I had the blade sharpened at the beginning of the season, but it needed a second sharpening.

At the season's start, I had the blade sharpened at a local hardware store. I had thought they had done a good job of sharpening. They also sharpened my blade last year.

But this time 'round, I took the blade to a local Lawn Mower Repair Shop. Oh my goodness! The difference is striking! My blade is sooo much sharper now. The Lawn Mower Shop also sharpened the blade along a longer portion of the blade. So I now have about twice the length of sharp edge than I had with the hardware store.

The lawn mower shop did a much better job but only charged $5 compared to $8 from the hardware store. The mower shop also sharpened the blade while I waited (just 10 minutes). In contrast, the hardware store only sharpens blades once a week, on Fridays (so you drop your blade off during the week, and pick it up on Saturday).

I was so impressed by the professionalism of this Lawn Mower Repair Shop. I'll be using them again and again.

Oh, and I forgot to say, the lawn mower shop also balanced the blade. I had assumed the balancing was done by the hardware store, too, but now I'm not so sure. If you only sharpen blades once a week, you must have a lot of blades to sharpen all at once, so maybe you rush though it, instead of tenderly caring for each blade one at a time.

I had my neighbor do my blades this spring, and I don't think they were all that dull to begin, but he has a grinder and balancing thingy. The only concern I had was that he thought the blades should be razor sharp, whereas I read butter knife sharp is the recommendation. Any thoughts on that?

The interesting thing is the shop that sharpened the blade was a lawn mower Repair Shop only (they don't sell any new lawn mowers at all--just repair them). Out of curiosity, I called a shop that both sells lawn mowers and repairs them. Unfortunately, they said it takes 2 days before you get the blade back, so they don't sharpen while you wait. But 2 days is better than the potential week-long wait at the hardware store.

I guess there's a lot of variation in how shops work. The second shop wanted $14 to sharpen mulching blades, instead of the $5 I paid at the first shop, or the $8 at the hardware store. It pays to comparison shop!

No you do not want the blade razor or even knife sharp. You would roll the edge over on the first pass.

There are lots of ways to sharpen a lawn mower blade. For weekly sharpening as long as the blade does not have nicks, dents, or damaged is to remove it, clamp it in a vice, and use a file following the manufacture bevel angle.

If you have nicks and dents your best tool is a hand held angle grinder with the blade clamped as above in a vice. Start with the grinding wheel flat against the blade and remove just enough material to get a good flat edge, and remove the same amount of material on both sides to maintain balance. Then turn the grinder on the correct bevel angle the manufacture set for the blade, and just get it down till you can just detect and edge with your finger. Leave the edge a bit rough and do not hone it smooth. Then invest in a $2 balance cone from the or use a sharpened dowel rod.

Last thing you want to use is a bench grinder because it will put a hallow ground on the blade.

Best method is a milled edge, but very few shops have a mill and just use a bench grinder. If you can find a shop with a mill blade sharpener it will be expensive of $10 to $30 depending on the blade. In that case just buy a new blade.

Last note. Keep it sharpened once a week with a file. Once you have used a grinder once, and the blade becomes nicked or dented again. Time for a new blade. Do not grind or mill it more than once or twice at the very most. Blades are cheap.

Wished they made a blade that was serrated.That would be a grass eating machine.