Blade Sharpening?

[Bunky]

It's that time of year again. time to get the mower out and Sharpen the blades, I was reading about an attachment for a dremel tool to sharpen blades.. there was some question about the blade being tempered and eating up the bits.. Does anyone have one of these?? If so how does it work??

[HubbardRA]

In my guess, a tool that fits a Dremel will be extremely slow at sharpening blades. I use my 8 inch bench grinder or sometimes a hand held 4 inch grinder. Just have to make sure that you don't everheat the edge and remove the temper. In my opinion the item to buy is the blade balancer. I bought one of those little goodys years ago and was amazed at the smoothness of the mower when the blades are perfectly balanced. In fact I was amazed at how far off my blades were when I first checked them. I had to remove a significant amount of metal from one end to get the blade back into balance.

[Bunky]

Well that was kind of my thought I too use either my bench grinder or my 4 in. angle grinder.. But always worry about the angle of the blade... And as far as the Balancing, yes Balanced blades do make a difference in the smoothness...

[jrosenboom]

I just sharpened mine last night with the good old angle grinder. I like to "nail" balance mine. Does make a difference in the vibration & noise factor, probably a good thing for those $$$$ arbors too!!

[skot71]

I have one of those dremel attatchments. It's a plastic piece that screws onto the end of the dremel, and has a bit with it. It has a slot that you're supposed to put the blade in, and slide the tool along to keep the angle right. It wouldn't slide smooth, and being as impatient as I am, I took the plastic guide off and just ground it down. Also, the angle on the attatchment didn't match the angle that was already on my blade. I would've been there forever to grind off that much material since the angle on the attatchment was a smaller angle than my blade. Hope this helps! Skot [img]http://www.dremel.com/html/images/products/attachments/large/675.jpg[/img]

[hufhouse]

I used to try to use my bench grinder to sharpen blades, and the length and curvature of the blades made it very difficult. I bought a very inexpensive 4" angle grinder in the tool department at a deep discount store (translated "really cheap") and use it to sharpen the blades. What a difference! Very easy to do. I just put the blade in my vise, and try to match the angle on the blade with the grinder. I even used a little sandpaper on the angle grinder to really hone the blades over the winter. This spring, my lawn is looking really good. When I look at the individual blades of grass, they are being cut, not torn. That's what you're after!

[thedaddycat]

Here's what I use to sharpen and balance blades. The old metal set is in the back, unfortunately the base for the balancer got lost. The new replacement(plastic) balancer is sitting on the vise. Both stones for these sets look alike, having angled faces. The plastic guide disc is supposed to ride on the flat back side of the blade and the angle of the stone sets the "correct" angle on the blade. If it only needs a touch up the belt sander works quite well, while the 7" Bosch grinder will take down heavy stuff(or cut coil springs for a car) in a hurry.......

[mowerman1193]

Well when I was mowing with a Wheel Horse I was taking the deck off about every 4th mowing to sharpen the blades and grease & oil the deck & bearings.I would just use a file to sharpen the blades.It did'nt take any longer than the grinder because they didn't get to bad of shape in just 4 weeks... I dont seem to do it as often on my Simplicity because the deck comes off a little harder than the Wheel Horse does.So now I usually just use the 4in. angle grinder if they are very bad.

[Scotmo]

My local hardware store sharpens mower blades for $2.00 ea. I like to go there and shoot the breeze while they sharpen the blades. The key is to go when the right guy is working (Greg). I think that guy could put an edge on a beach ball.I will use my 8" bench grinder in a pinch....Scot

[Bunky]

Well It looks like not very many people use the Dremel tool, I was kind of wondering how well it worked... I think I will stick with my old method.. Take set to mowerman1193 and If in a pinch do it myself.. LOL

[mowerman1193]

Wow!!$2.00 a blade!![:0][:0] I am getting ripped off then...I sharpen Bunky's blades and the rest of the neighborhoods blades for free.Guess I better raise my rates up a little.:D[:0];) Nah!thats good neighboring I guess. Good thing I live out in the boonies cause I only have about 3 in the neighborhood,otherwise I would have alot of blades to sharpen[:0]