COMPOSITE UTILITY BLADE, AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH A BLADE

摘要

A composite utility blade and method of making such a blade (10) involves butt joining a high speed or tool steel wire (44) to a front edge of an alloy steel backing strip (34). The wire (44) defines a predetermined cross-sectional shape that substantially corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of the cutting edge (14) of the blade (10). The wire (44) is electron beam welded to the backing strip (34) to form a composite strip (46) defining a first metal portion (20) formed by the alloy steel backing strip (34), a second metal portion (22) formed by the high speed or tool steel wire (44), and a weld region (28) joining the first and second metal portions (20,22). The cutting edge (14) may be coated with AlTiN, TiN, or an inner coating of AITiN and an outer coating of TiN.