Many of us will have extricated our lawnmowers from the shed by now and put them to use on our lawns, so if you
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Step One: Preparing To Remove The Blade
Before you remove the blade from the lawn mower, disconnect the spark plug and refer to the manufacturers guide for advice on the best way to turn your lawn mower over; if upturned in the wrong manner oil could leak into the engine and cause it to malfunction. Thick gardening gloves are advisable for this job, as even a dull lawnmower blade can hurt your fingers and you will need to hold the blade still while undoing the mountings.
Step Two: Removing Debris
Using a heavy duty scraper, clean the blade of any debris, dried soil and grass and assess the condition of the edge. This is particularly important in areas with stony soil, as rocks and pebbles can bite into the blade edge and cause dents that cannot be sharpened out. Small nicks can be filed out, but this is quite a lot of work as the extra metal that has been filed off one side will have to be balanced on the other side; sometimes it is worth buying a new blade rather than spending hours filing and balancing a tired one.
If the blade can be sharpened, there are a number of ways to achieve the clean edge you need depending on the equipment you have to hand. If you only have hand tools, then use a vise to hold the blade still and use a bastard cut file along the edge of the blade using the existing bevel as a guide. The blade should be filed the same number of times on both cutting edges to ensure that the same amount of metal, and therefore weight, has been removed from both sides. This keeps the blade balanced so it rotates cleanly in the lawnmower.
Step Three: Sharpening The Blade
If you have a power drill and a sharpening stone attachment you can use this to clean up your lawn mower blade. Clamp the blade in a vise and sharpen away from the centre to the end of the blade. Again, the aim is to remove an equal amount from both sides, so try to keep the same speed and pressure for each side. A bench grinder can also be used to sharpen a lawnmower blade, but not many people have this equipment lying around in the shed. It is the quickest way of getting a clean edge on a lawnmower blade, but care must be taken with this equipment and it should not be used without training, and the use of safety glasses. The downside to the bench grinder is that it can remove too much metal, and a thin edge is prone to breakages which decrease the life of the blade.
To test the balance of the lawn mower blade, either use a blade balancing tool or hand the blade on a nail through the centre hole. If the blade tilts to one side, remove some metal from the back of the blade on that side to balance it out. Once the blade is balanced, install it back in the mowing deck, reconnect the spark plug and you are ready for another season of beautifully mown grass.