Patent ID: 7806153

Claim:
A debarking blade for a debarking machine of the type having a rotatable ring rotor through which logs are longitudinally fed during a debarking operation, and comprising: (a) an elongate blade body having an attachment end, an opposed free end, opposing sides, an arcuate concave inner edge extending between the opposing ends and facing generally inwardly toward the rotational axis of the ring rotor, and a generally planar mounting surface defined along one of the opposing sides along the inner edge of the blade body and facing a feed direction of the machine; (b) a detachable cutting tip having a cutting edge thereon releasably mounted on the free end of the blade body for engaging and debarking a log; and (c) a detachable climbing edge insert releasably mounted on the planar mounting surface such that the insert extends outwardly from the mounting surface beyond the side of the blade body toward the feed direction and a climbing edge of the insert extends outwardly over the inner edge of the blade body toward the rotational axis, the climbing edge having a substantially sharp edge for engagement by successive logs being fed into the debarking machine for deflecting the debarking blade out of the path of the logs during rotation of the ring rotor to protect the blade from direct impact by the leading end of the log and to properly position the cutting tip for debarking the log, wherein the insert defines fastener receiving holes therethrough that align with holes defined through the mounting surface that are axially parallel with the feed direction, and wherein the climbing edge insert is free from attachment with the inner edge of the blade body.