Black Decker Inc.

Mark Addison

Nicholas E Achterberg

A carbide-tipped circular saw blade is formed by brazing cutting tips of tungsten carbide to the teeth of a steel blade blank, thereby creating discoloration on the planar surfaces of the blade adjacent the rim. Substantially the entire surface of the blade is sandblasted with blast media to remove the discoloration while generating a substantially uniform coloration and texture to the planar surfaces of the blade. User-readable graphics are overprinted upon the blasted surface. The graphics and the surface appearance of the blasted area are selected to be at a predetermined contrast, and the carbide cutting tips retain a visual appearance different from the rest of the blade, such that the graphics and cutting tips are visually perceptible to a potential purchaser at the blade's point of sale. The saw blade surfaces are sandblasted by jets directed at both sides of the saw blade. The blast nozzles are oriented such that the vertical components of force of the jets offset one another. This assists in minimizing the blade warping that would otherwise occur due to the sandblasting operation. In all-sandblasted 'softbody' blades, a reduction of 20% in deviation from flatness has been achieved compared to similar blades which are polished and rim-blasted.

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Doncaster, United Kingdom

Mark Addison