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Marshall

Hi, I’m Marshall Brain with today’s question.

What are carbide tips?

When you buy a saw blade or a drill bit, it will often say carbide-tipped. Carbide or more specifically tungsten carbide is a very common material on any sort of cutting tool. For example, saw blades, lave bits, drill bits, router bits and dental drilling tips are; usually made out of carbide. Carbide is so popular in these sorts of tools because it stays sharper longer than most other materials. Additionally, some ballpoint pens use carbide balls because it helps the pen to last longer. With something like a carbide-tipped saw blade, the main body of the blade is made of steel. The small tips of carbide are braised onto that steel body. A good carbide tip might hold an edge 10 to 20 times longer than a steel tip.

Carbide tips do get dull eventually. You sharpen them using the same techniques you would use to sharpen steel, but because they are so hard, you use a different abrasive, something coated in diamond or a carbide abrasive wheel is common. If you’ve read How Diamonds Work, you know that diamond, or pure crystalline carbon is the hardest material there is. Moissanite, or silicon carbide, is very close. Tungsten carbide and titanium carbide are both made of the metal combined with carbon, and they are also very hard. Tools are not made entirely of carbide, partly because it would be very expensive, but also because the tool would be very brittle. Steel is actually a better material for the body of the tool because it’s tougher, and it’s less likely to crack or shatter with use.

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