If you have determined that the blades on your reel mower need sharpening, there are several ways to accomplish this. The method you choose will depend on your personal preference. If you have a lot of arm strength and your reel mower is fairly clean, go for the One Wheel Off method. If your mower is dirty, use the Two Wheels Off method so you can clean the parts and re-grease the actual axle. If you are not very physically strong but you are skilled, you can try the push sharpening method. And finally, if you have a bit and bit set, try the Drill Bit Method.
all methods
To get started, you’ll need your walk-behind lawn mower, a flat-head screwdriver, and your sharpening kit.
You may want to remove the mower handle, but we found that leaving it in place gives us more stability when turning the reel. You may need to try both ways to find out which is the easiest way for you. Turn your mower upside down. Take the screwdriver and slide it under the wheel cover to remove them. This will reveal the actual shaft or axis. The wheel is attached to the axle by an E-ring, sometimes also called a C-ring. There is a flat spot on the E-ring where you can insert the head of the screwdriver and just pop it out.
Take the wheel off the axle. Remove the gear that sits on the shaft just inside the wheel. Slide the gear off the shaft and store it in a safe place. Behind the gear you will find a small piece of metal called a ratchet that fits onto the shaft. Be careful that the ratchet does not slip out inadvertently or you could lose it. From here you can continue reading or move on to your preferred method of sharpening.
one wheel off method
Seat the honing crank onto the shaft and ratchet. Apply lapping compound to the cutting edges of the blades. Apply sparingly or it tends to run off the cut edge, but make sure all cut surfaces are well covered. Apply to all sheets, turning the crank to rotate the spool as necessary to expose the entire sheet. This time you’ll be turning the real backwards, or the other way around as you would if you were mowing the grass.
Once all cut surfaces have been covered with lapping compound, turn the crank to turn the real one back for about 7-8 minutes. In some cases, the lapping compound will begin to change color. You want to see the cut edge be shiny and shiny with a smooth edge. This is hard work! Take breaks, help your kids, or try using a drill bit (below) to spin the reel.
Once you feel the blades are sharp, repeat the paper test to ensure all cutting surfaces are sharp. If the paper cuts cleanly and easily, you’re done. Adjust the blades if necessary.
Replace the gear, wheel, E-ring (will be harder to put back on than pry it off), and end cover.
Two Wheels Out Method
With the mower upside down, remove the wheel cover, E-ring, gear and pawl from the second side. Hold the ratchet in place on the first wheel. Clean any dirt as needed.
Seat the honing crank onto the shaft and ratchet. Apply lapping compound to the cutting edges of the blades. Apply sparingly or it tends to run off the cut edge, but make sure all cut surfaces are covered. Apply to all sheets, turning the crank to rotate the spool as necessary to expose the entire sheet. This time you’ll be turning the real backwards, or the other way around as you would if you were mowing the grass.
Once all cut surfaces have been covered with lapping compound, turn the crank to turn the real one back for about 7-8 minutes. In some cases, the lapping compound will begin to change color. You want to see the cut edge be shiny and shiny with a smooth edge. This is hard work! Take breaks, help your kids, or try using a drill bit (below) to spin the reel.
Once you feel the blades are sharp, repeat the paper test to ensure all cutting surfaces are sharp. If the paper cuts cleanly and easily, you’re done. Adjust the blades if necessary.
Replace the gear, wheel, E-ring (it will be more difficult to put it back on than to pry it off), and the side cover on one wheel, then repeat for the second wheel.
push method
This method initially seems more complicated, but once we experience the hard work of sharpening the arm, the ease of push sharpening seems to far outweigh the slightly longer disassembly and assembly time.
We haven’t tested this method ourselves, but we came across it while reading reviews. His suggestion “Remove both wheels, remove and shift the ratchet gears from L to R and vice versa, flip the pawls over, apply compound, and push the mower back for about 5 minutes.” Reading this, we’re assuming you want to put the left gear and ratchet on the right side of the reel shaft and vice versa. We also assumed that you would need to replace the wheels to push it back.
Once you think the blades are sharp, you’ll need to remove the wheels and repeat the paper test to make sure all cutting surfaces are sharp. If the paper cuts cleanly and easily, you’re done. Adjust the blades if necessary. Change the gears and pawls to their original sides and then replace the wheels. We’ll update you if we test this method to let you know how it works. I think once it was done once it wouldn’t look as confusing and would be much easier than turning by hand.
drill method
There were many mentions of spinning the reel with a drill. You will need to find a socket accessory that will fit over the actual shaft; a socket size of 16 or 17 mm was most frequently mentioned. We recommend removing the ratchet as it could fly off as the drill rotates the shaft. Follow disassembly instructions as for the one or two wheel method. If you remove both gears, we recommend removing both pawls. Place the bushing over the actual shaft and let the drill do the work for you. No one seems to mention how long to do this, but we imagine it would take much less time than by hand. Visually check the sharpness of your blades after 3-4 minutes. Remount the wheel(s) as for other methods.
That’s all! It may seem complicated, but after the first time, you’ll be a pro!