Blades don’t last forever, your trusty a2 blade that gets sharpened every year and only clips a few horses still can only have a certain amount of sharpenings (amount will vary depending on who sharpens them).
How to tell a blade that’s coming to the end of its useable life:
Blade – Left.
A blade that once it runs blunt will be going into scrap metal. You can see the ridge at the back of the blade is all but gone and the teeth are thin.
Blade – Right.
Brand new blade you can clearly see the large ridge towards the back and the ridge above the teeth. It’s batch code is also fully legible.
What to do with blunt/ end of use blades?
- Use them as a thinning blade for humanely shortening manes
- Recycle them! Blades are made of solid steel so they can go into scrap metal bins or recycling bins to be repurposed