Blade Grinders

[omrkr]

Just throwing out a question to everyone. What are some opinions on blade grinders, are the a complete necessity? If so, when you guys bill for sharpening blades in the spring do you actually itemize blade sharpening or do you account for the time in the flat rate? I use a side grinder now, I take my time and get the angles right. I know that I probably should use a blade grinder but man, they are expensive. I am just starting out on my own after working in a shop for quite a while. They had a blade sharpener at one shop I was at but did not at a larger John Deere dealer. Wondering if I should throw one on my preseason order. Thanks for the replies

[bgsengine]

Blade Grinder.. Hmmm.. we DO have one from Oregon - for larger commercial blades.. Charge $8 per blade sharpened and balanced.. and yes they are itemized that way... but for your typical small pushmower blade, it's faster and cheaper to simply replace it if it needs sharpening (at least, for us, since we can sell most of the more common, and frequently difficult to sharpen, mower blades for $8 each anyway) I did at one time ( A long time ago) have a custom bench grinder set up (using Ruby grinding wheel, but they are expensive at $80 a pop or more) which was extremely effective, but required a lot of practice, and ability to eyeball the correct angle and hold the blade steady. - See below:
Results of one blade sharpened on that get-up:


Those specialized blade grinders like the Oregon , Magna-Matic, Neary - they are excellent for the large, heavy commercial mower blades - they grind MUCH faster than bench grinder, and with the Ruby wheel, much cooler... and a no-brainer to operate as they are set up for specific mower blade angles, so you won't have to 'eyeball" anything.. BUT, they are absolutely, completely WORTHLESS on those el-cheapo lightweight blades like those used on mulching mowers, small lawn tractors, and the like. (blades are too thin, and can't get a correct angle on them.)

Would be better off investing $300 in common mower blades and simply replace them Vs. sharpening, since the time it takes to sharpen at shop labor rate often costs more than a new blade at retail... that or find a competitor down the road that still lives in the dark ages and charges $4.50/blade for sharpening and have them sharpen blades for you then turn around and charge customer $7 - $8 and double your money. Of course if you get a lot of commercial or "ProSumer" stuff like Exmark, Snapper, Deere, and the like the investment in a grinder may well be worth it - you'd only need to sharpen 40 blades at $8 apiece to make back the investment, and commercial cutters don't have as much a problem with paying $8 apiece to sharpen their $40/ each commercial mower blades.

Really all depends on your volume and type of blades you get.

[KE4AVB]

Here I run a small shop. I could not justify the cost of one of the dedicated grinders; maybe later I can justify the 500-600 dollars.

Most of the blades I receive for sharping are of the mulching type. Before I even attempt to sharpen the blades I inspect them for excessive wear and if bent. Over 3/4 of them get new replacement blades. Of what left I do grind and balance them on a small bench grinder except for those were installed backwards (upside down) . As Brian says it take a lot practice to get the angles right. Those commercial blades are real pain to sharpen without the right stones. Using aluminum oxide on 1/4 inch commercial blades can take up to 30 minutes to just sharpen one blade especially if you trying to restore the tip edge.

My vendor doesn't even carry any Rudy or ceramic stones less than 7 inches so as time goes by I will need upgrade to a 8 inch bench grinder so I can even fit a Rudy or ceramic stone.

As for blades, the way my customers bend blades here on their riders I just carry heavy duty aftermarket versions whenever I can. It helps a lot that there is only the need for two major manufactures (MTD and Husqvarna (AYP)) most times. But with Briggs now bringing the Murray line back to life I may need to add them back to shelf. I usually carry one or two sets of the common rider blades. This is because my main vendor is only 1-2 out by UPS if the need should arise that I need more in a hurry. Most times I just add the replacements on a regular re-stock order.

From my vendor their heat treated blades are less than the price of the thinner OEM blades and the customers are happier with the prices. Here we only talking a few thousandths of inch but it does seem to help on the bending problems. I do have one customer that still bend blades a lot but he does lawns for HUD and you never know what are left on those lawns.

[38racing]

Some shops just use an angle grinder.

[bgsengine]

Some shops just use an angle grinder.

Yeah, and that is precisely why I have 6 or 7 new customers last year that are now coming back again and again.. they were not happy at being charged $10 each for a crappy blade sharpening job using an angle grinder (or something else) resulting in a bad edge and ragged cut - one customer brought in his deck with a bearing issue within an hour after picking it up from a competitor, and while servicing the bearings, he looked at the blades and said "Hey, that isn't sharp!" - they can look like they have an edge and the burr left behind makes it feel sharp, until the first couple minutes of use, then the edge is rounded and dull again.. I sharpened his blades, and a week later he brought in his spare set because his mower was cutting better and smoother than it had since it was new.

I love competitors that "backyard" small stuff like that - the customers DO notice things like that.. and we end up with many new customers "stolen" from the competition.

[StarTech]

Whatever you do, just remember your business reputation is on the line. For me any job worth doing should be done to the best of my abilities. I see blade sharping as a service to my customers. It usually brings in more profitable repairs and sales later.

Last year a local competitor that did an overhaul of engine failed to do it right. The customer then brings it to me complaining it was smoking more now than before the rebuild. It failed the leakdown test right away. I suggested that I could tear it down to find what wrong but could not honor the fellow's workmanship. He went back, got his money back, and brought a new engine from me. When I disassemble the old engine all he had done was slapped in a set of rings; he didn't even hone the cylinder. It would not did any good as it had to go to .030 over instead of the standard size and crankshaft was worn out too.

[rogerf]

Hallo folks

Bad work and having to go back more than once for the same job was the reason I started doing my own small engine repairs. I've found that by buying the manual and downloading the IPL's and taking time to understand what's going on, I started getting more reliable results than I'd been paying for.

I had been given a basic training in maintaining machinery and machine shop practice forty years plus ago when I joined the military, but had never had to apply it to small engines until "forced" by unreliable and relatively expensive work.

Finding the old forum was like finding a whole group of wonderfully experienced craftsmen who were willing to share their knowledge The same goes for this forum. I am truly grateful thank you all - you have saved me hours of frustration by reading your advice.

I am now careful to use original parts wherever possible and now suspect that non-original parts could have been the reason for the bad work in the first place. This is because when I went back to that same shop to buy parts they couldn't give me the original manufacturers parts, only after market. They also told me to reuse gaskets - just use some gasket cement.

Sorry for the long winded ramble, but it's how one shop lost a customer.

Cheers, Roger.

[bobodu]

On the other end of the "customer service" spectrum...I would sharpen the blade on most anything that came in with whatever worked and was handy for free.

[Walt 2002]

I had access to a $400 blade sharpener for years but chose to use an angle grinder and NO, I never had anyone come back about one. Of course with today's throw away mentality there are few people left who actually repair things. I do not like bench grinders for sharpening blades.

Walt Conner

[Deere2me]

Just throwing out a question to everyone. What are some opinions on blade grinders, are the a complete necessity? If so, when you guys bill for sharpening blades in the spring do you actually itemize blade sharpening or do you account for the time in the flat rate? I use a side grinder now, I take my time and get the angles right. I know that I probably should use a blade grinder but man, they are expensive. I am just starting out on my own after working in a shop for quite a while. They had a blade sharpener at one shop I was at but did not at a larger John Deere dealer. Wondering if I should throw one on my preseason order. Thanks for the replies

In my opinion, blade grinders are a waste of money. As is pretty much the general consensus, no?
I too dislike/don't use a bench grinder. I occasionally will use my angle grinder on really banged up commercial blades.
My go-to weapons of choice are my 1/4" air straight die grinder with a large 3/4" dia. straight cylindrical carbide burr. The other is a right angle die grinder fitted with a small cut-off wheel.
Can't burn the edge using a carbide burr! Both are compact enough that I generally will sharpen most all homeowner type blades in situ. They work really well on the wavy blades most mowers use.
I have a Magna-Matic balancer, but rarely use it on homeowner blades.

I usually include blade sharpening as part of the "service" on harry homeowner mowers/riders. On most commercial units, it's included in the service also, but ya gotta bill accordingly.