Mower blade differences. Which ones work best?

There are many blades that could go onto your mower, but which one is best for your situation? There are several factors to consider when picking your blade.

0:00 - Picking a mower blade
0:44 - Blade Attributes
1:05 - Low Lift Blades
2:31 - Medium Lift Blades & Gator Blades
3:26 - High Lift Blades
4:58 - Flail Mower Knives
6:04 - Sickle Bar Knives
6:39 - 3pt Finish Mower Blades
7:15 - Rotary Cutter Blade
7:42 - Which mower blade is best?
9:15 - Messick's offers a wide range of mower blades

[justindavis]

Such a bright, open, and clean part warehouse.

[brandoncrimmins]

I have an old Bobcat Zero Turn that I love! I got it for free because the deck bearing were all completely shot. So I rebuilt it with cheapo parts from Amazon and EBay. Primarily because at the time I got it. We desperately needed a good commercial grade mower but definitely couldn’t afford one. So it was a true blessing. But as a diesel mechanic. We have a saying…

“Big trucks, Big bucks!”

After getting a quote from Bobcat around $1, 500 for new spindles, pulleys, belts and blades. I was able to fix it and get it mowing for $300 using cheap parts. Which I did plan to replace with genuine bobcat parts as they failed.

So… While the pulleys are cast iron and totally fine. The spindles and blades are another story. I had to buy a set of bobcat blades only half way through the season. And I had two blade spindles fail within a year.

So I definitely tell people to buy the OEM parts if you can. Because they usually are better parts. And typically are the best products for your machine

[henrymorgan]

Like changing to platinum spark plugs when the old ones have 50, 000 miles on them. Wow, these plugs ar great! Thanks Neal!

[reno]

Hi-lift blades on decks with multiple blades means the exit will have a huge flow of air. So much so that in dry conditions when the grass blades are weak, they can get blown over. This causes a worsening quality of cut toward the discharge side of the deck. In the spring I use high lift due to strong grass growth but in the dry part of the summer I switch to low lift blades.

[rodneylove]

I really really wish that you had a Michigan store. Now that I know how, I can't wait to buy blades

[terrycowger]

After watching this video
( Neil Messick narrated), I hold a new respect for Messick products and sales.
Throughout the commentary, Neil kept true to the videos statement intention without promoting to only buy from Messick.
To me, it says this company is customer/quality focused, and not trying to sell.
It was very accurate info and Neil came across as a professional who does all his own homework.
I will definitely be contacting Mr. Messick and their business.

[ronevans]

That nice to know I was not ware of that many blades. I had just bought a scag mower.

[guyprattii]

I have a Kubota BX2670. Had it for about 8 years. I have hit an embarrassing large amount of stuff with the original factory blades. The are holding up great. I mow about 5 acres of grass probably 6 times a year. When I do have to get new blades they will be the original ones.

[Sicktrickintuner]

Interesting, never really changed my blades much, just kept them sharp.
But the design makes sense.
Even though I’ve fixed and sharpened hundreds of blades before

[earlyriser]

excellent review on the various kinds of blades out there and their different purposes

[X]

I have a new land pride finish mower. Have tried both the medium lift (standard) and mulching OEM blades over the past year. Both cut grass phenomenally. If I had to nit pick the plain blades are slightly better on grass.
I put the mulching blades on for fall/spring clean up…about to switch back over to the standard blades.

For those wondering the landpride finish mower can out-cut a zero turn to my eye. Yeah it’s not as fast but the quality of cut with a ‘floating’ deck is amazing…and I get to spend more time tractoring.

[billfischer]

This is great information. I thought or assumed that a high lift blade would be better in thick grass Thankyou so much for setting me straight before I made that mistake

[amadeo]

I am a brush mitigation provider in socal and am looking to develop a self powered front mount atv flail mower similar to the rammy flail mower and value this content a lot.

[thomaspasquarelli]

Thank you for this info, it is good information to know as a homeowner and not a professional

[onebigbobo]

I used to low commercially. In East Tennessee the high lift blades do a better job on the tall fescue. I also believe that the high lift blades do a better job of “striping” a lawn.

Whatever you use, sharp blades cut better and keep lawns greener. That can lead to more sales down the road.

[johnhunter]

Great explanation of the science behind the blade!

[jameswatson]

Good stuff Neal! You answered some important questions for me.

[groundcontrol]

Neil, can you pass help? Having done commercial mowing for over 30 years, we've used alot of different blades for different mowers. We found that the Solid foil medium lifts did the best on the Lazers, as the notched foil always left a streak down (near) the center. (This was caused from the forward sweep of the center blades laying the grass down, some). We ran double blades quite often (simply stacking them) with phenomenal results and no guys, it didn't cause extra wear on the spindles or anything. This not only dispersed the grass in a consistency like that of grass seed, but also three it much farther.
Anyway, I now have a B2601 with a mmm and it doesn't cut worth a hill of beans. I've checked the deck setting for proper forward rake and all that, and everything is right on. The machine has PLENTY of power and goes through even the thickest of grass with no trouble. The problem is, with its slow pto driven blade speed, it just doesn't disperse the clippings, and flops them out no more than 2 rows, really. It simply cannot process the material. So, I'd like to figure a way to run double blades on the mmm deck. However, I need to find blades of that length and arbor size, but not cambered (bevels lower than the spindle arbor) like the originals. I need just a straight blade like a regular mower blade for the bottom blade. The reason being, is adding another cambered blade would interfere with the bottom inside edge of the deck.

[rob]

Thanks for yet another really helpful video for a newbie. I'm so glad you expanded the topic to cover more than just standard mower blades. No one else does this.

So, if different blades are available for flail mowers, why wouldn't my dealer have discussed this with me and offered options? I understand there is a Y shaped blade that you unfortunately didn't cover. May I ask what circumstance I would want to use that? Also, how often should I expect to replace the flail mower blades, if they're consumables? Can they be sharpened a few times before replacing?

Thanks again for your very instructive videos!

[bryanmccallum]

Great to know this information ! Thank you Neil!