Do You Need To Sharpen Lawn Aerators?

When it comes to keeping your lawn healthy, aerators can be an essential tool to fight soil compaction. To get the job done, though, the tines have to be kept sharp — otherwise, you could be straining your machine, damaging your turf, and not penetrating deep enough into the soil to properly aerate your lawn for healthier grass. Dirt, rocks, and grass can dull aerator tines' edges, which could be why your core aerator isn't pulling plugs. Like with mower blades, sharpening can extend your tines' life if they have grown dull from regular use. However, you don't necessarily need to sharpen them yourself — in most cases, the easiest solution is to buy replacements. 

Whether it's best to sharpen or replace depends on the condition of your tines. For example, if the metal is cracked, heavily bent, or pitted, you will need new tines since they're too structurally damaged to be fixed by sharpening. Also, as the tines wear down or are resharpened, they grow shorter. If they've lost over one inch of their original length, it's time to buy more so that you can continue to reach the right aeration depth. If you're only dealing with dullness and minor dents, it's perfectly reasonable to sharpen your tines instead of replacing them, as long as you have the proper tools. But for most situations, replacement is still the simpler choice.

Now that you know when it's appropriate to sharpen, the key is to decide if you want to, or if you'd rather just buy replacements. Sharpening your old tines keeps them out of a landfill, extends their life, and saves you from needing to shell out for new ones — costs for replacements vary widely based on what type of tine you're replacing and how many you need, but sharpening is free (if you already have the tools on hand). You will need a tool like an angle grinder, file, or rotary tool depending on the size of the tines, as well a vise to hold the tines and gloves and eyewear for protection.

The downside of sharpening is that it's not exactly a quick or permanent fix. Sharpening each individual tine can be time-consuming, especially if you're dealing with machines with a lot of tines or if you're not fully comfortable with the necessary power tools. You can also damage the tines in the sharpening process if you accidentally overheat the metal and soften its edges. Even if you manage to sharpen tines effectively yourself, you'll eventually need to replace them no matter what, so all the time and effort you're putting in only helps eke out just a little more use. In light of this, you may find it easier just to replace your tines when they get too dull. If you'd prefer to skip the debate of sharpening versus replacing altogether, you can always rent a lawn aerator for your yard instead.