A Carbide Query

I scrounged a little piece of history on Thursday afternoon

Qty.6 carbide inserts, by NULOY

Unusual in that they are special-order blanks 1/4” square x 25mm long

I am more likely to use them as packers than tools … but would be grateful if anyone can identify the Carbide grade N1, so that I can check its properties.

MichaelG.

.

Note: Nuloy merged with Hoybide in 1990, to form ISG, and ISG is now part of Total Carbide

.

.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 18/02/2023 16:41:09

Hi Michael these look like pieces we silver soldered on to steel shanks to make special cutters for turning and boring. DON'T use them as packing as they will likely crack and break. In the good old days there were not so many shapes and sizes of carbide cutters so we made our own. Sorry but I can't remember the grades but I only remember three grades then.

David

Thanks, David … don’t worry, I wasn’t thinking of using them for anything heavy-duty

Spacers is probably a better word

… more likely to get used on the microscope than in the workshop.

MichaelG.

I think the N simply denotes it's non ferrous. You see a lot of swivel de-burring blades made from it, and sometimes it's advertised as being good on very hard metal, but I couldn't vouch for that. David George is spot on when he said years ago it was often silver soldered on to a steel shank for making special cutters, made tons of them in my father's old engineering business.

For those interested in Industrial Archaeology … See Fig.1

**LINK**

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/002606579090574Z

MichaelG.