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When you buy a saw blade or a drill bit, it'll often say carbide tipped. Carbide or more specifically tungsten. Carbide is a very common material on any sort of cutting tool. For example, sab blades, lave bits, drill bits, router bits, and dental drilling tips are usually made out of carbide. Carbide is so popular in these sorts of tools because it stays sharper longer than most other materials. Additionally, some ballpoint pens use carbide balls because it helps the
pen to last longer. With something like a carbide tip, sob blade, the main body of the blade is made of steel. The small tips of carbide are brazed onto that steel body. A good carbide tip might hold an edge ten to twenty times longer than a steel tip. Carbide tips do get dull. Eventually you sharpen them using the same techniques you would use to sharpen steel, but because they are so hard, you use a different abrasive. Something coated in diamond or a carbide abrasive wheel is common.
If you've read how diamonds work, you know that diamond or pure crystalline carbon is the hardest material there is. Moistenite or silicon carbide is very close. Tungsten carbide and titanium carbide are both made of the metal combined with car urban, and they are also very hard. Tools aren't made entirely of carbide, partly because it would be very expensive,
but also because the tool would be very brittle. Steel is actually a better material for the body of the tool because it's tougher and it's less likely to crack or shatter. And you do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot com and be sure to check out the brain stuff blog on the how stuff works
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