Powered reel mower.

[ldj]

Can you hand sharpen a antique powered reel mower? What are chances a mower shop can do it?

 

[J Hamilton]

Only if they are set up to do those. You
might be better off talking to someone at a
golf course that has done them. I have
backlapped many of them

 

[Mule Meat]

I will agree with Mr. J. Try to get in touch with a local golf courses maintenance department. Good bet that if they do not have someone that sharpens they could put you in touch with someone that does. If they do have someone that can sharpen them. Offer him a little job on the side sharping and tuning your mower.

You know that not only the Reel blade needs sharpened. But also the Cutter blade. Then the cutter blades needs to be properly adjusted for them to cut good. And it helps if the guy/gal tuning a reel mower can do so to match the grass type. Augustine, Winter rye and say grass with a lot of clover all need different adjustments to give a good finish.

I have three old push type reel mowers and would like to find wooden rollers for two of them.

 

[timcasbolt]

If it's done the same as the people powered version, you can find a video on youtube for it. Not really a big deal.

 

[ldj]

(quoted from post at 15:19:22 10/27/23) Only if they are set up to do those. You
might be better off talking to someone at a
golf course that has done them. I have
backlapped many of them

What is backlapping?

 

[cwtech]

No, a reel mower can not be sharpened by hand.

A reel has 5 to 8 blades twisted into a spiral. ...To do the job correctly, the reel must be ground to a perfect cylinder. ...This requires a specialized sharpening machine. ...The blades are ground to a certain degree of bevel.

The bottom blade, called the bedknife, is ground in two planes. ...It must be ground flat from end to end and the narrow edge must also be ground evenly from end to end. ....This process also requires a specialized grinding machine.

At our shop, after sharpening, the reel & bedknife were adjusted to cleanly shear telephone-book paper.

There is a process called back-lapping which can help restore an old sharpening job, but it will not remove nicks caused by stones or wires passing between the reel and bedknife. ...To do this, the reel has to be turned backwards by hand or power. ...Lapping compound is brushed onto the reel blades while they are spinning. ...The bedknife has to be against the reel to achieve any results.

 

[Gene Davis (Ga)]

To cut clean reel mower blades have to have good clean square front edges and also have a little relief on the edge, that is the front of the blade has to be a few thousandth of an inch higher than the rear edge of the blade. This is usually achived by being ground in a set up by a professional reel grinding machine with a good operator. The cutter bar, (AKA bed knife), has to also have a little bit of height to the front lip of it so the blade doesn't just drag all the way across it. Between grindings there is a procedure known as back lapping that does restore the cutting edge for a while. This is done by adjusting the reel to have a few thousandths of an inch of clearance between it and the bed knife, then connecting the reel to a slow speed motor that turns the reel backwards and a lapping conpound, (abrasive) is applied to the blades as they revolve and this take a very minute amount off the front of the blades to restore the square edge to the front edge of the blade and that causes it to give a clean cut and not tear or pull the grass blades. The back lapping will only remove a few thousandths of an inch so if the reel is gapped or something like that, it will have to be ground. When sharpened and then back lapped properly the reel will cut one thickness of a newspaper very cleanly. This is from my years of maintaing golf course reel mowers.

 

[caterpillar guy]

So since most choppers have a spiral knife and a straight ledger why could not the bed knife be a straight piece like the ledger in a chopper and still cut. Or is it because the material is moving towards the knives and ledger as posed to the knife and bed knife are the ones moving. Curious on this.

 

[Texasmark]

Is that why our reel powered mower wouldn't cut very well when I was an early teen? We had a St. Augustine lawn but some Dallis
grass invaded somewhat and it wouldn't cut the stems....just left them standing up. Ugly.

 

[J Hamilton]

Yes it is. The reel and bedknife have to be ground, backlapped and adjusted to match correctly to get an even and quality cut