Dull blade made my mowing twice as slow for 13 years

I've been cutting my yard with the same push mower since 2011 and figured the slow pace was just normal. Saturday I finished my quarter acre in about 40 minutes, which felt off, so I mentioned it to the guy two houses down. He asked to check the blade and saw it was dull as a butter knife. He showed me how to sharpen it with a simple file, took maybe 15 minutes in his driveway. First cut after that, I finished in 26 minutes, which was a huge difference. I never thought a neglected blade could add that much time and strain. Anyone else have a tool they used for years before someone pointed out a basic fix?}

2 comments

2 Comments

the_mila22d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, how did you not lose your mind pushing that thing for 13 years? I feel you though, I had a hedge trimmer that I thought was just weak, turns out the blades were so gummed up it was basically just mashing the branches. It's wild how you just get used to the struggle and think that's just how it is. Now I check my blades every spring just to be safe, that 15 minute fix saved you so much time and effort it's honestly unreal.

raymitchell21d ago

Funny enough I ran my drills backwards for years before my nephew pointed out the reverse switch.