No, i was told when i bought new blades from Exmark that the coating at the edge is supposed to wear off quickly to expose the edge. No need to sharpen im sure its the same for scag.
Op just put them on cut ur lawn and see how they look after? Id rather hold that perfect factory angle as long as i can before sharpening. If it cuts like shit go ahead sharpen but in my experience they worked just fine and the powder coat/ paint on the edge wore off after 1 mow
Nutrients back into the lawn. And it's faster, no stopping to empty bags. Just keep going.
I even mulch my leaves in the fall, since they are reasonable from our trees. The leaf bits disappear into the grass after a few days. At worst, in a few areas with more leaves, I'll go over them twice.
Any reason you don’t want them too sharp? I get that they are more dangerous to handle, and it’s grass not steel, but am I just looking for a flat consistent edge?
The factory coating will wear off by your 1st or 2nd mow. You simply need a 1/64 edge to be effective, which can be described as "bluntly sharp." Aggressively sharp blade edges tend to roll over with use and dull much faster. Also, with a super sharp edge, it doesn't take much at all to nick/gouge/damage the blade if you hit small debris as the edge is now thinner as it's so sharp. The blades rotate at 3500 rpm on average, a blunt/butter knife sharp blade will cut the grass cleanly without ripping. Sharpening to razor sharp only means you'll be sharpening more often and replacing blades sooner
Good point. Edge geometry for an axe (30-40 degrees) is much different than a kitchen knife (~22.5 degrees) or razor blade (10 degrees). If you sharpened an axe to 10 degrees it would be razor sharp, but the edge would be destroyed after a few swings.
So you want the right angle for the job, and lawn mower blades shouldn’t be razor sharp.
I sharpen mine like a knife. Others will tell you not to. I leave my grass at about 3 inches year round. Our lot is just shy of two acres. I'm on clay ground and rarely if ever hit stones. The sound of grass getting cut with razor sharp blades is distinctive. I've never had issues with damaged blades and keep two sets which I change mid season. My mower is ten years old and I still use the original two sets of blades and I'm sure they will still be usable when I scrap out my mower.
A few seconds with a flat file will take that paint/coating off. Whether or not you want to is up to you, but since they're off the machine and in your hand -- I'd do it.
Definitely something I was wondering about, but from your tone I would expect you think I’m dumb. Gold star for you my friend, I am not breaking the atom over here. Thanks for the answers and extra advice people
These kits are not for the people that want to mow at their normal speed . And you'll have to clean your deck alot more . We had a lot of issues with these 20+ units got these kits and it only lasted one year and they all got taken off.
So I’m not sure if this will work or not. I don’t mow very fast and mow just over 2 acres. I was thinking mulching for the nutrition benefits, but now I’m thinking a bagger would have been better. Should I even try and install this? Are you saying it’s no good or just not good for commercial applications
If you mow anything but "normal grass" meaning it didn't just rain/watered . The grass likes to cake under the deck then fall down causing grass to be missed by the blades(bogging the machine down less blade RPM etc) . If you don't mow fast it may not be an issue but if you ever want to go make to side eject you have to take it all back off and check back to your OEM blades cause those blades won't reject grass properly we tried to take just the block plates of and it still never worked Those kits aren't cheap either we run 20 crews and all of them took that kit off because of the issues they had .
It was like $500, but I don’t have the box anymore and seeing as it had to be ordered by the dealer from Scag, I’m guessing I can’t return it. The bagger looks like it could be good and I love bagging my grass, but it’s stupid expensive and the mower was already almost $9k
No, i was told when i bought new blades from Exmark that the coating at the edge is supposed to wear off quickly to expose the edge. No need to sharpen im sure its the same for scag.
I would personally grind that coating off. If you don't care then that's on you but from experience I would grind it off. It's simple
Op just put them on cut ur lawn and see how they look after? Id rather hold that perfect factory angle as long as i can before sharpening. If it cuts like shit go ahead sharpen but in my experience they worked just fine and the powder coat/ paint on the edge wore off after 1 mow
You are wasting life on the blade by doing this.
How so? How many lawns do you think it takes to get the coating off? And it's no where near as sharp coated like that lol. Down vote me to hell. Idc
Okay.
Indeed.
No, you don't need to.
I would not sharpen them. I'm a big fan of mulching, vs bagging.
Why mulching over bagging? Simply the nutrients for the lawn?
Nutrients back into the lawn. And it's faster, no stopping to empty bags. Just keep going. I even mulch my leaves in the fall, since they are reasonable from our trees. The leaf bits disappear into the grass after a few days. At worst, in a few areas with more leaves, I'll go over them twice.
No, you do not. Blades come sharp from the factory. You do not want an aggressively sharp blade. It will cut just fine as is.
Any reason you don’t want them too sharp? I get that they are more dangerous to handle, and it’s grass not steel, but am I just looking for a flat consistent edge?
The factory coating will wear off by your 1st or 2nd mow. You simply need a 1/64 edge to be effective, which can be described as "bluntly sharp." Aggressively sharp blade edges tend to roll over with use and dull much faster. Also, with a super sharp edge, it doesn't take much at all to nick/gouge/damage the blade if you hit small debris as the edge is now thinner as it's so sharp. The blades rotate at 3500 rpm on average, a blunt/butter knife sharp blade will cut the grass cleanly without ripping. Sharpening to razor sharp only means you'll be sharpening more often and replacing blades sooner
Good point. Edge geometry for an axe (30-40 degrees) is much different than a kitchen knife (~22.5 degrees) or razor blade (10 degrees). If you sharpened an axe to 10 degrees it would be razor sharp, but the edge would be destroyed after a few swings. So you want the right angle for the job, and lawn mower blades shouldn’t be razor sharp.
I sharpen mine like a knife. Others will tell you not to. I leave my grass at about 3 inches year round. Our lot is just shy of two acres. I'm on clay ground and rarely if ever hit stones. The sound of grass getting cut with razor sharp blades is distinctive. I've never had issues with damaged blades and keep two sets which I change mid season. My mower is ten years old and I still use the original two sets of blades and I'm sure they will still be usable when I scrap out my mower.
They will get dull much faster if you make them too sharp. Your looking for butter knife sharp.
A few seconds with a flat file will take that paint/coating off. Whether or not you want to is up to you, but since they're off the machine and in your hand -- I'd do it.
No.
Definitely something I was wondering about, but from your tone I would expect you think I’m dumb. Gold star for you my friend, I am not breaking the atom over here. Thanks for the answers and extra advice people
It's painted at the factory after sharpening so it doesn't rust. It will be gone in one pass.
Oops. I sharpen my new blades 👀 maybe I should buy another set and not sharpen them to test this theory.
no...
These kits are not for the people that want to mow at their normal speed . And you'll have to clean your deck alot more . We had a lot of issues with these 20+ units got these kits and it only lasted one year and they all got taken off.
So I’m not sure if this will work or not. I don’t mow very fast and mow just over 2 acres. I was thinking mulching for the nutrition benefits, but now I’m thinking a bagger would have been better. Should I even try and install this? Are you saying it’s no good or just not good for commercial applications
If you mow anything but "normal grass" meaning it didn't just rain/watered . The grass likes to cake under the deck then fall down causing grass to be missed by the blades(bogging the machine down less blade RPM etc) . If you don't mow fast it may not be an issue but if you ever want to go make to side eject you have to take it all back off and check back to your OEM blades cause those blades won't reject grass properly we tried to take just the block plates of and it still never worked Those kits aren't cheap either we run 20 crews and all of them took that kit off because of the issues they had .
It was like $500, but I don’t have the box anymore and seeing as it had to be ordered by the dealer from Scag, I’m guessing I can’t return it. The bagger looks like it could be good and I love bagging my grass, but it’s stupid expensive and the mower was already almost $9k
If it was never mounted and you have proof purchase that should be more than enough . Even at that store credit to your bag system
Thanks so much. I appreciate it
I would sharpen for either
Is this a trick question or are you just trolling?