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I was looking at blades for my ZT Elite 60" on BadBoyLawnMowerParts.com and noticed they had Bad Boy brand 'regular' blades and Bad Boy brand High lift Fusion blades, what is the difference? Thanks for a little education.

It’s a process that Oregon Parts uses for some of their mower blades.

Fusion Mower Blades​

Presenting the Fusion® blade, another innovation in cutting from Oregon®. Their exclusive electrofusion technology creates an ultra-hard layer at the blade’s cutting edge, so the blade stays sharp and continues giving a clean cut far longer than any blade you’ve used before. The Fusion® process doesn’t add a layer to the blade, but alters the molecular structure of the steel so it becomes an integral part of the blade along the cutting edge, creating amazing stay-sharp. It’s not on the blade … it’s in the blade!

Thanks MParr for the explanation, looks like that just means you can go a little farther before sharpening or replacing.

Steve...........

se3388 said:

Thanks MParr for the explanation, looks like that just means you can go a little farther before sharpening or replacing.

Steve...........

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True. But, if you sharpen with a file, you are going to have one heck of a time.

Tried to sharpen my badboy blades with a file. To hard for me !

It's not a knife... break out the grinder.

In addition to the 'fusion' hardening aspect, the blades also have a different design for high lift capability.

I wonder how far you can sharpen/grind till your past the Fusion.

bkeller500 said:

I wonder how far you can sharpen/grind till your past the Fusion.

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If you look at the bottom side of the blade, you will see a rough strip along the cutting edge. This strip is about 1/4” wide by 2” to 3” long. That strip is the Fusion part. Personally, I don’t see a big advantage in using the Fusion blades. The most important thing is which type of blade and brand of blade works best on your particular mower. I’ve always had good luck with Rotary brand aftermarket blades.

Interesting, & Scag & Gravely use "marbain steel blades", which is a heat treatment process.

All ride on blades are hot forged
Most are made from either tellurium or boron steel of some grade or the other so should be through hard .
As such there should be no need for heat treatment after shaping & sharpening unless it is to temper the edge slightly.
World Lawn blades appear to be plain high carbon steel which does need heat treatment .

bertsmobile1 said:

All ride on blades are hot forged
Most are made from either tellurium or boron steel of some grade or the other so should be through hard .
As such there should be no need for heat treatment after shaping & sharpening unless it is to temper the edge slightly.
World Lawn blades appear to be plain high carbon steel which does need heat treatment .

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Most lawnmower blades are not hot forged. They're heat treated after they have been formed & milled (sharpened). World Lawn blades are heat treated.

they tell you not to sharpen fusion blades.

I had a CZT 60" 27 Kohler for a while. Couldn't tell a lick of difference between fusions and regular blades as far as cut quality and longevity.

but what I did find out was that I could get the blades cheaper at the bad boy dealer than at tsc. Same for belts and tune up parts. TSC rips your head off on the belts especially. Spindle bearings was another one, but the dealer I got my stuff at was also a kubota dealer. I had to replace all 6 spindle bearings in the CZT 60". From bad boy they were $27 EACH (and they are chinese low quality bearings). Kubota has the exact same bearing, a little better quality. For $8/each at the time. Guess which ones I got.

People gripe about the price of kubota and deere parts but bad boy is even higher. Sometimes the exact same part from the same manufacturer. The good thing: Bad boy mowers are built with some components that are easily available for the most part from other sources if you look.

I have to agree with you lugbolt tractor supply is a little high on about everything they sell.

MParr said:

It’s a process that Oregon Parts uses for some of their mower blades.

Fusion Mower Blades​

Presenting the Fusion® blade, another innovation in cutting from Oregon®. Their exclusive electrofusion technology creates an ultra-hard layer at the blade’s cutting edge, so the blade stays sharp and continues giving a clean cut far longer than any blade you’ve used before. The Fusion® process doesn’t add a layer to the blade, but alters the molecular structure of the steel so it becomes an integral part of the blade along the cutting edge, creating amazing stay-sharp. It’s not on the blade … it’s in the blade!

Click to expand...

Sounds like they are just carburizing the blades which is a common heat treat process.

It is just a better heat treatment process
Probably a cryogenic one
They may either be using a different grade of steel
There are thousands of grades to pick from but it is always a compromise
Stronger steels wear the dies much faster and they are very very expensive
Weaker steels do not perform as well
The trick is to get a balance so the customer gets longer life from the blade than they would for the same cost in standard blades.
IF I pay 3 times the price the blade must go longer than 3 standard blades

se3388 said:

I was looking at blades for my ZT Elite 60" on BadBoyLawnMowerParts.com and noticed they had Bad Boy brand 'regular' blades and Bad Boy brand High lift Fusion blades, what is the difference? Thanks for a little education.

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Steve, you might look at XHT Blades, sounds like thy are similar to Fusion, working nice on my CRZ, my machine is only 48" and I often find bundles of 3 blades for $30...r

RayMcD said:

Steve, you might look at XHT Blades, sounds like thy are similar to Fusion, working nice on my CRZ, my machine is only 48" and I often find bundles of 3 blades for $30...r

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I also run XHT blades on my 60" CRZ and really like them.