Shop Made Carbide Tool

Can a Carbide Tool be Made in the Shop?

The short answer is yes! 

Materials:

1. A piece of 1/2" square stock (I got mine from McMaster). I do not recommend using carbon steel. Something like this should be adequate. 
2. A cutter blade and tapered screw. Many are available choose one that fits the size stock you are using. They run from $9 to $20. 
3. Handle shop made or universal handle.
4. Total cost less the handle could be <$20.

Tools:

• Grinder
• Hand file
• Drill and Tap for the carbide cutters screw

The biggest challenge with making this tool is getting the position of the tapped hole in the right place. It needs to be placed exactly between the end of the stock and the rear of the perch. 

The second challenge is to get the grind on the back of the porch for the cutter in the right place at the right angle so the stock does not dull the cutter but also holds is straight.

After doing this the hard way I would recommend this approach:

1. Lay the cutter on the stock leaving about an 1/8 inch of material protruding beyond the front of the cutter.
2. Mark the front and back of the cutter laying on the stock 
3. On the side of the stock mark the depth that the cutter needs to be recessed 
4. Grind the perch down to the recessed depth on a grinder. Do not grind beyond the mark where the rear of the cutter will sit. I ground a bit in front of it.
5. Using a file dress up the perch so that it is flat and parallel to the stocks bottom surface.
6. File an angle on the back of the perch that matches the cutters angle. I used 45 degrees.
7. Lay the cutter back on the stock fully engaged with the rear of the perch and mark the hole
8. Accurately drill and tap a hole for the the retaining screw. You may need to drill a small recess in the top of the hole because the bottom of the tapir in the retaining screw may not have threads. This relief will allow the screw to fully seat in the cutters tapir and grip tightly.
9. Mark and grind the front nose of the stock to match the angle on the front of the mounted cutter.
10. Insert into a handle or make a dedicated handle for the tool.

Square cutter sitting on perch

The front angle was ground first and ended up a bit short :)
See the process above to prevent this. This error may make this tool grabby!

Inserted into handle

Note: you should be able to mount a round carbide on this tool but of course a diamond shape will not fit. I would expect that the rear of the perch can be relived with a dremel tool to accept a diamond cutter.

Enjoy and comment,

Don