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Carbide remains sharper longer than plain steel, which makes a carbide cutting tool more efficient. Carbide enables blades to cut faster without binding, which reduces load on woodworking machines.
Normal-steel cutting tools dull fast. When blades get dull, they burn the wood, cause chipping, shatter the grain and cause grain blow-out. Sharp, carbide-tipped tools are far more efficient, cutting faster and needing sharpening less often than common steel blades.
Carbide tools make the cleanest, straightest cuts of any of the woodworking tools, and cause little or no grain damage. When cuts are clean and straight, woodworking joints fit better, and glue bonds are tighter. A carbide tool’s clean cut reduces the incidence of kickback, a major cause of woodworking accidents.
Carbide tips can be replaced when they wear out or break, and most tool-sharpening shops can weld new tips onto a cutting tool. The initial cost of a carbide-tipped tool is more, but the tips are replaceable, making the tool more affordable in the long run. Carbide-tipped tools last almost indefinitely if the blade body or router-bit shaft remains in good shape. It’s not uncommon for carbide-tipped woodworking tools to last 20 years or more if they are taken care of and the tips are replaced regularly.
CARBIDE RECYCLING
We are committed to helping you reduce waste wherever we can. Fortunately, the carbide from your worn-out tools and inserts can be recycled to be used to make new ones. This significantly reduces the need for sourcing raw material and the footprint that our and your operations will leave on the environment.
High speed steel is a popular material often used to create cutting tools, particularly drill bits. Whether you’re creating tools for the end user or redesigning your manufacturing tooling, here are some common advantages of high-speed steel.
Drill through thick materials with confidence thanks to the high-speed performance of this steel. Cutting through materials at high speeds is one of the most important advantages of high-speed steel. You can enjoy this benefit due to the alloy’s unique combination of hardness, wear resistance and high-temperature capabilities. High speed steel can offer speeds up to seven times that of traditional alloys.
A tough blade is likely to hold its edge longer. Even in high-heat or high-pressure situations, you can expect your high-speed steel components to hold their edge and outperform other alloys. Some manufacturers choose to coat high speed steel to add another layer of wear resistance.
One of the final advantages of high-speed steel is its high-temperature capabilities. While every alloy has slightly different heat levels, you can expect many high-speed alloys to reach operating temperatures of 650 degrees.
Types of High Speed Steel:
All types of HSS contain significant amounts of carbon, which reacts with the refractory metals to form hard carbides, which increase wear resistance and hot hardness.