most likely due to a dull blade. Apart from affecting the appearance of your lawn, torn tips can also decrease grass health, causing it to lose its greenish color, its lush, resulting in an unhealthy shade of brown color.
● Check the blade:
Finally, you can actually inspect the blade itself to find out if it requires sharpening or not. Although your lawnmower blade can be damaged by regular sharpening, it is still important to look out for large dents or chips in the cutting edge of the blade: those that cannot be smoothed out. These inconsistencies will most likely tear the grass rather than making the clean-cut that is crucial for your lawn. Additionally, you should pay close attention to the thickness of your lawnmower blade. With time, dirt, sand, and other yard debris can erode your blade, causing it to weaken and become paper-thin. If this occurs, you should replace the blade immediately and not sharpen it, in order to avoid breakage while mowing, which can lead to injury to you or others around you when pieces of the metal fly around.
How Often Should You Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades?
Typically the blades of a lawnmower can be sharpened as often as needed during their lifetime. However, the beginning of the mooring season as well as the midseason is usually the right time to sharpen your lawnmower blades. How often the blade should be sharpened can also depend on the size of your lawn, the type of grass on it, and how often you use the lawnmower. The general rule of thumb is that you should sharpen a lawnmower blade every 25 hours of run time, which pretty much means once a week. To many, this might seem somehow excessive, especially if you are a homeowner that only mow like once or twice a week. Just know that you don’t necessarily need to sharpen your blade once a week.
For professional mowers that have to deal with about 20 to 25 hours of mowing jobs per week, this general rule of thumb applies to them directly. You can choose to follow this rule and sharpen your blade once the machine reaches 25 hours of cutting time. You may want to consider using a means that can help you monitor the exact time you spend while using your mower. Of course, there are also people that prefer to sharpen their blade only once or twice every season; which is usually at the beginning and middle of the mowing season (depending on the region where they live). The 25 hours rule, on the other hand, helps to make sure that nothing is wrong with the yard as well as the turf grasses.
How to Make Lawn Mower Blade Last Longer?
It is very possible to prolong the life span of your lawnmower blade. Although in most cases, people may be required to replace their lawnmower blade early due to some extreme stress placed on the blade. Here are some simple tips on how to make the blade last longer:
● Clean the blade:
Before you start mowing, carefully inspect your lawn to make sure that there is no stone, stick, or other objects that can accidentally damage the blade. If you don’t take care in clearing the yard of such materials, your blade might get affected while mowing, and might require you to sharpen it more than usual. If this occurs frequently, you might need to find a replacement sooner.
● Sharpen it every 25 hours:
Be sure to stick to the 25-hour rule. This simply means sharpening your blade every 20 to 25 hours of usage. Once you sharpen your blade in time, it will reduce the damage in the cutting edge. Before you consider getting a replacement, make sure you sharpen first. In most cases, sharpening gets the job done.
● Sharpen it correctly:
Finally, you should try to figure out how to sharpen your blade correctly as this is very essential. If you don’t sharpen it properly, you might end up wearing off some materials on the blade edge accidentally, and this only reduces the lifespan of the blade.
Final remarks
While it isn’t necessary to sharpen your blades every time you cut grass, you still need to do it more often to keep the blade in good condition. According to the general rule of thumb, you should sharpen the blade every 25 hours cutting time to achieve cleaner cut and a healthy lawn. We hope that this piece is helpful. Good luck!