Ninja Blade on Snapper

[bertsmobile1]

Bob read the previous post.
The thickness of the cutting edge will vary from blade to blade.
Gators ( Oregeon brand name ) ar sharp enough to cut your fingers on if you grab the edge hard
Most swingback blades will in fact as they have a knife edge.
Oem blades have a definate leading edge from about .040" to .125" depending upon which particular blade.

Think about it.
Your trimmer uses round plastic string to cut the grass and thus has a very dull leading edge.
Come blades will not work with some decks.
Mulching must be done to dry grass and the amount of cut can be no more than 1/3 the height of the uncut grass and you must mow slower.
Once the deck gets too high it can not maintain the correct airflow under the deck so it spits the grass out in clumps or windrows.

 

[snapperdog]

My experiences with ninja blades has been all positive. Bent one up on my 21" push and replaced with a gator and was very disappointed. The gator holds too many clippings in the deck and bogs the engine, the ninja turns the clippings into dust. I even put a mulch kit and three ninja blades on my 48" snapper lawn tractor and am very pleased. I hand sharpen them on a vise with a file takes about 15 minutes and produces a fantastic durable edge. Unfortunately ninja blades have become a little pricey.

 

[wingless]

Welcome to the forum.

My experience w/ the 21" walk behind Ninja blade is very positive. The cut is great and the blade life is terrific. They are "easy" to sharpen.

The only negative I experience is when cutting very thick, lush grass, the frequency of cutting has to be short or the taller grass will cause the rear wheels to collect the very fine cut grass dust, then unwind the strips of grass matting periodically, leaving long tracks on the lawn. The tracks may be broken up w/ a swiping boot motion.

 

[wingless]

A shop press is my latest favorite tool.

It is great for flattening something bent, or for bending something flat.

It might be useful for restoring the bent blade.

 

[slomo]

My opinion on sharpening, never use a grinder. Removes too much material at once. Then you have to balance the blade again on a GOOD balancer.

Why not use a simple hand file like I do? I can sharpen a blade in two whole minutes. It's also much more forgiving if you get the wrong bevel angle on it which is highly critical on a good edge.

Most people use a grinder and see shiny new metal and "think" it's sharp then stop. They never test the new edge out. Also grinding wheels are round, bevels are flat. See where this is going? Round wheels will contact in a small spot. A flat file will contact the entire bevel. Wrong tool for the job.

Next we can talk about over heating the bevel with a grinder and killing the heat treat, if the blade was even hardened from the get-go. Most OEM blades are a poor soft steel. Oregon blades are hardened, lets just leave it at that. Again my 3 cents guys.

slomo