Bit Life

[gumbo]

What kind of life are you guys getting on the carving bit? When I got my machine it was used so I never started with a fresh CW bit. I bought two from the internet the first from precesion bits and the second from ebay. I am starting to get fuzzy carvings (on the bottom of the carve) I am assumeing that the bit is getting dull. I am carving in pine and have about 45 hours on the bit. How does this compare to the factory bits? To me it sounds that I should get more from the bit but I have nothing to compare to.

[CarverJerry]

I know I've experienced that same thing using pine, but then after I change to a different wood I didn't get the fuzzies. I've also carved some pine that didn't give any fuzzies at all. I believe it's all in the wood and how hard it is.

CJ

[mark1945]

I have had the same experiance with Pine some times really fuzzy others not so bad.I use alot of Aromatic Cedar and Sycamore way less fuzzies with both less clean up time. I also use Walnut,Pecan,Oak ,and Jatoba I still have the worst looking carves with Pine.I have close to 900 hours on my 3 machines and all are still using the same carving bits they came with,wish I could say the same for cutting bits.I