Convert lawnmower to mulcher?

Posted by Charlie Darwin on May 16, 2009, 9:42 am

Subject line says it all.

I've got an MTD/Honda self-propelled walk behind rotary lawn mower. I'm
tired of bagging/dumping the clippings and want to replace stock blade with
a mulching blade.

Can do-- yes, no?

Posted by Dante M. Catoni on May 16, 2009, 10:17 am

Charlie Darwin wrote:

> Subject line says it all.
>
> I've got an MTD/Honda self-propelled walk behind rotary lawn mower. I'm
> tired of bagging/dumping the clippings and want to replace stock blade with
> a mulching blade.
>
> Can do-- yes, no?

I think you can just put a good mulching blade on and close up the hole
for the bag. It should work fine.

I just got one of those new Craftsman Advanced mulching blades that are
split at the ends. I am actually very surprised at how well it works.
All the leaves and grass are cut into 1/4" pieces.

Dante

Posted by Ed Pawlowski on May 16, 2009, 10:20 am

> Subject line says it all.
> I've got an MTD/Honda self-propelled walk behind rotary lawn mower. I'm
> tired of bagging/dumping the clippings and want to replace stock blade
> with a mulching blade.
> Can do-- yes, no?

Yes. Put on a mulching blade and block the exit chute. You get a better
lawn too. Don't cut it too short either.

Posted by on May 16, 2009, 12:20 pm

> > Subject line says it all.
> > I've got an MTD/Honda self-propelled walk behind rotary lawn mower. I'm
> > tired of bagging/dumping the clippings and want to replace stock blade
> > with a mulching blade.
> > Can do-- yes, no?

> Yes. Put on a mulching blade and block the exit chute. =A0You get a bette=

> lawn too. =A0Don't cut it too short either.

My experience doing that didn't work all that well. I put a mulching
blade on a ordinary mower and while it did mulch, it never gave as
nice a cut as either my Honda mulcher or the Sears one I have now.
By far, the Honda gave the nicest cut. It used 2 blades, one over the
top of the other. The Sears has a single blade. A lot may depend
on the mulching blade and I would suggest doing some investigating
before buying one. I would think there could be a lot of variation
in performance and design among them. Also, I wonder if the deck
itself is shaped slightly differently on mowers intended to be
mulchers?

Also, none of the mulchers do that well in sparse grass. They work
best in normal to thick turf. If you have sparse areas, they tend to
just whack over the grass, and leave it ragged. Again, the converted
mulcher was worse at this than the designed mulchers.

At any rate, it doesn't cost much to try.

Posted by ransley on May 16, 2009, 1:40 pm

> Subject line says it all.
> I've got an MTD/Honda self-propelled walk behind rotary lawn mower. I'm
> tired of bagging/dumping the clippings and want to replace stock blade wi=

> a mulching blade.
> Can do-- yes, no?

Id be suprised if the blade it came with was not intended for
mulching. Read the manual or sales info. I would just try it and see,
mulching is preffered and a standard way mowers are equipped I
thought.

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