"Artemus" wrote in message
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"Artemus" wrote in message
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"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
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This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to
have the best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which
gives me quite long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and
I am seeing results which look like the cutter is getting dull about mid
project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)


It may be getting coated/clogged with resin from the wood. A soak
in Simple Green and then a toothbrushing could solve the problem.
Art
Hit send too soon.
Another possibility is that you are machining a high silica content wood.
If so, the SiO2 dulls steel edges rapidly. Can you use carbide bit(s)?
Art

I am already using a high quality micro grain carbide cutter. This job is
in red oak which is fairly hard as woods go. I was wondering if a diamond
coated or zirn coated carbide cutter might last longer.