Should I sharpen or replace my lawn mower blades?
While an angle grinder can easily fix dull edges, finding cracks in the middle or chips on the blade means it is time for a replacement. Owners often hesitate to sharpen their mowers after a few seasons because they are unsure if this damage pushes them into replacement territory.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Sharpening blades using an angle grinderDid this help you?
- 2Buying a spare set of blades to swap and sharpen laterDid this help you?
- 3Using a carbide hand sharpenerDid this help you?
- 4Taking blades to a landscape equipment shop to be aligned and servicedDid this help you?
- 5Sharpening through the chips anywayDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Had my mower for about 3 seasons now and haven’t really paid much attention to the blades previously but they’re pretty dull but also cracking in the middle portions(not the blade portions) but is this replace territory or get an angle grinder and sharper territory?”source ↗
“Is it time to replace these? They were replaced two years ago.”source ↗
“I was planning to do that, but I didn’t know about the chipping to the blade”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Why do brand-new lawnmower blades cut so roughly?
- 2Lawn mower shaking badly right after changing the blade
- 14How to tell if a worn timing belt actually needs replacing
- 3When should I cut back ornamental grasses?
- 6Are later steps in lawn care programs actually necessary?
- 2How to slow down a self-propelled lawn mower that's too fast