I am unsure what to even call it. Question re the new Oregon 518244 universal blade that I bought recently. It has a rough coating applied before the red topcoat on the outer ~1.5" underside of the leading blade edge. I don't see how it might help or hinder the operation of the blade but I am unsure why the coating/treatment is like this on the blade edge. Anyone know why this is applied?
It is a carbide hard surfacing to reduce wear on the blade cutting edge. Suppose to help keep the edge sharp for a longer period than just a standard blade material.
Thanks. Is it alright to still sharpen the blade normally? Brand new it is not very sharp at all. I usually use a 4.5" grinder and take off material only on the top/angled surface until it is sharp.
You sharpen it like normal. And you don't want a sharp edge. The rule is and what is recommended by Oregon is a 30 degree angle with a .030 blunt edge.
The reasoning is when you take a very sharp blade and subject it to the abrasive environment of grass and other debris that edge quickly gets worn off, even in seconds in some cases, So within a few minutes you are actually mowing with what would of been technically a properly sharpened blade. The slightly blunt edge is more wear stable than the initial knife edge that is created by sharpening. So you remove material from the blade trying to maintain that sharp edge and then the grass removed even more blade material wearing that sharp edge off and the two combined result is a shorter blade life.
The other issue is the blade is sharpened at the factory prior to painting, and the paint makes the cutting edge look thicker than it really is, and gives the strong impression of a dull blade from the factory.
I can see the logic in that. I've always sharpened them to a knife edge and they seem to not dull that quickly. They typically get sharpened once a year in the spring before use. Not sure about typical blade life but the mowers I have are 15+ years old and on the original blades still and sharpened many times.
Most blades that I see never wear out from sharpening. Most due to dirt and other abrasives will sandblast cut the air lift off of the blades. In some cases in less than a mowing season.
Most blades that I see never wear out from sharpening. Most due to dirt and other abrasives will sandblast cut the air lift off of the blades. In some cases in less than a mowing season.
My neighbor is a good case for that, he changes blades after each mow of his place, just under 1 acre. He gets free sharpening at local dealer. I don't think he realizes that they sell more blades that way.. LOL
No disagreement with ILENGINE but I also sharpen my blades knife sharp. I use an angle grinder and it's kind of difficult to get them consistently somewhat blunted. Besides, they seem to mulch a lot better when sharp. Like he pointed out, my blades usually get retired due to the air foil wearing off, not the edge. That's the case with my high lift blades and it seems to be even more of an issue with the Gator G5 blades that I run most of the time. I don't know if it's because they have carbide on the edge or because of the air foil design, but that's been my experience.
Darryl, in theory the blunt edge is best according to the manufacturer, but in reality when they are resharpened you will get one edge somewhat blunted, but the either end will be razor sharp because you had to take more off that end to balance the blade.
No doubt that a sharp edge will chip, roll and dull pretty quickly but I mow professionally and any uncut piece of grass drives me nuts, so to me the sharper the better. They hold up pretty well and stay sharp on my nice lawns that are cut at 4 inches. It's the crappy, poor soil lawns with bare and thin areas that I cut shorter (crappy lawns look really crappy cut tall) where they dull quickly. It's the grit that gets you...
