Air Knife or Air Spade ?

Crazy_Jimmy · Jan 31, 2013

Looking buy one ,just curious which one is the best ?

rfwoodvt · Jan 31, 2013

PM Sent

JeffL · Feb 1, 2013

Air knife, no competition.

Moves a ton of material, and if thats not your goal that day, turn down the pressure. Does double duty!

guymayor · Feb 2, 2013

XL-HFA Adding water is huge

I'm w Jeff; Why mess around?

NickfromWI · Feb 4, 2013

I couldn't tell what the difference was. I ended up with the Air Spade because that was the first one I had ever heard of, so I assumed it was better.

So what's the diff?

rfwoodvt · Feb 4, 2013

If I understand correctly the Air knife came first.

Both operate with a DeLaval nozzle to accellerate the air stream to supersonic at the exit. Really, it is rocket science albeit real basic.

Airspade has gone a long way towards making everything custom for the tool from the wand to the valving to the nozzle whereas AirKnife uses a lot of standard off-shelf components.

The only thing I have truly found unique is the patent for the Airspade, It is interesting to note that it appears to be more of a process patent versus a device patent. What is the difference? One protects the device, the other protects the process under which one builds the device.

I'm no patent law attorney so I may have missed something, but I gathered the essence of the AS patent is the methods on how to cnc machine the nozzle in the complex profile they believe to provide the smoothest, less turbulent side flow of the airstream.

Both nozzles accelerate the air to supersonic. Both try to straighten and contain the stream for the first few inches out of the nozzles.

And, both nozzles are fixed-parameter, in that ambient temp, barometric pressure, compressed air temp, flow and pressure may change but the nozzle cannot adapt to those changes. Therefore, you will seldom, if ever, get the perfect air stream from either one on any given day.

In the end I went with the AK for a couple basic reasons. <ul type="square">[*]First, price. AK parts are about half those of the AS. [*]Second, off shelf components. [*]Third, you can still talk to one of the people involve in the initial designing. [/list]

JeffL · Feb 4, 2013

We have both. Running them back to back the difference is undeniable. The airspade is a honda accord. The airknife is a top fuel dragster.

cambmx · Feb 5, 2013

You can make one that works at least as well as both for like 50 bucks, why does everyone spend so much on them? I haven't found anything different other than how it looks so far, just curious.

Paul Lloyd-Jones · Oct 20, 2020

Does Air Knife have a website They seem hard to find.

oldoakman · Oct 20, 2020

Google supersonic air knife. They are in allison park pa. Near pittsburgh. I need to contact them too.

Paul Lloyd-Jones · Oct 20, 2020

oldoakman said:
Google supersonic air knife. They are in allison park pa. Near pittsburgh. I need to contact them too.

Sweet! Got it. Thanks so much! supersonicairknife.com. Wow, I think they need to work on web presence. Air spade really has the corner on that.

oldoakman · Oct 20, 2020

I've run both tools and I think air knife is better and easier to handle and use.

ATH · Oct 20, 2020

I own/use Air knife. I have used an Air Spade a couple of times. The angled handle and/or nozzle seem like a good idea, but actually using it, I find being right above the tool with the handle and 90 degrees and straight nozzle is less tiring on the arms/easier to control.

Air Spade certainly markets to our industry quite a bit more...

Paul Lloyd-Jones · Oct 23, 2020

Keep them comments/comparisons coming! Thanks! Looking to make a purchase soon!

Zacchaeus · Nov 20, 2020

Paul Lloyd-Jones said:
Does Air Knife have a website They seem hard to find.

Check out Dave Leonard Tree Specialists in Kentucky. He sells several models, and has great tools.

ATH · Nov 20, 2020

I bought mine from Dave back in 06 (I think). I called and said "if I buy one from you, can I come spend a day with you learning how you guys use it"?

evo · Nov 20, 2020

There are also a few others who make basically the same tool but marketed to different industries. Airlance is another..

Zacchaeus · Nov 21, 2020

Anyone know of a place to get lightweight 1" air hose for a better deal than $280 for 50 ft??

ATH · Nov 21, 2020

Zacchaeus said:
Anyone know of a place to get lightweight 1" air hose for a better deal than $280 for 50 ft??

I can't find the exact hose I have, but it is pretty close to this:

Yellow 1" x 50' Rubber Hose (Alum NH Couplings)

Our rubber covered lay flat hose is a synthetic, single-jacket hose with a nitrile / PVC rubber lining and cover.

www.firehosedirect.com

I know...it is rated for water, not air. I have used it for hundreds of hours with no problems. I also tried 1" regular fire hose and blew the ends off of that, so don't try that.

You can get the Chicago fittings at McMaster Carr to thread onto that hose.

macrocarpa · Nov 24, 2020

I bought the air knife from Dave a while back and have been very happy with the tool and his available guidance. I'm in the market for a used compressor if anyone has any advice? I would sell and save a lot more trees if I didn't have to rent a compressor. So many trees need root flares exposed! + dig holes for planting.