Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Vises and bench grinders?

You don't need to sharpen you blades that often, and if you think they need sharpening, just run them up to a local hardware store or mower repair shop. They will do a correct job in sharpening the blades. I've got the same Zero Turn Commercial mower for about 7-8 yrs now, and have only had to sharpen them 4-5 times. Push mowers are pretty cheap, you might just get a new one.

I let my lawn guy worry about keeping his lawnmower blades sharp, I use my Harbor Freight vise and cheap Task Force bench grinder for stuff I actually enjoy messing around with. If you are going to have a work bench a vise is great tool to have, you'll probably use it more then you may initially think. The bench grinder, not so much.

Wilton is the staple for bench vises (metal type). Wood working is a different animal altogether. There is a very good knife sharpening system that uses a wheel on a bench grinder, and different compounds along with a polishing wheel. I tried it and it works amazingly. Kinda spooky to use though. I'd probably look for a system with a holder, verse the type where you hold the knife by hand.

I just bought a 4.5" vise from Home Despot. Cheap, but it'll do the job for now.

Oh irony of ironies.

After I spent that time sharpening the blade and cleaning the mower and changing the oil, etc, etc, I was mowing the strop near the street, slipped off the curb, and bent the blade.

Talent.

Consider it practice for the next blade. The sharpening part, not the bending part.

Yeah, I couldn't help but notice that the blade I bought was substantially less sharp than the one I bent.

I'm not touching it.

Ken, i have a vice and a bench grinder from harbor freight.

this is the vice i have
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-swivel-vise-with-anvil-67039.html

this is the bench grinder
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-bench-grinder-39798.html

If your going to sharpen your lawnmower blade on your own Ken, you should also invest in one of these....
http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Mower-Blade...3312&sr=1-1


The harbor freight vice and grinder that i linked you to work very well for the money, I do a decent amount of metal work.. These two items get used quite regularly at my house. For the money you can't go wrong... Are they as "high quality" as other options... No, but they do the job just fine, and cost a fraction of what the premium product does...

I end up sharpening every new blade before I put it on the mower.

Hey Ken,

You will find your vice super handy for tons of things. Nothing like having a third arm sometimes.

Here are some other good things to know when you tackle sharpening a lawn mower blade. I learned at least one of them the hard way so I thought I would share.

If you are just honing the fine edge, I personally think a large hand file is a better tool. It's easier to not change the correct angle and easier to keep things in balance. If you can hand file it twice a season or at least every season, you may never need to go back to the extra steel stealing of a grinder. It doesn't actually take much longer either if you have a good file. It's really amazing what a good file can do.

Angle. Be careful to keep the same angle when using a grinder. It's easy to change the angle when you can take off so much steel so quickly. My push and tractor are 40 and 45 degrees respectively. A flatter angle might seem better but it will chip easier. Also, remember your grinding disk is round. You need to keep things even or the roundness will give you too thin an edge which may be sharper but is more prone to chipping.

Balance. The other easy thing to do with a grinder is to remove a bit more on one side or the other. If the blade is not balanced, you will get bad vibrations. I know, I've done it.

Heat. Don't press down hard with the grinder or use it too long without giving the metal time to cool. If you heat the metal too much, it will lose it's temper and will chip and wear faster. If it changes colour, you created too much heat.