Sharpening Carbide Inserts for Woodturning Tools Known As Carbide Cutters

About 3 years ago you might be able to find 2 or 3 guys making videos on how to make carbide cutter woodturning tools. Now….has to be close to 100 tutorials or videos on cabide cutter woodturning tools.

So….the secret is out on how to build your own carbide insert cutting tool, start with a carbide cutter, piece of 1/2″ or larger square steel bar, turn a wood handle, copper furle, epoxy, drill and a tapping set.

Of course you could buy a carbide tool set, professional brand from Easy Wood  and enjoy a professionally made woodturning tool that cuts wood like butter.

There are other brands out there but Easy Wood Tools is probably one of the best. Especially if you are looking for a good quality hollowing tool

Or a set of professional carbide cutter turning tools, you can’t get better than Easy wood tools because of the quality of the carbide cutter and the size of the steel shaft. These are the best in my opinion for any wood turner, especially if you are just getting started wood turning.

For me, I use the carbide tools when the turning gets a little hairy 🙂 you can make plunge cuts, you can shave, you can sheer cut and you can hollow depending on the tools. The learning curve is short and you can saftely turn a project if you are a woodturning amature.

These tools advertise the fact that they do not need to be sharpened. This is a big plus with woodturning tools because you need a grinder, expensive grinding wheels and an expensive grinding jig ….now that you have all this you need to know how to use it. Go ahead and watch a bunch of videos, but it won’t matter until you give it a whirl!

How to Sharpen Carbide Cutters

Here’s a little secret about carbide cutters.

You can reshape and resharpen them with little effort and sharpening equipement.

That’s right, they teach you to through away your carbide cutters once they become dull and put on a new one. That’s fine if you have money to burn. But if you’d like to breath more life into your carbide cutters you can sharpen them with a diamond sharpening card and some cutting fluid.

To sharpen your carbide cutters its as easy as rubbing the top of the cutter, (largest surface area) on a diamond sharpening card, rub it around until the slurry becomes black….take a look at it and then give it a try.

Sharpening Carbide Inserts
for Woodturning Tools

Sharpening Carbide Cutters

Often times the square cutters will chip on the ends and they are at that point useless ……unless you reshape the cutter and sharpen you carbide cutters with the carbide card.

Watch this video on reshaping and sharpening carbide cutters.