The time I tried to save money by sharpening my own lawn mower blade... disaster.

Last summer I was dead set on not paying $15 at the small engine shop in Waco. I watched a YouTube video for like ten minutes and figured I could just use a hand file. Ended up making the blade completely unbalanced... it shook the whole mower and left grass looking like a drunk person cut it. After three tries and a lot of cussing, I finally just took it to the shop. The guy there told me the angle was totally wrong and he fixed it for twelve bucks. Has anyone else wrecked something simple by trying to DIY it instead of just paying a pro?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliotadams15d ago

Not gonna lie, I think people overblow the whole blade balancing thing a bit. My buddy runs his mower with a blade he sharpened on a bench grinder with zero finesse and it cuts fine, just leaves a little strip here and there. Most riders and push mowers have enough vibration dampening that a slightly off blade isn't gonna blow up the whole engine or anything. A file is pretty forgiving too, harder to really mess up the angle compared to a grinder. Feels like the shop guy maybe just wanted to upsell you on a service you didn't totally need.

murphy.barbara15d ago

Jumping in with my own experience here. I once spent a whole afternoon balancing a blade on one of those little cone things, got it absolutely perfect, then put it on the mower and hit a rock hiding in the grass on the first pass. Bent the blade so bad it looked like a potato chip. All that balancing work down the drain. Your buddy is probably onto something. Half the time I just use a file, get it close, and call it good. My lawn looks okay from the road, and that's really the only view that matters.