Sharpening Your Lawn Mower Blades

Your lawn mower helps you to keep your lawn maintained and tidy-looking, but you may notice that sometimes, the grass isn’t cut as evenly as you would like. One cause of this issue may be that your lawn mower’s blades are dull and require sharpening. Fortunately, sharpening your lawn mower blades isn’t too challenging and you can complete the job in a few hours.

Remove the Blade

First, you’ll need to ensure that your lawn mower is completely turned off. You can remove the spark plug as a precaution; just remember to replace it later. Tilt your lawn mower over so that you can access the blade.

Before you unscrew the bolts with a wrench or breaker bar, use tape or a Sharpie to mark the bottom side of your blade. You can also use a 2x4 inserted between the blade and the mower skirt to give you a little more leverage for safe removal.

Do an Inspection

Your next task is to look over the blade on both sides in good lighting. You may need to replace the blade entirely if it’s too worn, or it has significant warping or nicks in it. You also need the trailing edge to be thick enough that you can sharpen it. It’s a smart idea to keep an extra blade handy for this possibility. If you’ve determined that the blade simply needs to be sharpened, you can move to the next step.

Sharpen & Balance the Blade

Now you can use a rasp or file (about 10” in length is good) to carefully sharpen the blade with smooth, downward strokes over the top side of the cutting edge. Approximately 20 to 30 strokes are needed to adequately sharpen the blade; you don’t want to take off too much, as this can unbalance the blade.

In fact, before you replace the sharpened blade, you’ll want to balance it by putting the blade’s bolt hole through a nail that’s been hammered into a piece of sturdy wood. The blade should find equilibrium; if either side is tipped down, file it until the blade is balanced.

Now you can replace your blade and tighten the bolts, then replace your spark plug if you took it out and tip your mower up again to use it!

Need some professional assistance with lawn mower maintenance? Get in touch with the Manor Home Center service department to schedule an appointment with our mechanics. We can help you out with a variety of maintenance tasks, including blade sharpening.

Looking to buy a new mower? Head over to our dealership located in Oakland, MD, to check out our fine selection of new and used lawn mowers for sale. You can also discuss your equipment financing options with our sales team. Manor Home Center proudly serves Garrett County, MD, and Morgantown, WV.