Eric The Viking
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- 19 Jan 2010
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I've got a few, fairly expensive router cutters now.
My rail+stile set, CMT multi-profile cutter, and mitre lock cutters all come to mind, but there are others too.
Generally they're all lasting pretty well, but, like the bog standard, double-bladed straight cutters they'll wear out in due course. The thing is, lots of people, including Trend and CMT make little diamond plates for 'touching up' router cutters. You're supposed to be able to keep them going for longer (and cutting better) by light and careful honing.
My question is how/why do you do this? You can't sharpen them as per chisels (on the bevel backs), without changing the dimensions significantly, even if you had a good enough jig to address the complex angles involved. "Filing" the flat surface not only would involve removing a lot of TCT, it would change the dimensions AND be more likely to upset the balance, which, for a large cutter at 10,000 RPM, is probably unwise. There's also the issue of the brittleness of carbide - much harder to get a crisp edge (I suspect) without chipping it and making matters worse.
I have done some honing on really, really cheap cutters in the past, when I thought it didn't matter if I messed it up totally. I had mixed success - one came up quite well, on others, I couldn't improve them noticeably. I've not put one badly out of balance, but then I've only tried with cutters less than 1/2" diameter overall. I don't think I'd risk it with my panel raiser!
Cleaning cutters, and keeping them as clean as possible (and using dry lubricants) seems like a good idea, but the 'touch-up' idea seems flawed. Of course, my technique may be rubbish, and I'm probably using too-cheap diamond files -- I don't have enough experience to judge, hence the question.
Anyone care to correct my thinking with their own experience, or is the whole thing a fallacy, as I suspect?
E.
My rail+stile set, CMT multi-profile cutter, and mitre lock cutters all come to mind, but there are others too.
Generally they're all lasting pretty well, but, like the bog standard, double-bladed straight cutters they'll wear out in due course. The thing is, lots of people, including Trend and CMT make little diamond plates for 'touching up' router cutters. You're supposed to be able to keep them going for longer (and cutting better) by light and careful honing.
My question is how/why do you do this? You can't sharpen them as per chisels (on the bevel backs), without changing the dimensions significantly, even if you had a good enough jig to address the complex angles involved. "Filing" the flat surface not only would involve removing a lot of TCT, it would change the dimensions AND be more likely to upset the balance, which, for a large cutter at 10,000 RPM, is probably unwise. There's also the issue of the brittleness of carbide - much harder to get a crisp edge (I suspect) without chipping it and making matters worse.
I have done some honing on really, really cheap cutters in the past, when I thought it didn't matter if I messed it up totally. I had mixed success - one came up quite well, on others, I couldn't improve them noticeably. I've not put one badly out of balance, but then I've only tried with cutters less than 1/2" diameter overall. I don't think I'd risk it with my panel raiser!
Cleaning cutters, and keeping them as clean as possible (and using dry lubricants) seems like a good idea, but the 'touch-up' idea seems flawed. Of course, my technique may be rubbish, and I'm probably using too-cheap diamond files -- I don't have enough experience to judge, hence the question.
Anyone care to correct my thinking with their own experience, or is the whole thing a fallacy, as I suspect?
E.
