Hey folks -

Anyone around here into yard maintenance?

I tuned up my neighbor's mower (just a 21" push behind craftsman) and was amazed how effortlessly it went through thick, tall grass (mulching, not bagging.) He put an aftermarket blade on it, I think made the difference in the performance. So I spend a little time tracking down the most badass blade I could find for my mower. Here is what I ended up with:
Attachment 2006
It's 1/4" thickness. It's made for a different mower, but AFAIK by studying the specifications, it should be compatible with mine, all I need to do is drill a couple holes off to the sides of the main hole (in just the right positions... and hope the heat treatment isn't "too good") to mount it to my machine's spindle. (I just fell into a similar, 21" push behind craftsman, but its blade is a worn OEM blade, so really bogged down through thick grass, poor mulching performance I'd say.)

My old mower (and MTD) had a "3 in 1" blade with some cutting surfaces higher up than others, which sounds good in theory, but I find it actually performs very poorly in a mulching application (it would bog down and not distribute clippings evenly, unless I pulled it backwards which actually seems to help a good deal, but kind of awkward to use it like that.) Also it is designed to not be sharpenable. Which is to say if you sharpen the blade, it raises the position of the cutting edge because the metal stock is angled downwards. So that stinks.

What do you guys think?

PS - sometimes I like to bag it as well. Never had any problems bagging it on my MTD (got good suction / lift.)