FEL Cutting edge - direction?

[J_J]

Thanks all - The pictures are very helpful. I suspected that the "normal" way to mount the edge is bevel up. However, I looked at several old weld-on cutting edges, including my own and on a big backhoe down the street, and the entire bevel area is worn off. On these old edges, the bottom of the cutting edge is scraped away so that the top is flat and the bottom is curved up to the top, making the sharp edge on the top. An upsidedown edge would mimic this profile.

I read that one of the things you should do to keep an edge good is to avoid backdragging. In my case, I do a lot of backdragging with my FEL - probably 60% of my run time is in reverse with my front wheels in the air. It seemed that putting the edge on upsidedown would help avoid breaking the tip off of the edge during backdragging.

JayC

If you decide to add the teeth to your bucket, you can still back drag by using the bottom back of the bucket, after adding a 1/2 in x 3 in bar to the bottom edge to prevent wearing the back of the bucket out.

The 1/2 side should be toward the ground, with the 3 in against the back of the bucket. That should last quite a while. .

 

[Socratic]

Anyone know where to purchase a bolt on cutting edge - similar to the Markham bolt on teeth? Doesn't look like Markham (now Gator Attachments?) makes one. Be nice to find something that would use the same bolt on holes.

 

[Gary Sweat]

The life of the edge has more to do with what it is made of. When I had my bucket made the fab shop showed me some steel they used on a military project they had left over. He gave me a file and said "see if you can cut a groove in it". I turned the file on its sharp edge and went at it for about a half dozen passes and it didn't leave a mark. I'm sure with enough pressure and time it would have cut it but I was impressed. The fab guy also said it could not be bent without heating it red hot or it would break.

After a summer of digging and back dragging there are no marks on it yet and the edge is still sharp. The fab shop did not know what it was made of as the steel was shipped to them by the military. Lucky for me they had some scrap left from the job.

The point is that some types of hardened steel is better than others for a cutting edge and may even last the life of the bucket.

 

[JB4310]

I would install the blade the "standard" way with bevel up.
But except for scraping smooth surface, like snow on asphalt, I doubt there would be a real noticable difference with the bevel down working in dirt/gravel etc. JMO

JB.

 

[Ford tractor]

Bevel up. Don't over analyze, if it was better to do it a different way, it would be done that way by now.

If you want better durability, weld a cross hatch pattern of hard face on the bottom of the blade edge.