Somewhere in a drawer there was always a little bocx with replacement blades I bought from someone here. Once a year I'd stumble across them and think "Oh, I don't need those yet." After all, my original blades are only mildly chipped...
Well, today I had to take the shear outside to help a neighbor cut an 8ft long sheet into strips 2" wide. As soon as I hit sunlight, I noticed my lower blade had a definite crack 95% across it, just barely held together at the cutting edge. Finally, time for the replacement blades. 10 min to find, install, gap, etc.
And then I cried.
Well, on the inside.
The first cut was water jet smooth. Laser smooth. God's Divine Will smooth. Required no dressing.
I cried for all the time I'd wasted cleaning sloppily cut edges... easily tripling the time to make any cut. I cried for the wasted energy, electricity, abrasives, etc. I cried for my own pigheaded frugality that made everything cost MORE just to save on the use fo a little set of clean blades.
40 FEET of smooth perfect no additional work cuts.
Sometimes [like the last 8 years of work] i make more work for myself out of stubbornness.
Y'all probably already do this, but check your shear and keep it sharp. Saves a heck of a lot of embarrassment, even if just internal.
Edited to add this image, both cuts direct from the shear, no cleanup. New on the left, old on the right.
