Patent ID: 7329172

Claim:
A device for sharpening a rotary mower blade with a rotational axis at its center, a longitudinal axis and a pair of cutting edges, one cutting edge on each of opposed sides of the longitudinal axis, comprising: a blade mounting assembly for supporting a blade to be sharpened for pivoting about the blade's rotational axis, said mounting assembly being held in a fixed state relative to a main base during sharpening; at least one grinder wheel having an axis of rotation and a grinding surface oriented perpendicular to the grinder wheel's axis of rotation; a grinder wheel carriage operably connected to the at least one grinder wheel and mounted to the main base to provide the grinder wheel linear motion along a grinding path generally parallel to and in grinding engagement with a cutting edge of the blade; means for moving the carriage and grinder wheel along the grinding path; and a lock for selectively holding and releasing the blade mounting assembly from its fixed state into a freely pivoting state sufficient to reveal rotational imbalance in the blade.