Who doesn’t want a nice house behind a nice yard? I sure do. However, keeping a healthy and attractive yard can be quite a bit of work, especially when you want to give it that clean-cut look. If necessary it can involve protecting grass from potential damage or disease. One simple task you can do to keep a healthy looking yard is keeping the lawn mower blades sharp. Adequately sharpened and balanced blades can help keep up a bright, clean appearance. If however, you notice a browning effect shortly after mowing it may be time to pull out your blade grinder or bring your blades over to your local lawn mower repair shop. They’ll likely be able to sharpen them for you and should only cost a few dollars. I sure wish the same could be said for when we get ours sharpened.
Does it really matter if I keep the lawn mower blades Sharp?
Short answer: Yes
I wish it weren’t true. No really, we have to sharpen quite a few blades. Basically, a dull blade can cause a lot of shredded and torn grass blades and could be a big factor in the discoloration. In worse scenarios, it could contribute to dying grass or lawn diseases. Check out this list of diseases if needed: https://www.bayeradvanced.com/guides/common-lawn-diseases
And of course, during our lovely (not lovely) Texas summers, lawns can be severely stressed out, making them more vulnerable to damage. Grass blades that do not have a clean cut are not able to heal as quickly and can be susceptible to the environment. This makes disease spores able to enter damaged tissue much easier.
Added on to the browning effect could be uneven grass height. If the blades are worn down enough it may be time to replace them instead of sharpening. Once it’s been through enough a blade will no longer lift the grass under it as effectively as before. Some grass will get cut where it should be and some where it shouldn’t be.
How often should you sharpen your lawnmower blades?
Short answer: 8hrs
The 8-hour rule is what I get told by many other professionals. After 8-10 hours of use, it’s best to sharpen. Now if your yard doesn’t even take an hour, great! You may only need to sharpen every couple months. However, if you’re like us it may need to be done after every work day. I guess you can see why I wasn’t too excited about getting our blades sharpened earlier. The number of hours required before servicing your blades can vary. If you’re hitting rocks, roots, or dirt it may shorten the amount of time you have. Common signs that signal dullness includes dents, knicks, and especially smoothness in the blade. Once they become severely dull the blades may not cut efficiently enough and some parts of the yard may need to be double cut. Besides time-consuming, this can simply be an irritating task.
Hope this helps!
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