As most of the country is covered in snow, one invention we have to help keep our roads safe and clear for transportation is a snow plow. Snow plows come in a variety of sizes and a couple of styles depending on the area that is needed to be cleared. The most common snow plows that are found on the market are either straight, one pieced plows or two pieced, rotating plows.

The straight plows (such as the one seen below) are typically found on larger trucks and utility vehicles, and used to clear large areas such as highways, and parking lots.

The two-pieced, rotating plows can typically go on consumer sized trucks, to large industrial trucks as well. They allow to pile up the snow within the blades of the plow, then rotate to evenly disperse the built up snow. The two blade set up is typically best used for small areas.

How Snow Plows are Made

The type of material used to build a snow plow is incredibly important, due to the conditions where a snow plow would be needed. Typically, stainless steel is used for the blades, or the actual surface that is used to scrape and disperse the snow. Stainless steel is used because of its strength and non-rusting characteristics. The sheets of stainless steel have holes punched into them at the top of the sheet, passed through a form rolling press to give them their proper degree, and then put through a press brake to bend the top section to fit on the base.

The base of a snow plow is typically made of carbon based steel, that is powder coated after construction to aid in rust proofing. Regular steel is significantly cheaper, and easier to manufacture than stainless steel, so most use a basic steel for the base. Many bases are manufactured differently, but you can see how one company makes their base here.