Sharpen blades or replace

[tigercat]

How often do you guys service the blades? My year old 52" Tigercat is only a home owner machine and I don't put the hours on it like some of you. I have around 20 hrs on it now. On the other machines I own (Craftsman tractor) I sharpen the blades yearly, but on the Scag I wonder if it's even needed. The scag is cutting good and I'm careful not to run over stuff that can damage it. Currently it's working hard bagging my fall clean up weekly. My leaf pile is huge out front, thanks to Scag reliability. So far I'm really happy I spent the money on the professional zero turn machine. The yard tractors are toys next to it and break down often.

What I do currently is I blow the leaves off the fence line and around the trees, then jump on 1 of my older machines just to pre mulch the leaves, then hop on the scag and pick it up. The scag can do it all but I use the other machines just to spread the work around some.

 

[Carscw]

I would just look at the blades.
Mulching and or bagging leaves will dull the blades faster than just cutting grass.
You can look on YouTube and see how to use a file on the blades.
The file is mostly used as a way to keep the blades sharp or to just clean them up ( remove small nicks )

 

[drew7811]

It's that time of the year for me. I have maybe one more cutting (mulching of leaves) left before winter and then I will give my Tiger a final greasing, cleaning, sharpening. I normally like to sharpen my blades about 3 times a season and I use a hand file on them.

 

[Mad Mackie]

I usually go thru 3-4 sets of blades per season. This season I have already passed the 2,000 bushel mark and I'm not thru with the leaves yet!! I use Oregon 91-620 blades as they are less expensive than Scag OEM blades and much longer lasting than the Stens replacements for the Scag blades, my machine has a 48" deck. Although the Oregon blade is not a direct replacement, it does a fine job and doesn't round over on the corner as the Stens blades do.
I have my own Oregon Blade grinder and when I get a pile of blades and the time I'll do a batch. Sometimes I have to trash 2 out of 6 blades due to excessive cutting edge damage or bending. My pile has 12 blades in it now and these are just from my Scag. The Hustler blades are usually too damaged to re-sharpen being used on a cemetery duty machine. I use Hustler OEM blades as they are about the same price as aftermarket blades but last a lot longer. One of the three blades on the Hustler is a L/H turner as it has a rear discharge 60" deck. My blade sharpener will do L/H blades and my former machines were Case/Ingersoll GTs and were left hand discharge decks(pre 1989) but with collection systems.
Mad Mackie in CT

 

[Raw Dodge]

I try to sharpen every 8 cutting hours...replace the blades when the outer corner( leading edge) is gone .90 percent of the cutting is done by the outer inch of the blade..remember to balance the blades even if you only hang then horizontally on a nail it's better than nothing...I usually get a full season out of a set(100-150) hrs per machine.

 

[tigercat]

Well. I guess Scag blades wear too. I have a few sets of new replacements hanging on a nail in the garage. They look twice and thick as the homeowner machines. But by your responses to me, they wear just like anything else. The week of thanksgiving I'm off from work and the leaves here should be done. I plan to go thru it, wash, change the oil etc and I'll sharpen the blades for next season. Thanks.

 

[reynoldston]

Buy the new blades and install them. Clean, sharpen, and balance the old blades in your spare time then you will have two sets of blades.