My guess would be that they're painted to keep them from rusting before they're sold.
In case you couldn't tell by my (feeble) attempt at humor, the last thing I care about is upsetting anyone by adding to an old thread. I honestly never look at the post dates if the topic is interesting, unless I want to PM someone.
Besides, some would say it's better to have one thread with multiple points of view, regardless of age. Let's face it, lots of us are running older machines, and info about such common stuff like blades will never age.
Now, necro-whatever you said brings up hilarious memories from Robert Schimmel's old standup routine. RIP, Bob...
Mike
