One of the more surprising products I saw at the recent STAFDA tradeshow was a new line of curved-edge blades from Lenox. I’d heard about them the night before at a hospitality event and thought the fellow describing them had maybe had a few too many beers. Turns out he was right; Lenox is now curving the edges of their Gold series blades.
With their titanium nitride coated tips, Gold series blades are the company’s top-of-the-line bimetal product. As it was explained to me by a Lenox product manager, putting a slight curve in the edge of these blades optimizes the angle of attack, resulting in faster cutting and greatly increased life. According to Lenox, Power Arc blades last 3-4 times as long as the nearest bimetal competitor and 2-3 times as long as their own straight bimetal blades.
I asked the product manager (who had given me a tour of the Lenox factory a couple of years back) how they managed to curve the blades; I assumed they were cut to that shape. He said they make them the same way as before but that prior to painting they run the blades through a machine that bends them edgewise.
Power Arc blades are scheduled to come out in December and will be priced the same as existing Gold series product.
