Mulching blades vs high lift blades is a confusing choice when shopping for the right blade for your home mower.
While one blade has a three-in-one cutting property, the other is great at cutting all types of grass and making stripes.
In this article, we will compare these blades in detail ranging from their design specs to their common usage on the lawn.
Contents
Mulching Blades vs High Lift Blades
| Features | Mulching Blade | High Lift Blade |
| Uses | Convert it to mulch and usually collect grass clippings in a bag | Expel cut grass pieces with force into a collecting bag or outside the mower |
| The Blade’s Shape | It has a curved cutting edge with large surface | Straight but curved at the end |
| Length Of Mower Blade | Long blade | Shorter blade |
| Ability To Clog Mower Deck | High | Very Low |
| Ability To Cut Tall Or Wet Grass | Not good at mowing such grass | Designed specifically to deal with such grass |
| Ability To Fertilize Grass | Yes | No |
The Major Differences Between Mulching Blades And High Lift Blades?
Mulching blades have been designed for chopping down grass pieces into mulch, while high lift blades tend to eject the cut grass pieces out of the chute or into a collection bag. They are the best blades when it comes to cutting grass that is wet or too tall without clogging the lawn mower.
Mulching-type blades were designed to be more curved to mulch grass pieces finely. It also circulates the cut pieces around the deck so they get chopped down. In comparison, a high lift type blade is rather straight-edged because its purpose is to create suction for forcefully ejecting cut grass. Its blade does become deeply curved at the end.
One crystal clear way of distinguishing between the blades is how their back edge slants upwards. In a mulching-type blade, the curve at the end of the back edge is very smooth and gentle, whereas there are two such curves on either side of the back edge in lift-type blades. These curves are commonly referred to as wings and are responsible for directing the air pressure upwards.
Specs Regarding Mulching Blades
The specs that distinguish mulching blades are the three-in-one cutting blades, the ability to mulch the grass that is cut, and to fertilize the lawn, too. These blades also need low power, and they are eco-friendly ones that don’t harm the environment.
These blades can cut grass, convert it to mulch and then either spread it on the lawn or collect it in a bag. You can run these blades on low power and fertilize the lawn. A blade designed for mulching is naturally longer when its deeply curved shape is considered. This is necessary to facilitate its purpose of chopping grass even after it has been cut.
– A Three In One Cutting
Mulching-type blades were designed to be a better and more useful version of the regular blades used by the mowers, the way that they have three in one blades, is something that is unique and a known trait to signify them. You can cut the grass or convert it to mulch with these blades and even bag them after mulching.
So, you can convert the grass into mulch as you mow and have it spread across the lawn. Alternatively, you can collect the mulched grass and use it someplace else, like a compost bin. Performing a three-in-one function is why these blades provide a much better cutting efficiency and speed than any other blade.
– Having the Ability To Transform Grass to Mulch
Without these mower blades, you must bag your mowed grass clippings and manually convert them into mulch. Remember that this ability is one that will help you improve the conditions of your garden, and this will add a feature that the company of the lawn mower has perfected on the blades.
This takes a lot of time, and the result still needs to be better than that from a blade. This blade is for you if you want to collect ready-made mulch without working for it.
Mulch created by mower blades is much finer and better than that created by hand. Being so small, it decomposes faster and acts as a rapid source of natural fertilizer for grass. When added to the compost bin, it acts as the perfect source of nutrients for the greens component of the pile.
– Ability To Fertilize The Lawn
This is the only blade that allows double lawn care in the form of mowing and fertilizing simultaneously. With the mulch as you go setting in place, you convert the mowed grass into mulch and then spread it all over the lawn on the move, this, on its own, is a matter of fertilizing.
A mower distributes clippings in the lawn in such an even and fine manner that we never could by hand. The mulched grass clippings over the grass then act as a form of fertilizer that then breaks down rapidly to give food to the soil.
– Need Low Power
You can even attach mulching blades to lawn mowers with lower horsepower and weak engines. Most electric-powered mowers that are in vogue these days fall into this category.
They cannot provide adequate engine power for high lift or gator blades. These blades will run on relatively lower power, even with a powerful mower like Honda hrx217k5vka, because this is how they are build and this is an amazing feature that they have. The result is that you end up saving power and fuel while also staying environmentally friendly, which is actually less anxiety causing for your work.
– Tend To Be Eco-Friendly
Most of the time, lawn owners collect their grass clippings in a bag, which is then thrown away in the garbage, this is how it will be special when it comes to being a step ahead in saving the environment. These clippings in a landfill only increase pollution and harm the environment, but these will not cause any trouble. With a mulch blade, you can mow your lawn and use those clippings immediately without adding to the landfills.
It also saves up much time and manual labor that would otherwise be spent collecting the clipping and mulching them by hand. Instead, you get ready-made mulch that can be sold if you find no use in the home.
Specs Regarding High Lift Blades
The specs of the high lift blades are ones that are suitable for all grass types, additionally, it is one that would provide an extra lift given to the grass. It is best for striping the grass, and it has a powerful engine to run it and accomplish the tasks.
Some cool specs regarding these blades are that it cuts better and makes finer stripes on the lawn. You will have to use a strong engine to get an idea of their full capacity.
– Suitable For All Grass Types
High-lift lawn mower blades may not be capable of making mulch because they are not curved like mulching-type blades. Nonetheless, they are ones that can be used to cut all types of grass because of how efficient their cutting prowess is. Whether the grass planted in the lawn is fine or coarse-bladed, this blade will have no trouble mowing it down.
The science behind these blades is that they use air pressure to throw cut pieces out of the mower chute or into a collection bag, this is how it would store it so that the cut grass won’t mess around.
They can cut grass that has grown too tall or is wet without risking blocking the mower deck or chute. However, you should remember that almost all people nowadays are too busy to wait for the ideal time to cut the grass, so that you can cut grass under all kinds of circumstances with these blades, basically, the company has looked the matter through and taking it into consideration, they have placed this aspect into hands.
– Provides An Extra Lift To The Grass
Look carefully at your high lift blades and notices the tiny upturned wings on their back edge. A high-lift blade, while longer than standard blades, is shorter than the mulching one because its shape has to be kept straight for aerodynamic purposes.
These wings are responsible for creating the high air flow for which these blades are famous. On the other hand, the air suction that it has is one which would be able to erecting the grass blades and making it easier to cut grass.
What the air suction does, in addition to its job, is that it has a strong enough to expel the clippings from the mower or within a collection bag. The latter would sum up to the fact that the grass mowed is completely wet or too tall, it will not clog the mower deck. Remember that this feature is one which is underrated property, and you will not have to clean the mower deck every other day.
– Best For Making Stripes On Grass
If you are interested in striping your lawn, there is no better blade than this one. Because it pulls the grass blades straight up due to high airflow before slicing through them, the grass it cuts is impeccably fine.
The lawn stripes you make with this blade will be much more well-defined and neater than any regular-type blade. Moreover, the art of lawn striping and patterning are such an addictive hobby, and with the right kind of blade, you are sure to get the best results possible. Of course, some people are keen on manicuring their beautiful law, and as a result, these blades are the perfect ones for the job.
– Needs A Powerful Engine To Run It
Blades designed for higher lifts to need a powerful engine to provide the energy required. Sure, they will also run on battery-powered or even low-powered gas engines, but mowers with a lower horsepower will have a hard time running these blades. This will only cause the engine to over-exert itself, along with undue pressure on the mower’s internal machinery.
You need a strong gasoline-powered engine with much higher horsepower to benefit from high-lift lawn mower blades. Not only will this keep the mower in good condition, but it is the only way to experience these blades in full glory.
Conclusion
After reading this detailed comparison between the two most sought-after blades used in mowers, we hope you have decided which one you want to purchase. The thing with a mulching blade is that it can be used on all types of mowers and for cutting and mulching as well as bagging.
On the other hand, the high lift blade mows the finest grass one has seen but requires a powerful engine to run it without breaking down. So, if you were to ask us for an opinion, we would say go for mulching one without any other thought, for the extended benefits that it has for your garden.
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