Are all hss 18% planer thicknesser blades the same?

[pgrbff]

I have managed to ruin 2 sets of 300mm blades, they are stored in a plastic box with a moisture catcher but I left them too long.
There seems to be a vast difference in price, 25 euro for 3 by big Italian tooling brand to 30 euro each Guhdo, who I believe make professional tooling.

 

[Myfordman]

Some are laminated thus using less HSS and should/could be cheaper

 

[recipio]

How did you ruin them ? A little surface rust will clean off. All HSS blades should be fit for purpose. The only problem I have found is that repeated sharpenings reduce the width. My original Scheppach blades went from 19 mm to 13mm so a new set is advisable every few years anyway.

 

[D_W]

What does 18% mean?

Most of the budget HSS planer blades are M2 steel. M2 is made in china for a song, sometimes slightly off on the alloy, but the properties are still good for use, especially power tool properties.

An insert blade may not be cheaper, but it will give the ability to make the insert harder than it would be advisable to make the whole blade due to brittleness.

If alloy is the same, life of the blades will be correlated to hardness, and some of the really cheap blades could be underhard, or on occasion, very overhard.

A little underhard will cut about 25% of life off of a blade. A lot will cut off more, could be 50-75% because the blade will deform until the edge is fat enough that it doesn't deform further.

 

[bushwhaker]

HSS 18% means wolfram contains. Also called a T1.

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[D_W]

HSS 18% means wolfram contains. Also called a T1.

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Thanks - I hadn't seen that name used for it here in the US (could be, just haven't seen it) . If the alloy is the same for all brands, then the only real difference will be hardness and perhaps in cut cost blades, honesty....