Craftsman 21" Advanced Dethatching and Bagging Blade

Not what I expected.

Didnt do what the online description said. Really easy to install. Mine came missing one of the plastic lines.

It's all about expectations. Will NOT replace a true dethatcher

It's all about expectations.  If you expect a short-cut tool to do a good job, then you will be disappointed.  If you use this blade as a quick way to pull up dead grass and leaves in the spring time, this will do it.

I used it to prep for a freash round of grass seed after killing off all of my crabgrass.  It does an ok job for being a short-cut tool.  It bogs the heck out of the mower, and I've found that the universal fit of the blade can cause an unbalanced vibration to the mower. Also, it helps to use it when it is driest.  No rain for 48 hours, and no morning or evening dew.

Agravating

This blade does not adapt to a front wheel drive model 37552 front wheel drive mower with a star center that attaches to the pully adapter on the mower after the factory blade is removed. Even with the different washers provided with the blade it still will not adapt.......

This Craftsman dethatching/rakeing blade is too cool for words

After buying this Craftsman Dethatching and Bagging Blade I was blown away buy how well it worked on my yard.  I had to empty my lawn mower bag alot cause it does what it says it does.  I also love that if you raise the wheels on your mower it turns into a sweet leaf rake.  I am very satisfied with this purchase and believe you will be too.  I was worried about the nylon line but it is very strong and after many uses they are all still in very good shape.  Lastly this blade was easy to install on the mower. NO CONS from me.

The Craftsman Dethatching Blade is a great time saver.

I would recommend this product to anyone.  It saved me alot of time from raking my yard.  It will save me even more time in the spring when I use it again.  For around $20 it was a great investment for my yard.

it'll dethatch a putting green...maybe, great rake

i bought this when i saw it and was intrested to see what it would do.  front yard, no diffrence than standard mulching blade.  back yards always grow thicker than front yards.  it definately helped keep from depositing more grass and gave me nice rows to rake up.  if you don't have a bagging mower, it'll be your next purchase.  it didn't do anything for dethatching.  i'm tempted to try putting the mower deck all the way down and see if it works then, otherwise, i hope you're using a good stiff rake to pick up the grass.  then there's the drag, and burden it puts on the motor.  i've got a 550 cc B&S, and i make it work.  this blade made the idle RPM drop and i can hear the motor struggle on anything that was almost the same hight as the deck.  it took me twice as long to cut the grass since i had to wait for the motor to regain its strength.  the i think this is my first dissapointment by Craftsman.  Great Idea, i hope this is the rough draft / prototype, it needs improvement

Not good for the health of your lawn

Though this is an inexpensive and interesting design, it seemed to remove only some thatch.  About half of what came into the bag was fresh clippings, and the other half was dead/brown grass bits.

I cut my lawn the day before using my usual blade (the one that came with the mower, that works really well) so that I would minimize the drag and the amount of clippings and optimize the work for the dethatching blade.

However, it has two major drawbacks.  First, it does not remove a sufficient amount of thatch since the prongs do not actually get low enough (if they did, you'd just end up scarifying the lawn).  Second, the grass blades get shredded in the process.

The second drawback is the deal breaker, since grass really needs a nice sharp cut on the end for the sake of its continued good health.  After shredding my lawn with this blade, it has just been struggling to recover.

I thought that this would save me time and a lot of hard work, but when I went over the lawn with a dethatching rake, I pulled up a ton of REAL thatch.  I guess I will just have to get the exercise raking by hand!

Blade with dethatcher is average

Need to adjust the mower to a low level to get a good dethatching going.  Definitely need a second run this weekend to get a good dethatching.

Dethatch without spending a lot of $$

This dethaching blade is a great way to dethach you lawn without breaking your back. No more raking with this blade, just make sure that you raise your lawn mower up to the highest setting. If you do not you will scalp your grass and break the plastic fingers off.

Easier than raking

Plastic in Fall, metal in Spring... that's the wisdom of raking. The Arnold powerrake blade with two metal tines seemed a bit much for my Eager 1 so last year The Craftsman dethatching blade got it's chance. From all the thatch in the mowers grasscatcher, it works. Three bags full of dead grass again this year from less than 5000 SF of lawn. It's not as thorough as raking, but a lot less tiring. Having read the other reviews of this blade, I disagree... the blade is on par and will cut grass too.

Rakes came out

I was disappointed in the blade the 3 of the rakes came out in the first trip around the yard. The Rakes that did not come off. the Tops cough a lot of grass witch keep the mulching effect for working. I could find only of the missing rakes and it was cut in half. So no chance in reusing it.I suggest back to the work bench for this blade.

wow

i recently bought the craftsman blade and i went to use it but like you said it rips up the lawn and it cuts low and if you actually want to dethatch it that it would have to be way lower but i will go back to the rake. anyway to replace the line just get really thick .155mm and cut strips 4and 1/4 inches and thraed through the holes with pliers ;-P hope it helps

Thatching blade

I was not aware that it also cut the grass, did not see this in the directions. Disapointed in not being able to get down and thatch the soil or at the base level. If you were to thatch at ground level, it would cut the grass to low to achieve those results. It tears the grass more than cutting it, and the plastic placed on the blade to thatch did bend after (1)one use. After a couple of weeks the grass came back green, a little worried for the first few weeks. I did pick up 1/3 of what I wanted it to thatch. Back to the rake!

blade & power rack ,OK---- dethatcher ?

This is a versatile blade. It cuts as you would expect (without the nylon fingers), it racks stick and twigs out of the grass. As a dethacher it needs some work. I had to remove some of the nylon fingers to reduce the drag, as a full set was more than a 6.5 hp mower could handle. Since the grass was damp I will try it again when it dries. After about 20min of operation, the fingers were found bent back, turning them around did restore their bite on the lawn. This type of dethacher may work better on a lawn that is not as bumpy and old as mine. I can't say I would buy it again for dethatching. I will try it in the fall for pulling leaves up and out of the lawn.

Good idea just a little short on effort

I also was disappointed to not find any replacement rakes, especially since I lost two during my first mow. I really liked the results, too bad I wont get them the rest of the summer.

Dethatching balde

OK! I'm giving this product only two stars because there isn't any info about replacement plastic "rakes" I worked pretty good in my rough yard, but I can't see buying a new blade every time the "rakes" go bad.

Dethatching balde

OK! I'm giving this product only two stars because there isn't any info about replacement plastic "rakes" I worked pretty good in my rough yard, but I can't see buying a new blade every time the "rakes" go bad.