"Boris Beizer" wrote in message
ink.net...
1. On a hunch, or perhaps it was something someone said earlier, I checked
those stellite bits and found that they are not magnetic. So back to the
bit bin and pulled out all the non-magnetic bits. It included:

a. All the stellite bits and blanks.
b. Some called "Tantung G."
c. Some called 525.

Are these latter two also Stellite? If it's not magnetic, is it
Stellite?

I'm not convinced it should be called Stellite, but they are likely not an
iron based alloy. I would expect they would perform similar to Stellite.
I am not familiar with the 525. I've used Tantung and don't feel it holds
up as well as Stellite, but could be wrong. Each application tends to be
slightly different, so without having both at hand, it's hard to say if one
is better than the other.


2. I noticed that some of my non-magnetic bits had an etched notice
"cutting surface." I've never seen that before. The tool blank doesn't
seem to be a composite. What is this?

You'll have to rely on the response from others. I've never seen it, so I
don't have a clue.

3. I noticed that all the ground stellite bits had the cutting surface
opposite the etched "stellite" label. Is there a preferred cutting
surface
for stellite? Or was it just to be able to keep track of what kind of bit
is what.

I can't help but think that those that are grinding the tool are mindful to
leave the nomenclature so they know what they're working with. What really
surprises me is that the ends of all the toolbits I bought off ebay still
have their markings. Unless both ends of the toolbits were marked, the
tools that were made from the balance of the bits were not marked.
Interestingly, included with the Stellite pieces were two pieces of Tantung
G as well. They were obviously used in conjunction with one another.

Harold