Patent ID: 7658129

Claim:
A method of making composite utility knife blades, wherein each blade comprises a back edge, a cutting edge located on an opposite side of the blade relative to the back edge, two side edges located on opposite sides of the blade relative to each other and extending between the back and cutting edges of the blade, first and second metal portions, and a weld region, wherein the first metal portion forms a backing extending between the back edge and the weld region and further extending from approximately one side edge to the other side edge, the second metal portion defines the cutting edge and extends from approximately one side edge to the other side edge, and the weld region joins the first and second metal portions and extends from approximately one side edge to the other side edge of the blade, the method comprising the steps of: providing an elongated wire formed of wear-resistant steel, and an elongated backing strip formed of steel and defining an approximately planar upper side, an approximately planar lower side, and opposing back and front edges extending between the upper and lower sides; joining the wire to the front edge of the backing strip; applying thermal energy to an interface between the wire and the backing strip to weld the wire to the backing strip, and forming a composite strip defining a first metal portion formed by the steel backing strip, a second metal portion formed by the wear-resistant steel wire, and a weld region joining the first and second metal portions; annealing the composite strip; straightening the annealed composite strip; hardening the annealed composite strip; tempering the hardened composite strip; quenching the hardened composite strip; forming at least one facet into the second metal portion, and forming an approximately straight wear-resistant steel cutting edge along the side of the composite strip opposite the back edge of the first metal portion; and die cutting at least one of the first and second metal portions along shear lines axially spaced relative to each other to thereby form a plurality of utility knife blades from the composite strip.