How does a carbidizer work?

[Mahoney]

An update:

I am seeing a definite increase in edge holding with the turning tools that were carbidized, so far I would say about 2-3X more use between sharpenings.

The kitchen knives are a different story. A cheap knife made of fairly soft stainless steel that rolls the edge the instant it touches a bone or a plate won't stop doing that just because you have carbidized the edge. The knives I picked to carbidize are so susceptible to mechanical damage that I am still sharpening them about as often.

 

[wnease]

Mahoney, thanks, that confirms some speculation for me. Carbide is strong and stiff but if the metal under the carbide is weak it will fold up under the conditions you described... perhaps that's a lesson pertinent to blade material in general (or at least edge material)

 

[superfluities]

Carbidizing probably softens most metals under the carbide due to the heating.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Carbidizing probably softens most metals under the carbide due to the heating.

I have a carbidizer and it doesn't seem to really put off any heat. If I have it cranked all the way up and work on a section for a while it seems to get warmer by a few degrees but it certainly isn't hot. Maybe it gets very hot for a split second then the heat quickly dissipates? I have a smaller carbidizer and this is only my observation, I thought it would get hot until I used it.

I am finding there may be a trick to getting carbed edge just right (less steep of a bevel than normal) but it really seems to make titanium cut like crazy, I haven't tried it enough on steel to really form an opinion about that aspect of it.

 

[superfluities]

After seing the video a few+ posts back it looked like it did put out some heat as essentially your arc welding using carbide as an elctrode just on a very small scale.Since the the electrode only contacts for a fraction of a second it seems it would not build up heat you could feel but it would affect the steel under the carbide...