Sharpening Blades

I'm not knocking the Oregon/Burr-King, because I've seen what it can do, but it looks like a grinder that was made to work as a blade sharpener vs. being designed as a sharpener. How messy is it? I've never seen video of one where the debris is contained; it looks like it just kind of goes everywhere. Is there a way to do curvy mulching blades on it, or do you have to freehand them? The 60" belt is nice, I must admit.

The Burr-king are primarily designed for knife making and sharpening. Different models for different purposes. The Oregon blade sharpener version has special design features for setting the grinding angle on the blade as well as the attachment for chainsaw bar rail grinding. The are kind of messy but so is an angle grinder. Curvy blades basically require free handing, but I don't think there is a commercial lawnmower blade sharpener that really is designed for mulching blades.

borisdmower said:

Sharpen!!! My blades wear from the back. (Sandblasted) I’m lucky if I need to sharpen them once before they are flogged out, I reckon they last about 15 hours. Mower shop said that is normal for where I live.

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AH sandy soil huh. Try those Oregon G6 blades. You might also dust down the lawn with water prior to mowing. Yup sand kills blades fast.

J.D. Dave said:

Slomo, I don't understand how you are using the scale would you explain that a little better. I have lots of time on my hands and would love to try this.

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Simply weigh each blade end where the edge is on your scale. An immovable object to place the center of the blade on where the bolt is. The scale and the center support at the same height. Flip the blade and weigh the other side. If you are anal like me, I spend time dialing my blades in for a neutral balance.

You will see like I did, after using those cone balancers, leaves a lot to be perfectly balanced. Cone balancer said it was balanced. Scale said another story.

But heck these are just mower blades. Shop guys use the more aggressive 36 grit route. They love the speed. Us homeowners use hand files and food scales.

BTBO said:

A 220 grit flap disc is not aggressive enough, unless you have time to spare. I use a 60 grit with a moderate amount of pressure.

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Now that I think about it, I might need more like 80-100 grit. So as you say 60 grit should be good. Good tip.

ILENGINE said:

Curvy blades basically require free handing, but I don't think there is a commercial lawnmower blade sharpener that really is designed for mulching blades.

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Magna-Matic 8200 series and the discontinued 8000 series. Works well and really easy to use.