We hope that everyone who attended the recent industrial woodworking trade show in Las Vegas (http://awfsfair.org/) had a great time. Gauging by the amount of parties we heard about, I think it’s safe to assume that everyone enjoyed themselves.

The team at Tool Wolf got to see some old friends, meet some new ones and get a look at some of the advances in cutting tools and machinery. The SCM Group (http://www.scmgroupna.com/us/sectors_wood) certainly had a good showing with a wide array of new, innovative CNC routers and saws that always had a large group of attendees watching their demonstrations. Tool Wolf’s product line is a great fit with their line of machinery and our tools have been outfitted on their machines in many facilities throughout the country.

Another hot topic in the world of solid carbide router bits was the subject of advanced coatings. We spoke with a number of OEMs and end users to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of buying solid carbide router bits with a special coating:

Advantages – Some said that they could get 7-10 times as many cuts with a coated bit – Overall tooling costs can be reduced and production rates can increase

Disadvantages – Once the bits are sharpened, the coating along the cutting edge is effectively gone – Coating materials are different from every provider and can lead to a lot of variability in performance – The up-front cost differential can be substantial

ToolWolf has partnered with a few different vendors to provide solid carbide router bits with a special coating. While they are not listed for sale on the website, please give us a call or send an email for more information. They are a great compliment to our standard line of solid carbide compression and directional bits. As always, thanks for visiting the ToolWolf blog!