"Jon Elson" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:



g It's too bad that term has stuck. I've talked to a lot of people over
the years who don't realize that "solid carbide" actually is a sintered
material, with tungsten carbide and tantalum carbide particles cemented
together with cobalt and/or other metals.

The genesis of the non-solid variety, as far as I know, is that in the
beginning, there
were cutters made with steel shanks and the cutter was welded on, probably
during the sintering process. I know this was true with carbide circuit
board drills. I'm sure nobody makes them this way anymore, at least in
modest sizes up to a couple inches diameter.

Jon

I probably still have a few of those kicking around here in 3/4 and 1 inch
sizes.

--the brazed construction method is still quite common with reamer and
router bits as well but usually they're straight flute and not helical.