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How many of you guy's sharpen your own blades?
If so what do you use for a balancer, I just hang them from a nail on the barn wall but have heard that's not a good way to check for balance.

Been looking for a good balancer, but most of them are 100 bucks or better.

Give me some ideas.

:welcome:


Stens and Oregon both do a plastic pin balancer about $ 10.
The others are the magneticis which are great but really designed for the professional repairers and lawn care companies

I use the Magna-Matic 8000 blade sharpener and the Magna-Matic 1000 balancer. I built a replica of the stand only a little more substantial and a lot less expensive. The Magna-Matic is the top of the line in blade sharpeners though some costly, I decided to go with the professional model and off set the cost by sharpening blades around the neighborhood. It paid for itself over a couple of years. It does a very professional job of sharpening blades, I like to think I turn out a better sharpening than a factory blade, plus the balancer works great.

Angle grinder with a 80 grit flapper sanding disk.

John R said:

How many of you guy's sharpen your own blades?
If so what do you use for a balancer, I just hang them from a nail on the barn wall but have heard that's not a good way to check for balance.

Been looking for a good balancer, but most of them are 100 bucks or better.

Give me some ideas.

Click to expand...

You can get the Oregon Balancer from Amazon like Bert suggested and it's metal (Zinc die-cast) for like $5.87 You should be able to pick up the same thing at most any mower shop. You are also correct about the nail thing in the barn, that's nothing more than a myth. Consistent accurate balance measure can only be obtained at the “center-of-rotation” i.e. in the center of the lawn mower blade’s mounting hole.

http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Mower-Blade-Balancer-42-100/dp/B000VYFOJM

I use a large angle grinder with a 4 or 6 inch fine grit stone wheel. I feel that it gives me a smoother and flater edge and because I do so many blades a day, I can get done quicker. I also have the Magna-Matic balancer.

I use a Magna-matic balancer and the Burrking 760 belt sharpener. Nothing like being able to sharpen and balance a lawnmower blade in under 1 minute.

Ric said:

You can get the Oregon Balancer from Amazon like Bert suggested and it's metal (Zinc die-cast) for like $5.87 You should be able to pick up the same thing at most any mower shop. You are also correct about the nail thing in the barn, that's nothing more than a myth. Consistent accurate balance measure can only be obtained at the “center-of-rotation” i.e. in the center of the lawn mower blade’s mounting hole.

http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Mower-Blade-Balancer-42-100/dp/B000VYFOJM

Click to expand...

Gees you blokes are spoiled.
We get the exact same item down here but it is plastic only.

Using one of these types you can also balance the blade front back as well as left right

Thanks guy's, I do have a Walls BC-121 blade grinder that I use, just looking for a way to balance the blades as not to put a strain on the spindles.

The magna matic is only good if your blade has a round hole. Most homeowners have mowers with a star blade.
Most days I hit my blades with a file so much faster. No need to remove them from the mower.

I've always used the nail on the wall that's what I was thought years ago when I worked for the Dept. of Conservation, and I have never noticed any vibrations. I also used to always use a bench grinder to sharpen but bought one of those stones with a plastic guide on one side you just put on a drill it takes a little longer but does a fantastic jod.

Nail in the wall is what I've done for years, only reading on these forums found out it didn't work.
Stands to reason unless you get dead center of the hole in the blade it won't work right.