How Often To Sharpen Mower Blades

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When it comes to lawn mower maintenance, one of the questions we get asked most often is, how often should I sharpen my lawn mower blades?

Though it might be surprising to some, oftentimes, people don’t even consider sharpening their blades to be a part of general maintenance. 

But, it’s actually an incredibly important factor in keeping your lawn as well maintained as possible.

There is a fine line however, between keeping your blades nice and sharp, and over sharpening them to the point where it’s unnecessary, and even damaging. 

In order to find out more about how often you should sharpen your lawn mower blades, as well as some general maintenance tips for keeping your lawn mower in the best shape possible, simply keep reading, as we take a closer look below. 

How Often Should I Sharpen My Lawn Mower Blades? 

So, why not just jump straight in and answer the titular question. How often should you really sharpen your lawn mower blades in order to make sure they’re in the best shape possible? 

Well, this is actually a pretty simple question, and depends completely on your usage of the device. We’d recommend that you consider sharpending your blades after every 20 to 25 hour use time of the lawn mower. 

This is good news, because it means that you don’t need to sharpen it after every single use, but rather, after you’ve built up a number of hours using the blades. 

After time, you’ll be able to judge when you need to sharpen your blades simply by taking a look at them. You’ll be able to see if your blades have become dull, and simply use the time frame above as a guide to judge when they need sharpening. 

When it comes to sharpening your lawn mower blades, there are a number of different items that you can use to do so. It’s really like sharpening any kind of tool, and requires a similar procedure. 

In order to sharpen your lawn mower blade, you can use hand files, rotary tools, beach grinders, and angle grinders. 

If you’re unsure about sharpening the blades yourself, remember that you can get them locally serviced. There are also lots of videos that you can browse which can help you through the process.

This one, for example, shows you how to get the sharpest cut possible. 

Make sure that you’re not sharpening your blades too often, as this can actually impact their performance. It can actually cause them to become dull at a faster rate, which in turn, puts more stress on the lawn mower engine. 

Tips For Maintaining Your Lawn Mower 

Now that we’ve taken a look at how often you should sharpen your lawn mower blades, we can move on to discuss some tips for maintaining your lawn mower.

Follow the steps below, and you’ll be on your way to the best lawn mowing experience possible. 

1. Make Sure To Change The Oil 

One of the best and first tips we could provide you with when it comes to lawn mower maintenance is to make sure to change the oil at regular intervals. Make sure that at the end of each season, towards winter, that you’re draining the oil tank. 

How Often To Sharpen Mower Blades (1)

Sometimes, you might be required to change the oil more frequently, but this is only if it’s showing signs that it’s becoming viscous or contaminated. In this case, make sure to change it as soon as possible. 

2. Clear Out The Mowing Deck 

This is a tip that every long-time user would give you. Make sure that every time you’re finished mowing, that you clean out the mowing deck before the next use.

This is because when you’re using it, all kinds of debris, grass, and dirt will get stuck in the mowing deck, which is found in the area located just above the blades. 

Make sure of course, that before you attempt to do this that you disconnect the spark plug to avoid any accidents. 

3. Replace Air Filter 

Another tip that we’d give you in order to maintain your lawn mower is to make sure that you’re replacing the air filter at the end of every season too.

This is something that many people forget about when it comes to lawn mower maintenance, but it’s a necessary step. 

Over time, the air filter can get clogged up, and this makes it significantly harder for your lawn mower to do its job. You’ll notice that after you’ve replaced the air filter, that it runs far more smoothly and efficiently. 

4. Maintain Your Tires

After every lawn mower use, you should be making sure that your tires are in ship shape. This means examining them, and taking care to check that there aren’t any dents or chips.

If you do have any of the above, this can impact the performance of your lawnmower. 

You might find that it’s more difficult to maneuver around, so it’s important to check if they need replacing. 

Final Thoughts 

To sum up, when it comes to maintaining your lawn mower blades, you should seek to sharpen them after every 20 to 15 hours of usage time. Any more or less than this and you could risk them becoming dull.

In terms of general maintenance, you should always make sure that you’re replacing the air filter, checking the tires, replacing the oil, and clearing out the mowing deck.

This will make sure that it runs as smoothly as possible. 

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