that was my exact worry. I did debate on making a bolt on edge that was 16” WideYou will wear down the teeth mounting spots, then your teeth won’t fit tight anymore and will be harder to keep them on. Better off to make a plate that mounts over your teeth if you want a flat surface.
I often tilt my bucket so the teeth are pointing up slightly, than drag it along the bottom to smooth things pretty well...This requires coordination between stick and boom movements, but is not too difficult to get fairly good results.I have some ditch work to do, anyone just pull the teeth off their backhoe bucket to avoid teeth marks where they are digging? I did a bunch of it already but I’d like it a bit smoother.
Since you obviously have the bolt on vs weld on teeth, could you just buy a small piece of cutting edge and drill some holes to match? Seems easier than fabbing up a piece of random grade steel. I bet you can buy the width you need too without the need to cut it.