Clipping season is here! As the summer coats finally begin to shed, the longer coarse winter coat will be showing promising signs of coming through. So, while the weather is mild, our horses are starting to get a little sweatier than normal!
If you haven’t already, make sure your existing blades are sent off now for re-sharpening ready for the season ahead. At Masterclip, we recommend Shear Ease Ltd for sharpening your Masterclip blades. They offer a convenient and fast postal service and use high-end specialist equipment to give your blades the best finish.
It’s always best to have at least 2 pairs of blades ready of the same cutting depth. Just in case you need to change blades mid clip and avoid two different finishes!
So, if you are looking to purchase new blades for your clipper, check which type of blades you need to buy first, as it’s not a one size fits all solution. There are a few different styles of horse clippers on the market and the fitting and types of blades can be a little confusing.
At Masterclip, many of our heavy-duty clipper models have a Heiniger style clipper head, or an A2 clipper head - both take different styles of blades. Your clipper manual will state which head type or blade type your clipper model uses, but you can tell the difference just by looking at your existing blades or clipper head.
Heiniger Style Head and Heavy Duty Blades
The Heiniger style clipper head is a traditional style of clipper head and uses standard size heavy duty clipper blades. Our standard horse clipper blades are available in 2 cutting depths - A medium 3mm blade or a fine 1mm cutting blade. The blades fit onto the clipper without the need to remove the tension screw.
Care needs to be taken to align the blades on the clipper head to ensure the hair is lifted by the comb (the larger part of the blade) to feed into the cutter. A 2mm gap between the end of the comb and the blade plate on the clipper head will ensure that the blades work effectively. Check out our You Tube video guide for a full tutorial here. The Heiniger style blades are compatible with other clipper models with a traditional style clipping head including Heiniger, Liveryman, Calypso, Dextella and Maxtra.
A2 Style Head and A2 Blades
Masterclip A2 blades are compatible with all new Masterclip heavy duty horse clippers and also Lister A2 clippers. Although other brands also call their blades A2, the spacing of the holes to fit the blade onto the head can be slightly different
Our A2 blades also come in 2 parts - the cutter and comb and they simply fit onto the clipper without the need for finer adjustment. Care must be taken to ensure the comb (larger part of the blades) is fitted the right way up so that the grooves are visible on the underside of the clipper. Our premium A2 blades are made from toughened steel with sharper cutting edges that are harder wearing and longer lasting.
Our A2 blades are available in a greater range of cut from Superfine 0.75mm cut, Fine 1.5mm cut, Medium 2.5mm cut and Coarse 4.5mm cut. The A2 head can also be fitted with a livestock blade, suitable for shearing and dagging sheep, alpacas, llamas and clipping cattle.
Whichever blade you need for your clipper, always check the tension is set as loose as possible without losing the quality of the clip. Do this by testing on the coat in a small area to see how the blades are clipping. Always stop if the blades are pulling or dragging through the coat as this can be uncomfortable for your horse. Reset the blades and check your clipper manual to ensure you have the blades set correctly. If you are in any doubt, please do contact us!