Push lawnmower

Here is a quick project that I did quickly in early June that never got published until now.  With the purchase of our home this winter I got my small patch of grass, and to be the good neighbor I should mow that lawn.  As outdoor storage space is limited, and the area of grass is small we decided to purchase a reel lawnmower.  I found a Gardena 380C on Kijiji and purchased it.  It had been used for a couple of seasons and I had noticed the blade was dull when I purchased it.

I tried it out on the lawn that was very lush and it seemed more like I was flailing my lawn into submission rather than cutting it and it took about 1.5 hours to do our little patch of grass.  I began to look for a sharpening kit.  They are not very common, but I did find a sharpening kit at Canadian Tire. 

This kit is more accurately called a honing kit.  First you take the wheels off because you will use the wheel to turn the blade against the back bar and sharpen the blades.  I tried getting the wheels off and it was nearly impossible due to the snap rings holding them in place.  So instead of injuring myself, which I came close to doing I went and acquired some snap ring pliers also from Canadian Tire.

Once I got the wheels off and applied the honing compound to the reels I noticed that there was a large gap between the reel and the back bar.  I adjusted the bar to be closer to the reel.  Be careful not to make contact as it will dent the bar and leave a rough bur edge that will knock on the reels.  Following the remaining instructions and putting the mower back together was real easy.  Now my mowing time is about 20 minutes depending on the amount of growth during the week.