Sharpen / Balance Mower Blades ?

[Ironhorse]

Anyone who sharpens their own mower blades take the time to check the balance in some way after the sharpening is done? I mow two acres, push mower and 48'' ZTR. Usually get two maybe three mow sessions before I change blades, have three sets for the ZTR and two for the push.

I remove bare minimum material using a 4 1/2'' grinder, just enough to clean up the edges. After the sharpening I don't check the balance and never have noticed any true excessive vibration of any sort. I do clean, scrape or wire brush excess grass and crud build up from the blades and let it go at that.

Just curious if any one actually balances their blades after sharpening. ????

[mongocanfly]

When I worked in the hardware store in high school we checked balance after sharpening...never really had to do anything if blade was in good shape...been 30 some odd yrs and I've never checked one since...never had any issues ...I visually look to make sure they arnt bent...that's about it..

[Steeveedee]

Depending on what kind of bearings you have in the mower head(?), balancing wouldn't be a bad thing. You can do it by simply hanging them from a string with the right size collet to keep the string centered in the bore, and grind until the thing hangs level within whatever tolerance you want.

[Wgesnerjr]

In the past, I would put a nail in our retaining wall and place the blade center hole over the nail. If one side was lower, I took a little off that side until it became "balanced". Seemed to work fine for me all these years.

[special-K]

I've always just sharpened and went with it. Never had a problem. I have bent blades and that was real obvious in how the mower ran. It seems as long as you can't notice the lop-sided flywheel (blade) making engine run rough it's close enough to balance. Or only out of balance if bent. At least that's been my experience.

[68Gold/white]

Those bobble type balancers are cheap. You can use a screwdriver that has a round shaft. Put some WD-40 on the shaft and simply place the blade on the screw driver shaft. Works

[truckster]

I use the nail method. It doesn't need to be exact. The only time I've had to remove a large amount of material is when my blades have been attacked by rocks.

[Indian113]

I bought a Sharpening Stone that attaches to my drill from Lowes. It wasn't very expensive but works real great. I haven't had any problems since keeping blades sharp and I balance mine on a nail.