Lawnmower

Sometimes I amaze myself. I've got this old reel push mower that was in desperate need of sharpening. My first thought was to take it somewhere because I didn't really have the desire to figure it out for myself. I ended up spending the better part of a day pursuing this line of thought. The problem is that this machine is so old that the blade adjustment is different than more modern machines. Turns out that the blade adjustment is the most critical factor in sharpening a reel mower. So this kid at the hardware store is explaining why he can't sharpen my mower and I'm looking at it and thinking that the setup on my machine would allow for very precise adjustment, the little light comes on.  Back at the shop, I do a little surfing and find a video featuring a cute Canadian tomboy going through the steps to sharpen a reel mower. Cool! I follow the link to Amazon where I can buy a kit for around $18. But I already own everything in the kit, except the crank. You need a crank to turn the blade backwards. Hmmm. I grab a piece of 1/4 inch round, stick it in the vise, grab a hammer and start wailing. The left end hooks on the axle of the mower and the right end chucks up in my hand drill. Some tweaking was required to get it to run straight, but I now know that I could keep that mower going for a long, long time.