Shopping for power-carving bits, you learn one thing quickly: They come in astonishing variety. Your eyes may glaze over as you survey the array of types, shapes, and sizes. Are you facing a fathomless jumble? Not at all—there is order to the world of carving.

When cutting performance declines, don t assume that your bit is worn out. More likely, it s just loaded up with wood fibers and resin. Cleaning probably will revive it.stones. For diamond points, buy an inexpensive dressing stone. For longer bit life, store them with their shanks standing in holes drilled in a block of wood.

A brass-bristle brush, about the size of a toothbrush, cleans light buildups from everything except stones. Heavier buildup usually yields to oven cleaner. To quickly clean a clogged Kutzall, blast it for a few seconds with your propane torch, then brush away the burnt wood.

When buying bits from a catalog, you may find the diameter designated by a three-digit ISO number, such as 018 or 070. To convert that number to millimeters, insert a decimal point between the second and third digit. Thus, the 018 bit in the example is 1.8 mm diameter and the 070 is 7.0 mm.

Shanks are 3⁄32 " for most bits, 1⁄8 " for some. Big carbide bits and Kutzalls have 1⁄4 " shanks. Before buying one of these biggies, confirm whether your rotary hand tool or flexible-shaft handpiece will accept a 1⁄4 " collect. Most handpieces will, most rotary hand tools won't.

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To select the proper type of bit, consider how much wood you want to remove, how fast you want to take it off, and how smooth you want the surface to be. We look at some of the popular choices in bits on the following pages.

A crepe sanding-belt cleaner works fine on stones. For diamond points, buy an inexpensive dressing stone. For longer bit life, store them with their shanks standing in holes drilled in a block of wood.

A convenient way to classify power-carving cutters and grinders is by useroughing, carving, and detailing. Roughing out a carving, for instance, calls for quickly grinding away a lot of wood with little regard for surface finish. Forming feathers or other fine details, though, requires a more precise touch.

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