rankrank1
Platinum Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2007
- Messages
- 749
- Location
- SW OH - near Dayton, OH
- Tractor
- 1978 Kubota L285, 1951 Farmall h, 1946 Farmall m, 1950 John Deere A, 1953 Ford NAA Golden Jubilee, 195? Ford 850, 1948 Case DC, 1948 Case SC
OK, my Ideal heated Kinfe came on Friday. I ordered #4, #5, and #6 heads and blades. I started thinking about it and decided to wait till I ran this idea past you experienced guys before I started cutting rubber. Waking up on Sunday morning I had a brainstorm and went out to the shop to try it. I assembled a #5 cutter on a #6 head. Below I have attached a photo showing the weird combo #5 cutter on a #6 head on the left, and a standard #4 head and #4 cutter on the right. Hopefully the picture is clear enough so you can see the result. The weird setup gives non-parallel cut lines. I am thinking this will allow the mud to eject more readily. I cut some grooves in a rubber mudflap, and the grooves are still very sharp at the edge, so I am pretty sure the edges will still cut and grip. And of course regardless of the shape cut, the knobs will gain in flexibility, which gives grip too. Any thoughts? Thanks.
First, I will admit that I have never grooved or siped tires, but I definitely would NOT mis-match the cutters as your pictures show to get the slanted groove. I think the slanted groove would not work as well as the square groove that the proper cutter assembly clearly supplies.
Only first hand experience that I have which sorta relates is with dirt bike knobbies back in my younger years. Pro level motocross riders would literally change tires after one race - or more specifically as soon as the square edge on the leading edge of the knobbies just started to round over even a little bit such that the edge was no longer square. I was not a Pro level rider back then or now, but even at my skill level as a highly spirited rider I could easily tell the difference in diminished handling once the square edge on the knobbies was lost. I could not afford buying tires so I would flip discarded used racing tires around and run them backwards (since they otherwise were almost like brand new) to get the squarest edge on the leading edge. If I was too lazy to mount and then remount another slightly used tire then sometimes I would simply grind a new square edge with a handheld grinder.
In short, Use the guide that the manufacturer is recommending which will provide the square edge that will be needed.