Keeping your lawn mower blades is a super simple process that you can complete in just a few minutes if you have the right tools and materials on hand. Not only does cleaning the blades help out your lawn mower, but it helps to avoid some potential problems with your lawn. Let me explain why and how to clean lawn mower blades with my simple process.
Cleaning Lawn Mower Blades (The Short Explanation)
You can use the following steps to get your lawn mower blades nice and clean. These steps will both remove dirt and protect the blades. During this process, you’ll also remove any potential hazards from the blades. Here’s an overview of the steps.
- Disable the Lawn Mower
- Raise the Cutting Deck
- Brush Off Loose Material
- Spray the Blades with WD-40 Original
- Wipe Down the Blades
- Repeat Steps As Required
- Lightly Coat the Blades with WD-40 Dry Lube
Why It’s Important to Keep Your Lawn Mower Blade Clean
Even if you have new blades, dirt or dried grass can make them cut like they are old and dull. Here are some of the issues that you might run into if you don’t clean your lawn mower blades on a regular basis.
- Torn Grass
- Increased Disease Risk
- Leaving Strips of Grass
- Grass Clumping
- More Demand on your Lawn Mower
- Harder Mowing Experience
- Reduced Deck Air Flow
- Clogging Chute
- Bagging Issues
- Problems Mulching
- Corrosion of Cutting Blades
What You’ll Need On Hand to Clean Your Mower’s Blade
As you can see, there is quite a list of issues that dirty lawn mower blades can cause. So, to avoid these types of problems, here’s a list of tools and parts your need for cleaning lawn mower blades.
- WD-40 Original
- WD-40 Dry Lube
- Hard Brush
- Cleaning Cloth
How to Clean Lawn Mower Blades (Super Simple Process)
Now that you have everything you need, let’s move on to the steps for how to clean lawn mower blades. Let’s take a look.
Disable the Lawn Mower
The first job is to disable your lawn mower. You can do this by disconnecting the spark plug lead and tucking it safely out of the way. This will prevent the engine from ever being able to start while you are working on the blades. Alternatively, you could pop off one of the cables from the battery or remove the main fuse if you have an electric starter.
Raise the Cutting Deck
Next, you’ll want to gain access to the cutting blades. For you guys with riding lawn mowers, you’ll want to raise the deck to its highest position and lock it into place. For those with a push mower, you’ll want to lower the handlebars to the ground and fix them in place. I usually just grab something heavy lying around in my shed for this. A paint tin or a toolbox is usually the first thing that comes to mind.
Brush Off Loose Material
Now onto the actual cleaning. So, take a stiff brush and brush off all loose material. You’ll find that some of the dirt and dried grass isn’t going to come off. We’ll take care of that next. For a hard brush, you could use a handheld brush from your local box store, usually used for cleaning around the home. I have seen people use wire brushes, but this seems overkill. However, it will still do the same job if this is what you have.
Spray the Blades with WD-40 Original
Grab a spray can of WD-40 Original and give both sides of the blade a good spray. Then allow the spray to soak into the dried dirt. Usually, I wait two or three minutes for this to happen. Also, using the straw in the spray nozzle can help get to those hard-to-reach parts on the back and top of the blade.
Wipe Down the Blades
Next, you’ll want to use a cleaning cloth to wipe down the blades. For stubborn dirt, you might need to use the stiff brush again. You’re aiming to remove all the dirt you have just dislodged from the lawn mower blades.
Repeat Steps As Required
Depending on how dirty your lawn mower blades are, you might need to repeat the steps a few times. I find myself going back and forth between spraying and cleaning a few times to get all of the dirt off. I tend to find cleaning a bit harder during the summer when everything seems to dry much harder.
Lightly Coat the Blades with WD-40 Dry Lube
The final step is to coat the blades with WD-40’s Dry Lube with PTFE. I prefer to use this product over the regular WD-40 Original as I’m pretty sure the contents of the original product aren’t good for the grass. So, spray the blades and wipe them down with a clean cloth.
How Often Should Lawn Mower Blades Be Cleaned?
How often do you need to clean your mower blades? Well, this really depends on how dirty they get. I’d say cleaning your blades after every time you mow might be too much, but it wouldn’t hurt. For me, I tend to take a look at my blades before every use. If they look dirty, I spend five minutes cleaning them.
The longest I would leave my lawn mower blades without cleaning them is a maximum of a month during cutting season. But that’s me. I always want to get the best cut possible.
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