I do the same as PaulS, dull blades on the first cut to chew twigs and winter debris. I sharpen my blades about 3 times a season on my half acre. Growing up my dad had a lawn cutting business and we sharpened blades after every 5-6 acres of grass (4-10 lawns depending on the neighborhood). We had multiple sets we would just change out and keep going. He always does them free hand on a bench grinder and is very good at getting them very sharp. I've cut paper with them like people do with a sharp knife. You can travel fast in thick grass when they are that sharp; the razor edge lasts about 20 min in heavy stuff (longer on shorter grass) then I would have to reduce speeds and go back to mowing like normal.
That said, the quality of the look of the lawn always came down to the involvement of customer. Do they fertilize, aerate, overseed, etc? There is more difference in that than if we had sharper blades from one week to the next. If you sharpen them annually now, try once a month and see if it improves the look. My guess is your mowing speed will be all that changes.
Bill
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