| Microblade
> Our Facility, People and Equipment  Microblade Limited began manufacturing circular industrial knives including tissue and toweling log saw blades in 1975. They were located in a modest plant on Herries Road in Sheffield, England. A few men and machines making 610mm diameter log saw blades for the British market.
Sheffield and industrial knives grew up together. Even today the first thing most people associate with the name Sheffield is fine knives - both industrial and cutlery. You can learn more about the Sheffield industrial knife industry by visiting the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust.
Microblade’s initial market was in the United Kingdom -- supplying many tissue converting mills and Paper Converting Machine Co. of Plymouth, England, an OEM supplier of tissue and toweling log saw machines, with their log saw blade requirements. The word got out about the quality and long life of their log saw blades and related products. Their market grew to Europe, Israel, and South Africa.
 In 1983 The ORBITAL SAW Co., Inc. began distributing Microblade’s products in the United States and Microblade experienced a dramatic growth in their sales. The Herries Road plant was quickly getting too small.
In 1987 Microblade began looking for larger facilities. A building was located on Fitzwalter Road in Sheffield and plans were made to renovate the plant and offices for Microblade’s specific needs. Moving into the Fitzwalter Road facility gave Microblade increased manufacturing space to meet the growing demand for their products.
Continuing sales growth soon made the Fitzwalter Road plant obsolete and more room was needed for both the plant and office. Microblade found a ideal building on Sanderson Street. The building was remodeled so that both the plant and offices would meet Microblade’s specific requirements. Microblade started production at the Sanderson Street plant in 1995.
But it takes much more than a building to make the best log saw blades in the world. You need the best craftsmen in the world and some very unique function specific machines. Microblade has both.
Integral to the manufacture of large diameter thin cross section or very long industrial knives is the smither, a unique breed of old world craftsmen. In the “old days” he was called a Saw Smith.
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Today Microblade employs more “smithers” then any other company in Sheffield - or for that matter any other industrial knife company in the world. While Microblade uses a custom designed computerized smithing machine for the initial smithing there is only one way to get the final tolerances demanded by Microblade and their world wide customers - have a smither perform the final flattening and tensioning processes.
A close comparison of the photos reveals that while their dress code is different (Microblade’s smithers don’t wear Bowler hats) their specialized smithing hammers and leather work aprons with steel staples are identical to the Saw Smiths of 1920.
This room faces north for the best natural light; smithers don’t want artificial light as it makes their job - which requires a lot of “eyeballing” - more difficult. You might wonder why the “smithing shop” is painted black. The black walls and ceiling eliminate glare.
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The smithers are constantly checking the log saw blades for runout, flatness, and tension and then hammering or blocking as necessary to work the log saw blades into tolerance.
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In order to keep the costs of Microblade’s log saw blades as low as possible, without compromising quality, a computer controlled automatic smithing machine is used for the initial smithing steps. We are trying to figure out a way to put a Bowler hat on it!
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All flat grinding at Microblade is done under a flood coolant to prevent overheating, called burning, the log saw blades. This burning would damage the precision run out characteristics of a Microblade log saw blade. |
In order to ensure that the cutting edge of your log saw blade runs true Microblade grinds the ID of each log saw blade - some log saw blade manufacturers give you a machined ID surface, which is not as precise, to cut costs. One more step taken by Microblade, overlooked by other log saw blade manufacturers, which produces excellent axial runout characteristics. |
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After smithing the most important process in the manufacture of log saw blades is heat treating. Microblade has always done all of their heat treating in-house. Most other log saw blade manufacturers sub-contract this most important process. Microblade’s roller hearth furnace is computer controlled, for the utmost in controlled repeatability, moving the blades through several hot zones. We feel that heat treating is too important to be done anywhere but in Microblade’s furnaces under our direct control. |
It takes a custom designed building, unique function specific machines, world class craftsmen, a state of the art data processing and production scheduling system, and a dedicated staff to make the best log saw blades in the world. Microblade has one goal – to provide you with the best quality and longest life log saw blade and Eliminate the Log Saw Blade as a Problem in your Converting Operation.
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