Blades OEM Scag Blades vs. Oregon blades

Shelby County Kid

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May 23, 2017
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Are the OEM scag blades worth the extra $3.00 - $3.50 per blade more than the Oregon blades.
Just wondering if some of you that have tried both brands can tell any difference in durability and longevity when mowing.
The dealer said some will not use anything other than the OEM blades. It appears that about the only difference I can tell is the Scag blade appears to have been "Blued" and the Oregon has a painted or powder coated finish. Both appear to be about the same thickness.
Also, the Scag brand blades appear a little sharper because they do not have paint on the cutting edge. I bought a set of each on 06/19/17, and thought I would do my own test to see which last longer and cuts better. I do not have a way to test the hardness of the blades. Thought I would ask the experts on this forum...Thanks
 

mcdonell

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I am no expert and I only mow about an hour or two a week. I can't tell a difference on my place with Scag vs. Oregon. I have bought Oregon blades on Ebay for less than $10 each, when I buy a bundle. In fact, I bought 12 Oregon blades a month ago.

I plan to watch this thread to see what the experts think.
 

bertsmobile1

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Replaceing the mower makers blades with brand name after market will usually make no difference unless you are using Gator toothed blades which usually are better.
No mower company makes their ouwn blades and a lot of the time the aftermarket blades will be the exact same blade bought from the same company out of the same moulds using the same steel.

However blades with no brand name on them should be avoided.
Generally these will come from China .
A flag waving patriot will fly to China give a factory owner a box of blades and tell them to make 1000 ( or more ) blades that look exactly like these and that is what you get 1000 blades made from any old steel which is the same size so when bent looks exactly the same.
Some are very dangerous as they are made from high carbons steel which is quite brittle and will break off in big lumps that go flying off at great speeds when they hit something hard.
 

jekjr

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I live in Southern Alabama and run a lawn service. We cut grass which is normally on a 2 week cycle. We run Scag Tiger Cat mowers. I have run a few sets of the OEM Blades but have found that I have good success with the Oregon Blades. Because of the conditions we run under we can figure on running across about 3 acres of grass per mower before we have to change blades. This is cutting Bahia Grass that is very tough to cut. By the time we cover the 3 acres they will be starting to string the grass. We can slow down and run them a little longer but find that the time changing blades more than off sets the time we lose changing them. We run High lift Oregon blades.

If we are cutting other types of grass which we do at times we get much longer runs on the blades. In our part of the world I honestly do not remember running a full day of not cutting Bahia grass most of it. Probably 3% of the yards we cut have no bahia. Most are all Bahia or 75% or so.

Most days we change blades on each mower twice and some days three times per day.

Hope that helps.
 

clay45

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Mar 31, 2014
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Are the OEM scag blades worth the extra $3.00 - $3.50 per blade more than the Oregon blades.
Just wondering if some of you that have tried both brands can tell any difference in durability and longevity when mowing.
The dealer said some will not use anything other than the OEM blades. It appears that about the only difference I can tell is the Scag blade appears to have been "Blued" and the Oregon has a painted or powder coated finish. Both appear to be about the same thickness.
Also, the Scag brand blades appear a little sharper because they do not have paint on the cutting edge. I bought a set of each on 06/19/17, and thought I would do my own test to see which last longer and cuts better. I do not have a way to test the hardness of the blades. Thought I would ask the experts on this forum...Thanks

I find changing the blades out just difficult enough that I believe the SCAG original marbain blades worth it. Tried oem stens, oregon G5 and I believe G3. They all worked but I don't find the blade life/cost savings to offset the cut quality. I realize this is subjective but its how it shook out for me. I still have some off brands left.
 

jekjr

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I find changing the blades out just difficult enough that I believe the SCAG original marbain blades worth it. Tried oem stens, oregon G5 and I believe G3. They all worked but I don't find the blade life/cost savings to offset the cut quality. I realize this is subjective but its how it shook out for me. I still have some off brands left.

I guess that it is a matter of many different things but a blade change on a Scag is a 5 minute or less ordeal with the right tools.

It also depends on what kind of grass one is cutting and so forth. For us the original blades do not give that much longer run than the aftermarket.
 
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