I haven't had to buy any new cutter heads in about 15 yrs. The carbide tools are hard to cut lines when new, but made easy with a little touch up with an eze lap diamond from Brownell's. File the metal to a knife edge and you can get down into the bottom of the fine teeth of the cutters. A quick touch up and you are ready to go. Has anyone else tried to sharpen these tools?

No, mainly because checkering is still on my "things to do" list, but I just wanted to ad that Eze Lap is my preferred brand for diamond hones, I've bought a bunch of diamond abrasives over the years both cheap and not cheap, and Eze Lap seems to be consistently of good quality. I've used them quite a bit for sharpening (touching up, to be more accurate) carbide tools and they don't seem to be affected much if at all. The filing to a knife edge is a good idea, I did that to one of the hones that still had the little plastic handle attached, Except I used a wet grinder (since it was right there and all I had to do was switch it on) and ground it to a 45 degree angle. I like the ones with the handles, they are easier to hold and therefore use in my opinion.

I don't use the Carbide tools but I use a feather-file used to sharpen japanese saws to resharpen the regular gun-line cutters. I use a std file to sharpen lengthways and the feather to sharpen between the teeth. Look at a gun-line cutter and you'll see what I mean they aren't like the file-type Dembarts.......................DJ

DJ,

Have you tried the carbide cutters? I have a box full of old cutter heads and I have used all brands known including making my cutters in 1957 when I started checkering. The carbide cutter are expensive, but after many stocks with the same tools they are still cutting with only a little touch up with a diamond eze lap. I only use the electric tool for spacing. I have found that if a person learns to use the power tools he can speed up the process and keep lines straight.

Mr Brooks

Do you know what model or size Eze-lap you are using? The ones I have have the colored handle, but are plastic. I did not know they made ones with metal backing. I don't think I could keep a sharp edge on the plastic.

I have tried a number of ways to sharpen cutters over the years, and have yet to work out a consistant and satisfactory way of doing this. I may try the eze-lap 41F, that looks like it might be metal, about 3"x1".

Roger

Roger

Just remove the metal from the plastic handle. The fine is the best ones to use. I haven't tried to sharpen the Dembart plain steel cutters. The carbide will stay sharp a long time.

Les

Les, while on the subject of carbide cutters, do you use your electric tool to checker steel? I had my tool for about 30 years and have checkered many stocks but was always afraid to try it on steel. Didn't know if it would dull or chip the cutter. Bill

Bill,

I have tried metal checkering with the cutter, but didn't give it a good try. I understand that some use this method and someone may answer you if they read this reply. I didn't like the small particles of steel flying back into my face.

I use engraving tools to do metal checkering. This could be another topic to open up here. Some people don't want to share their methods. I have always been open on my methods.

quote:

Originally posted by LesBrooks:
DJ,

Have you tried the carbide cutters? I have a box full of old cutter heads and I have used all brands known including making my cutters in 1957 when I started checkering. The carbide cutter are expensive, but after many stocks with the same tools they are still cutting with only a little touch up with a diamond eze lap. I only use the electric tool for spacing. I have found that if a person learns to use the power tools he can speed up the process and keep lines straight.

LesBrooks, I have a DoIron power tool with the Carbide cutter. I rarely use it though. It seems like a way to make mistakes even faster. I don't do enough checkering to keep in practice enough to feel comfortable using the power tool, for now it feels better to go slow with the hand tools.
When I have more time for stockmaking I'll use the power tool after I've got a few more checkering jobs under the belt...................DJ