Patent ID: 7503835

Claim:
A method of sharpening a reel blade on a lawnmower reel, the method comprising: positioning a grinding wheel in contact with the reel blade so that an axis of rotation of the grinding wheel is transverse to a longitudinal axis of the reel; rotating the grinding wheel about its axis of rotation; linearly translating the grinding wheel along a longitudinal path; and rotating the reel about its longitudinal axis; wherein positioning the grinding wheel in contact with the reel blade comprises: positioning the grinding wheel so that the axis of rotation of the grinding wheel is transverse to a cutting edge of the reel blade, and rotation of the grinding wheel is along a cutting surface of the reel blade, tangentially contacting the cutting surface of the reel blade with an outer surface of the grinding wheel, and wherein the reel blade has a relief surface on one side of the reel blade and a cutting surface having a cutting edge on a distal end of the reel blade, and the step of positioning the grinding wheel includes positioning the grinding wheel so that the axis of rotation of the grinding wheel is transverse to the cutting edge on the distal end of the reel blade.