Are you looking to replace your lawn mower blade? Perhaps you’re wondering how to tell when your blade needs replacing? To keep your lawn looking healthy, you’ll need to replace or sharpen your lawnmower blade regularly. You’ll also need to service your lawnmower and carry out any necessary maintenance periodically. This article will look at ways you can tell that your lawnmower blade needs replacing.
Replacing a blade
When you buy your lawnmower, it will come with a blade that should last a long time if it’s correctly cared for. In some cases, the same blade can be kept for years. To ensure that your blade can cut your grass cleanly, it should be sharpened regularly.
It’s a good idea to check your lawnmower blade over, in the spring, at the start of the season. It will likely need to be sharpened at this time. You may find that your blade needs to be sharpened again in the middle of the season. This will depend on how often you use your lawnmower and how big a piece of grass you are cutting. As a minimum, you’ll likely need to sharpen your blade once a year.
If, however, your lawnmower hits a rock or other hard obstacle or picks up any debris such as sticks or stones, you may find that your blade is damaged and needs to be replaced. It’s hard to estimate how long a lawnmower blade will last before you need to either replace or sharpen it. Here are a few signs that you can look out for that indicate it’s time to sharpen your blade.
An Uneven Lawn
One of the first things you’ll notice if you’re cutting your grass with a blunt blade is that your lawn doesn’t look as good as it usually does. There may be uneven patches, or you may find that you have to go over your lawn several times before its cut right. It will take a lot more effort to mow your grass with a dull blade, and you’ll have to compensate for missed patches of grass.
If you’re using a lawnmower with a sharp blade, you’ll be able to pass your mower over your grass once, and every piece of grass will be cut to the same height. If you find that mowing your lawn has become more of an effort or more time consuming, this is a sure sign that your lawnmower blade either needs replacing or needs to be sharpened.
Inspect the grass
You can carefully inspect your grass after you’ve cut your lawn to see whether each piece of grass is cleanly cut. If you see blades of grass that look torn, rather then cleanly-sliced, it likely to be time to sharpen your blade.
If you continue to cut your grass with a dull blade, it is likely to affect your grass’s health. It may start to lose its lush, green color and could even turn an unhealthy brown.
Inspect your blade
One of the best ways to see if your lawnmower needs a new blade is to inspect it. You’ll usually be able to keep your old blade and give it a sharpen. However, if you see that there are chips or dents in the blade, you may need to replace it.
You should also check the thickness of your blade as this can erode over time due to debris like sand and dirt. This could cause the metal to become thinner and weaker. If you notice thinning, its definitely time to get a new blade. It’s safer to replace the blade when you see any problems rather than wait for it to break during mowing.
If a blade breaks when you’re mowing, this could be very dangerous as a piece of metal is likely to fly off and could injure yourself or a bystander.
Conclusion
The best way to figure out when your lawnmower blade needs to be replaced is to inspect it regularly. Also, pay close attention to the condition of your grass. This will help you decide whether your lawnmower blade needs to be sharpened or replaced.