Recommendations:
This is another great question. It appears to me to be insufficient just
to refer-on reel maintenance to an 'engineer' - a mower sharpening service.
CJ, there is indeed some truth in your statement, but there's a 'play it safe' aspect to this advice too.
Along with the decline in reel mower maintenance technique knowledge, there has been a general steep decline in mechanical repair experience/ability among the populace as a whole. And an even more severe decline in the number of folk who can 'nut out' repair issues, by visualising how something mechanical
should work, if all is well with it. The latter has largely become a 'bush mechanic' attribute, these days!
That's why, with reel mowers in particular, there's a reluctance to blithely advise novices to 'have a crack' at some tasks. Particularly those that are best done using special tools and fixtures [e.g. rusted in bedknife screw removal].
While we may have been able to make some estimate of an enquirer's workbench facilities and abilities with respect to a given task, and reply accordingly, there's another potential issue.
That is, that these discussion threads become a persistent record. And they
will be read by the clueless, at some time. Thus the possible issue of a reader, by their efforts, causing expensive or even irreparable damage [even to irreplaceable components] is very real, I feel.
No reflection on any poster to this thread here is intended, by the way.
Here is my check list:
- Is the service an agency, or do they sharpen reel and bottom blade themselves?
- Do they have 'the knowledge'? Example: do they understand required relief angles?
- Do they have purpose-built equipment?
- Do they grind both the reel and bottom blade?
- What is the price differential between delivering a complete machine, or just components?
Very good checklist there, CJ.
To 'return to our muttons' on reel/bedknife grinding, it seems that there are only three main makers of this specialised equipment in the world.
FOLEY in the US, and
HUNTER and
BERNHARD in the UK.
A look around those makers' websites will give one an idea of the high-tech automated equipment that is the state of the art for these tasks. And maybe the setup costs involved in offering these services, at a high quality!
