Which Lawn Mower Blade Brand Wins?

sharpened edge; effective cutting angle 31 degrees; weighs 930 grams

two cutting levels, 6 in sharpened edge, second level about 11/16 in above the first; effective cutting angle 40 degrees; weighs 886 grams

sharpened edge; effective cutting angle close to 28 degrees; the lightest blade tested at 662 grams

sharpened edge; effective cutting angle close to 30 degrees; weighs 780 grams; made in China

sharpened edge; effective cutting angle close to 30 degrees; weighs 780 grams

brand new, never used; two cutting levels; 6 in sharpened edge; effective cutting angle close to 37 degrees; weighs 696 grams

the slowest yet at that point; 103.6 decibels, the loudest yet at that point

about 6 mph faster than the Oregon high lift blade; 101.5 decibels

moved into second place behind the Max Power 3-N-1 at that point; 102.4 decibels

the slowest yet at that point; 104.4 decibels, the loudest yet at that point

about the same as the 8TEN mulching blade; 104.2 decibels, about as loud as the 8TEN mulching blade

102.2 decibels

covered a lot more ground than the high lift blades before the bag plugged, did a great job mulching before tossing clippings in, made a very clean cut; finished second behind Oregon G5 at 12.6 lb, just two tenths of a pound less

moved into the lead at 11.4 lb, about 2 lb more than the Oregon blade; made a great clean cut and did a little better job mulching clippings than the Craftsman OEM and Oregon blades, though most clippings were not fully mulched

moved into third place behind the Oregon and Max Power blades; grass was mostly intact without being mulched and did not cut as cleanly as some other brands; the Craftsman engine worked a little harder to keep this blade spinning at peak RPM

about the same as the 8TEN High Lift blade; narrator says grass seemed to have been ripped away from the plant rather than cut, and 3.75 in of sharpened edge did not seem adequate; the Craftsman engine worked noticeably harder with this blade than other brands

not explicitly numbered in the transcript for this specific pass; leaf and discharge results below cover this blade's performance

made a very good clean cut but did not mulch the grass, and the bag became plugged

stirred up quite a bit of dust, doing a terrific job but not quite as well as the Oregon G5, with 80 to 90 percent of leaves thoroughly mulched

performed very well lifting and mulching leaves, seemed to perform just as well as the Oregon high lift blade

not much dust generated; did not do a very good job lifting and mulching leaves, leaving behind quite a bit of unfinished business

stirred up quite a bit of dust and pulverized the leaves; outperformed all other blades except the Oregon G5, with around 90 percent of leaves thoroughly mulched; narrator calls this leaf-test result too close to call against the Arnold Extreme, describing it as a tie between the two; final leaf-test rating of 1.5, tied with Arnold Extreme for second behind the Oregon G5's rating of 1

covered about the same territory as the 8TEN mulching blade, sharper edge (4 in) than the 8TEN mulching blade's 3.75 in and a cleaner cut than it, but not as clean as some other brands; did a terrific job lifting and mulching leaves overall, rated 1.5, tied with the 8TEN mulching blade for second behind the Oregon G5

not nearly as much dust as other blades; did a decent job lifting and mulching leaves at 60 to 70 percent mulched, but took two to three passes to do so

clippings collected around six to six and a half feet from the discharge chute; did a great job mulching the clippings, though narrator notes it has less throw capability than the Oregon G5

performed very well, a lot of clippings thrown beyond the length of the 8 ft test board, mostly full length with very few remnants

may have hit a thicker portion of grass than some other brands and did not do a good job dispersing clippings compared to the max power blades; clippings mostly full length

performed about the same as the Max Power mulching blade, tossing clippings around six to six and a half feet, though the max power blade did a better job mulching

performed about the same as the max power and 8TEN blades at both dispersing and mulching clippings

threw out full length grass, most collecting around five to five and a half feet from the discharge chute

Craftsman engine held RPM just fine with this blade, though it did not mulch the clippings quite as nicely as the Oregon G5

Craftsman engine had plenty of power to maintain a pretty good RPM with this blade, made a great clean cut, though there was quite a bit of unfinished mulching business, same as the Oregon high lift blade

Craftsman engine had plenty of power to maintain good blade speed; performed about the same as the Craftsman OEM blade and the Max Power blades at mulching

the Craftsman engine really struggled and finally stalled with this blade; performance was not quite as good as the Oregon G5 at mulching the grass

Craftsman engine struggled to maintain RPM and finally stalled; did not mulch the grass clippings quite as well as the Oregon G5 mulching blade, and the cut was not as clean as some other brands

Craftsman engine has plenty of horsepower for its own OEM blade; made a nice clean cut and did a decent job mulching, though some unfinished business remained

barely slowed the Briggs and Stratton engine down; narrator hit the rebar a second time after finding little damage; ended up with the least amount of damage of all the blades tested and the highest possible durability rating of 1

engine came to a sudden stop and caused a lot of damage to the rebar; the blade ended up with bends in it (unintentionally letting it mulch), and was bent pretty badly with the most blade edge damage seen up to that point in the sequence

engine came to a sudden stop and the Briggs and Stratton air filter blew off; the blade itself experienced the least amount of damage seen up to that point, just a small dent, and survived without bending; part of the closing top group rated as holding up very well

engine came to a sudden stop; narrator notes the new 8TEN blades are the dullest in the lineup, and that dullness helps the blade head survive an impact

engine did not slow down too much on impact, but the blade itself experienced a very small bend and quite a bit of edge damage

engine came to a sudden stop; a large chunk of the blade edge was missing and the blade experienced a pretty bad bend

claims greater cutting surface for increased mulching performance and a centrifugal airlift design for uniform chopping distribution; made in USA

can be used to bag, discharge, and mulch grass clippings; made in USA

claims to be the best option for bagging or throwing grass clippings a long distance and performs well in thick grass, but requires more horsepower for optimal performance

claims to be the best option for clearing thick mowing conditions; precision sharpened, hand balanced, hardened and tempered

produces high turbulence allowing grass to be repeatedly cut and re-cut into smaller pieces; claims to let you bag up to 50 percent more grass; made in USA