Which oil for quenching ?

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

The assumption that wood router cutters would not perform well is possibly counter intuitive.

The was it goes is this. Wood is a soft material compared to metal therefore wood cutters will struggle to cut metal.

The cutting edge of your router cutter is tungsten carbide not because of the hardness of the wood but because of its abrasiveness. It is surprising how abrasive many biological materials are, consider the razor strop fungus used as its name suggests. Wood cutters are habitually used at very high surface speeds and abrasion of the cutting edge becomes the limiting factor in tool life hence the use of hard materials like tungsten carbide.

Admittedly the cutting edge geometry is probably less than ideal for metals and the impact strength of the carbide may be non ideal but for one off jobs they should certainly do the job.

regards Martin

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

On the flip side, don't try using your expensive milling cutters in the router. I tried using a 6mm slot drill in my router and it turned blue and started smoking very fast. It was a brand new dormer cutter, so not a cheap junk cutter. The wood I was trying to cut, soft building (c14) pine.

Mark

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Umm, resin build up, cutter rubs, cutter overheats ?

Martin

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