Do you want to give a painted piece of furniture a well worn and aged look? Here is an easy technique for distressing a painted piece of furniture, door or just about anything. Are you interested in a distressed stained finish? Check out the two part series on Distressed wood finishing: How to make new look old (part 1).
The general technique is to paint the wood with a light color, preferably a slightly off white or light cream. Don’t use a high gloss paint. Use a low luster enamel paint. (more…)
Most all saw blades are carbide tipped, except for some specialty saw blades like thin kerf plywood saw blades.
What is so great about carbide tipped saw blade or router bit?
Tungsten carbide is an extremely hard metal that holds its profile and edge much better than any of the high speed steel alloys. It is also very brittle.
How can I tell if a saw blade is carbide tipped?
Look at the tips of the saw blade if the tips have a darker square metal on the ends that is slightly thicker a than the saw blade body, it is carbide tipped.
How to identify carbide tipped router bits.
Carbide router bits have a steel body with the carbide metal being attached to the cutting face of the router bit. The carbide will run the length of the cutting face of the router bit. It will also extend about a 1/16 of an inch beyond the steel body. The carbide plate is typically about 1/8 of an inch thick.
Hady writes:
I would like to ask about router bits..
actually I want to buy a new set of bits and since I’m not technically a pro, I need to know how can I compare between HSS bits and carbide tipped bits…
on some of the sets which I have seen around at a hardware shop, it is mentioned on each bit HM CT …does it means carbide tipped or it has another meaning….thanking you
From my research I was the CT stands for carbide tipped. I am not sure what the HM stands for other than it is a hardness code for the steel body of the router bit.
When shopping for router bits, purchase quality tungsten carbide tipped router bits and saw blades. Why? Because of the hardness of the carbide bits, they will hold their edge and stay sharper much longer than their steel counter parts. Carbide tipped router bits are more expensive than high speed steel; however, the carbide tipped router bits will last a lot longer.
My father-in-law used to only use high speed steel router bits and complained about how quickly they became dull and started to burn the wood he was routing. Most all of his wood working projects were made from red oak. He questioned why I would spend so much more for a carbide tipped router bit. I told him that I could get multiple times the linear feet cutting feet before the bit became dull and needed to be sharpened.
He didn’t believe me until…
A few years ago we decided to make cutting boards for all of the extended family as a Christmas present. We choose to make them out of soft maple, yeah soft is an understatement, it is a much harder wood than white oak. That way the cutting boards would be able to stand up to years of use.
Once we cut out the boards we decided to round over the edges with a 1/4 inch round over bit to take the edge off of the corners and sides. I installed my carbide tipped 1/4 inch round over bit into router table. After rounding over the edges of the twenty cutting boards, he was sold on the fact that carbide tipped router bits do hold their edge for a lot longer than HSS.
So, when shopping for router bits, spend a little bit extra and get a quality carbide tipped router bit.
