That time my power trowel threw a blade across a parking garage in downtown Nashville

I was finishing a 20,000 square foot slab on the 5th level of a parking garage last summer and one of the blades just snapped off and went flying past a foreman's head, so I had to call the whole crew off the slab for 45 minutes while I found the piece and checked the rest of the blades, has anyone else had a blade let go like that or was I just unlucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.phoenix23d ago

You had to shut down a 20,000 square foot slab for 45 minutes to hunt for a snapped blade piece. But here's something that bugs me: if that blade was made in the last few years, there's a good chance it was a cheap import with bad heat treatment. I've seen guys on other sites swap to USA-made blades after the same thing happened, and they never had another fly-off. Did you check the batch number or country of origin on those blades?

finleyk8723d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, 45 minutes on a slab that size sounds annoying but not the end of the world.

park.troy23d ago

Taylor's point about the blade origin being a factor really got me thinking, you know? It's like that applies to so much stuff these days. That whole 'save a buck upfront, pay for it later' pattern. I've seen it with cheap brake pads on my truck that warped after one heavy stop, and even with those bargain-bin light bulbs that burn out in three months. It's the same story with tools, car parts, or even the wood you buy at a big box store - it always seems to come back to this race to the bottom on quality. We all chase a deal, but then you end up losing way more in downtime and danger, like your 45-minute slab hunt. It's almost like we've all collectively forgotten that some things, like a trowel blade spinning at high RPM, really shouldn't be the cheapest option available.