Chapter 5
The Cutting Edge: Staying Sharp
IN THIS CHAPTER
Facing the hard facts
Grappling with the elements
Getting tough with high-speed steel
Going fast and furious: Carbide
Notating on rotating: Round tools
Sticking with stick tools
If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.
—ALFRED NOBEL
If you saw the 1992 romantic comedy The Cutting Edge, where a washed up hockey player and spoiled figure skater fall in love while practicing for the winter Olympics, don’t get too excited: This chapter has nothing to do with that cinematic masterpiece, nor is it a sequel. (If you haven’t seen it, sorry about the spoiler.) That’s because this chapter talks about something far more exciting than some boy meets girl love story: cutting tools.
After all, without the drills, reamers, end mills, indexable inserts, boring bars, and milling cutters you find out about ...