Does anyone make a good 21” lawnmower blade anymore?

[Bruce Page]

When I was a kid many moons ago, I used to mow a lot of the neighborhood lawns with my trusty Toro lawnmower. As I remember, the catch bag was larger, and the Toro would easily fill it full. Today I have a Troy-Built that barely will fill a smaller bag half full before I need to empty it. I’m assuming the old Toro had a better blade design than today’s blades.
Are today’s blades all the same?

[Lee DeRaud]

My folks had a Toro in the mid-1960s...as I (dimly) recall, it supposedly had a different deck design to create some kind of vortex effect, probably a special blade to go with it. But yeah, it truly sucked up the clippings.

Or I could be hallucinating. :)

[Ronald Blue]

When I was a kid many moons ago, I used to mow a lot of the neighborhood lawns with my trusty Toro lawnmower. As I remember, the catch bag was larger, and the Toro would easily fill it full. Today I have a Troy-Built that barely will fill a smaller bag half full before I need to empty it. I’m assuming the old Toro had a better blade design than today’s blades.
Are today’s blades all the same?

Look into Gator brand blades. They are game changers in my opinion. They are made by Oregon. They show a 21" for a Troy Built but I don't know if it's the correct blade or not.

[Stan Calow]

I think the last several mowers I've had - Honda (2), Toro (2), John Deere, Craftsman - were designed primarily to be mulchers, with bagging as an option. The deck design more than the blade. The Hondas having two blades, in fact, to chop things up finer.

[Tom M King]

Blades matter, but it's the mower design more so than simply the blades that determine how good it gets up everything. My Wife is a dog breeder of Havanese. They have long hair, and will drag anything in the house on their fur. We have two grass dog yards, so I've gone through multiple mowers until we finally found the ultimate.

For years we used a not high priced bagging mower, followed by a 13hp Billygoat blower to clean the yards.

When the last mower played out, we decided to spend more money on one. The Snapper Hi Vac mower is as much vacuum cleaner as it is a mower. It cleans the ground in one pass cutting the grass better that I ever did following with the Billygoat. It really is like it's been gone over with a vacuum cleaner.

The blade is belt driven, geared up to spin much faster than the motor. That helps, but the deck is designed in a spiral up shape to the chute that directs everything into the bag.

It comes both manual start, and electric start. My Wife wanted the electric start, so that's what we bought. I thought electric start was a little silly at first, but now believe it was worth the extra cost. If you're getting up leaves with it, the bag fills quickly, and you have to cut the mower off to empty the bag, or it will cover you with whatever it's picking up. That means starting, and stopping the mower multiple times, so the electric start saves a lot of effort and sweat.

The price is a bit ridiculous for the amount of mower, but after the first use, we both decided it was well worth it. All other baggers are wannabes.

https://www.snapper.com/na/en_us/product-catalog/pro/walk-behind-mowers/hi-vac-lawn-mower.html

[Jim Becker]

Gator for sure...

[Ron Selzer]

My folks had a Toro in the mid-1960s...as I (dimly) recall, it supposedly had a different deck design to create some kind of vortex effect, probably a special blade to go with it. But yeah, it truly sucked up the clippings.

Or I could be hallucinating. :)

The old Toro's with the whirlwind deck were fantastic with a bag

[Tom M King]

I've been experimenting with blades on my big lawnmower for a couple of seasons now. The blades I like best are the Cub Cadet Extreme 2-N-1. This blade in the link is not exactly like the ones I like because mine are 1/4" thick and 25" long. They have the mulching teeth, but also a turned up lift wing on the end. They chop as good as a mulching blade, but also pull the grass up for an even cut, and throw it more than flatter mulching blades.

They turn leaves into finely shredded pieces, and everything gets thrown to the side. I didn't even start the Billy Goat blower last year. I blew the leaves away from the house with a handheld, and then shredded, and threw everything out of the yard.

I'm not sure how they would work with a push mower, but I expect pretty good.

https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/blades/xtreme-2-in-1-blade-for-42-inch-cutting-decks/942-04308-X.html

I tried Gator blades on the last bagging mower we had, but they didn't have much lift to them, and left a lot on the ground. They do a fine job of mulching, but you need lift for bagging.

[Ronald Blue]

The deck might not be the best design but there is no blade that will maximize it's abilities more than these. Plus they hold an edge better than anything I have ever used before.

https://www.oregonproducts.com/en/products/lawn-and-garden/mower-blades/gator-mulching-blades/c/g6-mulchingblade-p

[Tom M King]

Those look pretty good. I might be remembering what I thought were Gator blades incorrectly with our last push mower. The ones I didn't like were green. The ones I did like were black, so they may have been the Oregon Gator blades. I just remembered them as Oregon blades.

My Cub Cadet sold me some extra blades when I bought the mower and said they were Gator blades, but I don't think Oregon makes them that big, and those blades didn't have good life. The Cub Cadet Extreme ones lasted twice as long, and needed sharpening less often.

In any case the turned up wing on the end is very important for bagging.

[Tom M King]

I was wrong about Oregon not making that size. I did a Google search for 25" mower blades, and they did come up. I did not like these blades as much as the Cub Cadet branded ones. The wing on the end of the CC blade is longer, and they only have one mulching tooth. I believe these were the blades my dealer sold me as extra blades.

https://www.oregonproducts.com/en/gator%c2%ae-g6%e2%84%a2-blade%2c-25%22/p/396-743

[Ronald Blue]

Those look pretty good. I might be remembering what I thought were Gator blades incorrectly with our last push mower. The ones I didn't like were green. The ones I did like were black, so they may have been the Oregon Gator blades. I just remembered them as Oregon blades.

In any case the turned up wing on the end is very important for bagging.

My son got some bright green ones from somewhere and they don't work as well on his John Deere.

[Bruce Wrenn]

The Snapper High Vacs from the mid eighties (the ones with the vertical pull rope B&S engines) out bagged any other mower I ever used. Still do to this day. However I no longer bag any clippings. The mowers I now use are dumpster rescues. Clean the water out of the carburetor, use them a season, and sell them off the next spring.

[Bruce Page]

Thanks all, there’s a lot of good info here. I’ve learned that there are 3 general blade types: regular/standard, mulching, and high lift. I have the regular/standard and know that it doesn’t do well with my mower. I’ve also learned that the mulching blades perform great in wetter, more humid climates but are not as effective for use in the desert southwest (Albuquerque).
That leaves the high lift blade. The hunt is on.

Tom, that Snapper looks like the perfect solution but overkill for my small patch of grass.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My Honda has worked well for me for about 13 years now. It's of the double-blade type.

[Tom M King]

I have a Lot of grass to cut, so need efficient equipment, which includes the right kind of sharp blades, and being easy to swap them. Lift coming so I don't have to use the loader to lift the lawn mower.

[Dan Hunkele]

Stens has very good blades. They make a high lift blade but also have a bagging blade. The high lift blade is designed more for mulching.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks all, there’s a lot of good info here. I’ve learned that there are 3 general blade types: regular/standard, mulching, and high lift. I have the regular/standard and know that it doesn’t do well with my mower. I’ve also learned that the mulching blades perform great in wetter, more humid climates but are not as effective for use in the desert southwest (Albuquerque).
That leaves the high lift blade. The hunt is on.

Tom, that Snapper looks like the perfect solution but overkill for my small patch of grass.

The reason I like the Oregon Gator blade is they are a nice combination of mulch and high lift. I don't bag and appreciate the smaller particles created as well as the even cut height, even in challenging situations

[Kev Williams]

the old Toro 'whirlwind tunnel' side discharge mowers, their decks were shaped just like turbochargers, someone was thinking... ;)

483002

[Brian Elfert]

I have a Lot of grass to cut, so need efficient equipment, which includes the right kind of sharp blades, and being easy to swap them. Lift coming so I don't have to use the loader to lift the lawn mower.

My Grasshopper mower has a power lift folding deck. I just hit a switch and it folds upward to work on the bottom of the deck. It basically uses a linear actuator to lift the deck. I had to work under the deck yesterday so it was nice to just hit that switch and have it fold up.

I need to figure out what size blades my mower takes. Grasshopper is not listed on the Oregon site. I can't imagine Oregon doesn't make a blade that will work. The blades don't look to be unique.

[Tom M King]

The deck on the Snapper HiVac is very similar to that Toro, but the outlet is more up, than back. The bag is very easy to get on and off, and empty. I expect the blade on that Toro was geared up like the Snapper. I expect the two are very similar.

I looked at Grasshoppers, but I have 1/4 mile of shoreline to cut that's fairly steep sidehill cutting for part of it, so needed a mower specifically good for sidehill cutting. When I get the hoist in the shop, it won't be so bad. At least I don't even have to bend over to swap blades.

The little Snapper, I just pull the whole thing up in the air with the loader, so no bending over, to swap blades on that either. Fortunately, we don't have a whole lot of grass to cut with the little mower. It only takes about 10 minutes to do each dog yard.

[Brian Elfert]

I worked at a place in the early 1990s that got a small lift designed specifically for lifting commercial riding mowers. The biggest mowers they had were the Toro Groundsmaster 300 series with 72" deck. I saw a lift like that on a website once, but I have not been able to find it again. It was a real lift that lifted all four wheels. It was not one of those little lifts that just lifts the front wheels of a riding mower.

[Tom M King]

I just pick up the front end, and set the mower on the big flat rear end. I put a 5500 pound marine stainless lifting eye on the front. I don't want to get under it. I want to stand in front of it. See picture in post #16 with it sitting up on its back end.

I'm just waiting to get an I-beam delivered for a chain hoist trolley. I can use the hoist in the mechanic shop for other things too. It's not too bad using the tractor with loader, but it's just something else to have to do.

[Bruce Page]

I just ordered the Oregon Gator G5 blade. It should be a big improvement over the generic Big Box blade.
Thanks again!

[Tom M King]

Will probably not only work better, but last longer too.

[Jim Becker]

Will probably not only work better, but last longer too.
Yea, impressively beefy blades!

[Tom M King]

I was sharpening lawnmower blades this morning, and remembered this thread. I found manufacturer and model numbers stamped on the bottom of the blades I had mentioned in this thread that I liked so much. They hadn't been sharpened for a few clicks over 19 hours, which means they have mowed well over 50 acres of grass. They could have easily gone more, but the grass had gotten so thick from a week of torrential rains that I decided I'd like it better if they were sharp. They were pretty hard to sharpen, even not needing it badly, so they may have some carbides in them.

They have lasted a lot better than the Oregon blades.

I was surprised to see that they were made by, or probably for, MTD, and sold by Cub Cadet. I thought the dealer was probably getting a premium for them at 45 dollars per blade, but the only place I found online that sells them had the same price. They're worth it for this 72" mower if I can go that long between sharpenings, and they will obviously last double what the Oregon blades did. The letter at the end of the part number is an X. I guess that's for Extreme.

I took a picture of the stamp on the bottom. I don't know how many sizes these are sold in, but they're Cub Cadet Extreme blades. I've had other MTD blades on smaller mowers, and they were nothing like these, even less than impressive, so don't just buy the brand name.

[Bruce Page]

I mounted the Oregon Gator G5 blade Sunday and tried it out. It is much beefier than the Borg blade and filled the bag much better. The jury is out on how well the mulching will work here in the SW but I’m eager to find out.

[Michael Weber]

Just ordered a 28 inch mulching Gator blade to replace the one on the old Snapper rear engine rider I keep nursing along year to year. Been happy with them.