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Broken brazed carbide tooling

gmihovics

Garrett
I was given a ton of old broken brazed carbide tooling, is there anything I can do with them? do they have a use other than brazing some new carbide bits to them? will they hold a cutting edge if I grind them into cutting tools?
 

terry_g

Ultra Member
I have ground brazed carbide tooling for years with good results.
Having the correct grinding wheel helps.
 

gmihovics

Garrett
I realise now I might need to clarify, when I say broken, I mean they have no carbide left, the piece was broken off completely.

@terry_g, does that change your answer? if not, how well does the tool hold an edge?
 

YYCHM

(Craig)
Premium Member
The shanks are soft and won't work as a tool bit. Take a file or hacksaw to one and you will see what I mean.
 

gmihovics

Garrett
The shanks are soft and won't work as a tool bit. Take a file or hacksaw to one and you will see what I mean.
This is what I thought but a bunch of these are ground into odd shapes so I thought maybe they were harder than I assumed.
 

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
This is what I thought but a bunch of these are ground into odd shapes so I thought maybe they were harder than I assumed.

Sometimes they have rather precise shank diameters. If so, you could make pins out of them. Perhaps even rough gauge pins.
 

trlvn

Ultra Member
This is what I thought but a bunch of these are ground into odd shapes so I thought maybe they were harder than I assumed.
It is possible that the previous owner ground the carbide into some specific shape which then left the shank in a weird shape when the carbide finally gave up the ghost. I have a few pieces in that condition.

Craig
 

gmihovics

Garrett
ok thanks for all the info. I'm going to keep some of the bigger broken pieces as pins or material to cut on the lather and mill.
 
Grinding and sharpening carbide....diamond wheels really is the only way to go. Stone wheels in a pinch may work but once you've tried a diamond wheel no going back.
 
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