How to Easily Sharpen Your Lawn Mower Blade

Keeping your lawn mower blade sharp will help improve the life of your lawn mover and help you have a healthier lawn. The following steps will help you to easily sharpen your lawn mower blade.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A bench grinder
• A file
• The right size wrench or socket to remove the blade
• Gloves
• Eye Safety glasses
• A lawn mower blade balancer

1. First, keep safe and disconnect the spark plug wire so you can make sure the engine will not start.

2. 

   Drain the gas so it will not pour out when you flip the lawn mower on its side. There should be a hose the goes from the bottom of the tank to the engine. Have a container ready big enough to hold the gas left in the tank. Loosen the hose and put it into the container.

3. 

   Turn the mower on its side. Find the correct size wrench or socket to remove the bolt that is securing the blade. Be careful since the blade can still injure you, using a sturdy boot or wood block, hold the blade in place and remove the blade from the mower. To increase safety use gloves and a longer wrench to keep your hands safer from injury. The bolt can be removed by turning it counterclockwise. Set the bolt aside you will need it later.

4. 

   Find some safety glasses and thick gloves if you do not already have them available.

5. 

   Using a bench grinder, grind bevel of the cutting blades to sharpen them on the grinding wheel. Place the blade tip up while grinding. Grind all the way across each bevel.

6. 

   Check your progress frequently while you are grinding. You will see a shiny silver bevel in the locations that you have sharpened. Grind the bevel until it is sharp. You can use paper to test the sharpness.

7. 

   Once you feel the blade is sharp test the balance. Using a lawn mower blade balancer see if the blade is unbalanced. If you need to adjust use a file to take off more material on one side or the other until the lawn mower blade is balanced.

8. 

   Install the blade back on the underside of the lawn mower. Make sure the blade is installed in the same direction as when you took it off. Line up the shaft bolt hole and the two alignment pins. Safely hold the blade in place and insert the bolt you took off in step 3 and tighten by turning clockwise.
   
   Turn the mower back over and you are ready to mow. Now that you have sharped the lawn mower blade the mower will cut your lawn better and avoid damage to the grass.

Tips & Warnings

• Sharp or dull lawn mower blades can cut you. Use all precautions possible to avoid injury.

[sonni57]

on 5/12/2009 I need to sharpen my lawn mower blade that's for sure thank for the helpful article.