Have you ever wondered how an automatic cutting blade is made?
The process involves several steps and, even if we summarise them here, one thing must be clear from the start: not all blades are the same.
The difference begins with the material itself — steel.
Not all steels have the same properties. Some blades can last twice or even three times longer than others.
It is quite common to buy a cheaper blade thinking you are saving money, only to realise later that it needs to be sharpened much more often. And every sharpening operation removes material.
It is a bit like pencils:
a 2H pencil is very hard, HB is a good compromise, while the B series is softer.
It depends on what you need to do, but one thing is certain: spending less does not always mean saving money.
From steel sheet to raw blade
The production process starts with a steel sheet.
From this sheet, a laser cutting machine cuts the blade shape.
After that, the holes are made — the ones required for correct mounting and fixing of the blade on the machine.
These holes are drilled before heat treatment, because once the steel is hardened, machining it would become much more difficult.
At this point, the steel blanks are sent for heat treatment.
When they come back, the material has become extremely hard.
Thickness and sharpening angle
After heat treatment, the blades go through specific machines that bring the thickness to the required value:
-
2.0 mm
-
2.5 mm
-
2.7 mm
depending on the blade type and its application.
Then other machines gradually start to grind the sides of the blade, creating the typical cutting edge angle, usually between 15 and 20 degrees.
This phase is critical: this is where the blade’s actual cutting performance is defined.
The finished blade
Several intermediate steps follow, until a finished blade is obtained, ready to be mounted on an automatic cutting machine.
But everything always starts from something very simple:
a steel sheet, which is cut, drilled, heat-treated, hardened and finally ground using machines capable of working hardened materials with high precision.
Understanding this process helps explain why some blades last longer, why others wear out more quickly, and why, in automatic cutting, the blade is never a secondary detail.