# Reel Sharpening Locations - Charlotte, NC



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

Hey!

Is anybody aware of a shop in or near Charlotte, NC other than STI that can sharpen a Greensmaster 1000?

I'm not really impressed with STI's work... they had my mower for 6 weeks and when I got it home it's only cutting paper in the center of the reel. The outer most 4" of reel/bed knife will not even rip paper. They put a new bedknife on for me and sharpened the reel but they skipped a step or two somewhere it seems. Before I brought it in the mower would cut paper across the whole bedknife but the bedknife was worn out and the reel was due for a grind.

I'll be loading this mower up and bringing it back to STI in Charlotte this week... I'm not very excited about it!

I'm putting feelers out now to prepare for my next service. I would like to find a small local shop to do this work for me.


----------



## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Sorry to hear that. Did they do a spin and relief grind?

Only one place for grinds in Raleigh that we know of and they only do spin grinds.


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

SGrabs33 said:


> Sorry to hear that. Did they do a spin and relief grind?
> 
> Only one place for grinds in Raleigh that we know of and they only do spin grinds.


I'm not sure if they put a relief on the reel or not. I do know that Toro specifies a relief be put on all their reels and STI is a Toro service center/ dealer. I'll check the reel tomorrow to see if it has a relief grind.

Also, to make sure I have this sharpening process understood correctly... the reel should first be spin ground to make it cylinder again and then have a relief angle ground afterwards... is that correct?


----------



## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

T0R0 said:


> SGrabs33 said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry to hear that. Did they do a spin and relief grind?
> ...


I believe that's is correct, yes.


----------



## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

There is a place in Fayetteville that does reel "sharpening" but I wouldn't recommend them either as I took my Baroness in there to get sharpened and when I got it back it looked like they had just backlapped the living hell out of it. The bedknife was worn down to a razor's edge. They are a Baroness dealer too, so I thought they would know better but I guess not. Your best bet would be to find a local golf course that has the equipment to do it and take it in there during the off season when they aren't as busy.


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

SGrabs33 said:


> Did they do a spin and relief grind?


Update: just checked this morning and they did a spin only grind... no relief was cut on the reel. I also played with the bedbar adjustment to see if I could a better cut across the whole bed knife by tightening contact up a tiny bit... it still cut uneven.

I find it hard to believe they send equipment out the door like this!


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

Mightyquinn said:


> Your best bet would be to find a local golf course that has the equipment to do it and take it in there during the off season when they aren't as busy.


Before I took it in to STI I called a local golf course, I was supposed to follow up with the maintenance supervisor and never did. I'll have to try to contact them again.


----------



## Guest (Apr 14, 2019)

Call Blaine @ southern reel and rotary. He is located near Hendersonville N.C.

Realsharpcarolina.com
828-989-8320

I believe he does pickups in Charlotte


----------



## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Pelebkf said:


> Call Blaine @ southern reel and rotary. He is located near Hendersonville N.C.
> 
> Realsharpcarolina.com
> 828-989-8320
> ...


http://www.reelsharpcarolina.com/


----------



## Reelsharpcarolina21 (Apr 14, 2019)

Hey guys I'm new to the forum and the owner of southern reel & rotary. We've not updated our website this year, for that I apologize. We do go to Charlotte at least a handful of times a year. 
As for the gentleman that had a bad experience with STI, please let me know if I can help in anyway.


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

Reelsharpcarolina21 said:


> Hey guys I'm new to the forum and the owner of southern reel & rotary. We've not updated our website this year, for that I apologize. We do go to Charlotte at least a handful of times a year.
> As for the gentleman that had a bad experience with STI, please let me know if I can help in anyway.


I sent you a PM


----------



## metro424 (May 26, 2017)

I don't know that we should consider cutting paper as the gold standard of reel sharpness for a homeowner. Hear me out... most of us are not cutting at 0.120". Most of us don't have a lawn that's as level as a pool table.

Now secondly I think we underestimate the effects of bumps in the lawn on the bed knife. Spin the reel by hand and apply moderate upwards pressure on the bed knife. What happens... reel to bedknife contact Which is going to happen every time you go over an imperfection in the lawn that applies pressure on the bed knife. I think the real test of mower sharpness is how it cuts real grass!

I'm not downplaying your experience with STI, I don't have any skin in the game but honestly how's the after cut appearance post sharpening?

Not to mention we generally buy used greens mowers with a fair number of hours on the mower and reel bearings I'm sure there's some play in those bearings which puts the reel even closer to the bedknife at 1800+ rpm. So setting the mower to cut paper at the risk of having to tight of reel to bedknife clearance doesn't make sense to me.


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

metro424 said:


> I don't know that we should consider cutting paper as the gold standard of reel sharpness for a homeowner. Hear me out... most of us are not cutting at 0.120". Most of us don't have a lawn that's as level as a pool table.
> 
> Now secondly I think we underestimate the effects of bumps in the lawn on the bed knife. Spin the reel by hand and apply moderate upwards pressure on the bed knife. What happens... reel to bedknife contact Which is going to happen every time you go over an imperfection in the lawn that applies pressure on the bed knife. I think the real test of mower sharpness is how it cuts real grass!
> 
> ...


I agree with you on it's the grass that matters not paper... but the grass cut was terrible too. I had uncut grass mixed in with poorly cut grass 4 inches on either side of my 21" cut. Basically it was cutting grass just as inconsistent as it was cutting paper.

When I brought it to STI I knew it needed reel bearings so that was done before sharpening. This shop would not have sharpened the reel without checking the bearings anyway, they check all that before hand along with reel diameter service limit and more I'm sure. I was not trying to achieve tight reel to bedknife clearance... I was going for the exact opposite, minimum clearance required to cleanly cut paper or grass.

Luckily this story has a happy ending... I took the mower back to STI this afternoon and the head mechanic corrected it on the spot. He saw the same inconsistent clearance on the bedknife that I saw and checked the bed bar mounting bolts and then back lapped the mower and it's cutting like a dream now... grass, paper, or anything else I'm sure. All this was achieved with minimal contact between reel and bedknife. I think it could have been a slightly un square bedbar... either way I'm back in business now and my yard agrees. I cut the grass this evening and the mower cut better than ever!

The End


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

Back lapping in progress!


----------



## AllenbSC (Mar 4, 2019)

T0R0 said:


> Reelsharpcarolina21 said:
> 
> 
> > Hey guys I'm new to the forum and the owner of southern reel & rotary. We've not updated our website this year, for that I apologize. We do go to Charlotte at least a handful of times a year.
> ...


Welcome to the forum Blaine.

Regards 
Allen Ballenger


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

Reelsharpcarolina21 said:


> Hey guys I'm new to the forum and the owner of southern reel & rotary. We've not updated our website this year, for that I apologize. We do go to Charlotte at least a handful of times a year.
> As for the gentleman that had a bad experience with STI, please let me know if I can help in anyway.


Thanks for getting back to me so quick with an answer to my questions! I'm happy I have another option for reel sharpening!


----------



## Reelsharpcarolina21 (Apr 14, 2019)

Your welcome Toro happy to help even if it's just answering questions.


----------



## William (Oct 2, 2017)

T0R0 said:


> Back lapping in progress!


Got to love Foley. Could not afford one so got a R&R. At least it had a baldor motor.


----------



## crzipilot (Jul 4, 2018)

Guys I will find out tomorrow if I can, or if the guy is interested in more work. I took my GM 1000 to him, and he sharpened the reel, replaced bed knife and recoil start. Paid 200.00 I believe he might be a little busy the next few weeks, but if he says OK I'll give you guys his contact info. He's located central charlotte.


----------



## Passat774 (Oct 9, 2018)

I do not have anyone in my area to sharpen my reel, so I reached out to a number of Golf Course Maintenance director's.

I found two directors willing to service my machine.

Just a thought, give it a try send some email's you might be surprised how close the service center can be.


----------



## Reel_Geek (Sep 15, 2018)

@Reelsharpcarolina21 Can you perform relief grinds on reels? I am not trying to be rude, but do you perform quality work? Between the forums that I am on, I have read a number of posts about people receiving less than ideal work when they have brought their reel mowers in for sharpening at various businesses in NC. I am looking to buy a used Toro Greensmaster 1600 and would love to know that there is someone competent out there to sharpen the reel and bed knife correctly. I am in Raleigh, but would consider making the drive for quality work.


----------



## Reelsharpcarolina21 (Apr 14, 2019)

Reel_Geek we are able to do relief grinds on reels. As for your question about quality of work, yes we do quality work. I am owner operator, no one else besides me will touch your mower. Any issues are handled right away. There's no answering service or " hold while I transfer you" nope, just me. I stand behind everything I do. 
I have a clients on this page and probably others, I'm new to the forums but feel free to ask around. 
Thanks for reaching out and I hope I've answered all your questions


----------



## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

crzipilot said:


> Guys I will find out tomorrow if I can, or if the guy is interested in more work. I took my GM 1000 to him, and he sharpened the reel, replaced bed knife and recoil start. Paid 200.00 I believe he might be a little busy the next few weeks, but if he says OK I'll give you guys his contact info. He's located central charlotte.


Following. Only 110 miles from Charlotte. Might be worth it to drive it up one day, and come back to pick up when he's done.


----------



## crzipilot (Jul 4, 2018)

Guys. It's been awhile but finally made contact with my Charlotte equipment manager (through other channels an tmack in here said he heard he's one of the best in the area).

Anyways I reached out to him and he said he would be fine sharpening reels. I can hand out his number. PM me your number and I'll share his contact info

Please understand he's been in the gold business for 30+ years. A little slow in the txtd and he has a full time job at one of the higher end courses in town. So your not going to get a 2-3 day turn around. I would plan on a week or 10 days so Your pleasantly surprised when it's sooner.

Guy is a great contact so please please don't blow him up and be cool with his timelines. He did my reel , bed knife, Pull start (had broke just before I took it to him). Was off season so wasn't using it and it might have been 2 months. ( that was mostly finding the right pull start replacement). His course is JD now but they were all Toro (and what he seems to prefer)

Don't quote me. But thinknthe sharpening was 1-200.


----------



## T0R0 (Mar 4, 2019)

crzipilot said:


> Guys. It's been awhile but finally made contact with my Charlotte equipment manager (through other channels an tmack in here said he heard he's one of the best in the area).
> 
> Anyways I reached out to him and he said he would be fine sharpening reels. I can hand out his number. PM me your number and I'll share his contact info
> 
> ...


Always good to have options! Thank you! PM sent


----------

