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avisk8

Useful Care Tips

avisk8
11 years ago

I am new to the forum and just got everything fixed on my Simplicity 4212h. See http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tractor/msg0516453821956.html?56

Thank you rcbe and Mownie.

I am starting this to have a place for all care tips, tricks or short cuts to be shared from blade sharpening to deck cleaning. Please share any of the things you have found to work over the years.

I am looking for a good tip to sharpen my mower blades by hand? My bastrd file just doesn't seem to get them sharp.

This post was edited by avisk8 on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 15:50

Comments (6)

  • tomplum
    11 years ago

    I would think that we would need many threads to categorize the plethora of tips that could come in this forum. As far as the issues at hand, I would shudder if I had to sharpen the average mower blade I see by hand! An affordable and versatile tool is a hand held disc grinder. Most are 4.5" now days and if you get a brand you would recognize, it will give you years of service and have many uses. A standard grinding wheel will work fine or a flap style zircon disc is more forgiving. Sometimes the best blade sharpening tool is simply an extra set of blades. That takes the pressure off needing them done right away and you can drop them at a dealer for proper sharpening and balancing. For scraping decks, I have several rounded end versions that were fashioned from putty knives, scrapers and mason tools.

  • mownie
    11 years ago

    Illegitimi non carborundum (don't let the bastrds grind you down).
    avisk8, I'll tell you what I do to store useful website information. It is sort of like a twist on the "Favorites" concept.
    Instead of using the "my favorites" feature on the computer (which will end up a mess when it gets loaded) I keep all my web sites and web pages (like this thread, it is a web page) in a Microsoft Wordpad file located in a folder.
    To start the process I opened a Wordpad file as if I was going to create a typewritten document (well, actually....that's what it is).
    Then when I'm reading or viewing something on a website or webpage that I want to come back to later I "save it" by doing the following steps.
    Place your cursor inside the web address (URL) space at the top on the screen. Right click mouse and choose Copy from the flyout menu (or Ctrl+C for key stroke folks).
    Next, open your WordPad file where you keep your DIY URLs and find a blank space on the page. Right click mouse and choose Paste from the flyout menu (or Ctrl+V for key folks).
    the URL you copied will be pasted on the page. Add a name or description for the URL so you know what its content is. Keep the URL separated from any other words or characters on the page by using blank spaces. If any words or characters adjoin the pasted URL it becomes invalid and will not work.
    To utilize the URL simply place you cursor on the desired URL and left click one time. A dialogue box will appear asking if you want to open this link. Click Yes and you will be redirected to the URL webpage.
    Now I will post 3 "screen shots" to illustrate what I see on my screen when I do all this (using Windows 7).
    If you are using Windows XP or Vista you might have to manually "copy and paste" the saved URL into the address bar of your browser (but that's just a couple extra clicks so no big deal).
    My apologies in advance to more nerdy computer folks if I sound a bit outdated or anything but this system does work well for me even if I did grope around in the dark until I found it.
    Image # 1 shows how to highlight and Copy the webpage URL.

    This post was edited by mownie on Sun, Jan 6, 13 at 10:52

  • mownie
    11 years ago

    Image number 3 shows how to use the URL in your saved file when you want to visit the webpage it represents.

    This post was edited by mownie on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 18:55

  • mownie
    11 years ago

    To amass a list of useful URLs on any subject, use the forum search featured at the bottom of the Forum opening page.
    You can try out different ways of wording your search and you will be shown a list of threads from the forum archives that contain some of your search words/phrases.
    Just click on a link offered from the results list of your search to read a thread. If that thread has some info you would like to read again sometime, just follow the steps I outlined to save the URL for that thread in your saving file.

  • mownie
    11 years ago

    Another way to "save data" that you might want to refer to later is to use WordPad to Copy and Paste text directly from the webpage text on the screen.
    Essentially, it works like this in most webpage text blocks.
    Use your cursor or other means to highlight and copy the text you want to save. Next, open a new (or existing) WordPad file.
    Place your cursor on the page where you want to Paste the text and right click. Choose Paste from the flyout menu and the text will be added to the page. When you exit the file you can name it and Save it to a location in your computer.
    Saving the text in this manner makes it available to you "offline" and sometime that is a benefit. Printing such documents is usually easier than printing direct from the webpage too.

  • krnuttle
    11 years ago

    One other way to keep those tips, etc, is to print them when you find them. Since this is the 21st century, don't print to paper but print to PDF files, call the file something to do with the tip ie sharpening mower blades.

    Create a folder on your hard drive and save all those PDF's to that folder. You may make multiple folders inside house, yard, tractor, garage, etc.

    When you are looking for something, open any of your tips, and search the whole folder for key words in the information you are looking.

    If you use a tip and find there is a comment to the tip just add the comment to the PDF file and save it

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