Ed I understood the newer carbides had overcome the sharpness aspect by refining the metal to create that sharpness that was lacking before.
I have a mate a furniture maker who changed the heads C/W these cutters from the blades using his surface planers with huge success with and across the grain specialising in burl surfacing. I agree 100% with taking the edge off the blanks to lessen that stress for sensitive blanks such as ebony, snakewood and desert ironwood as well. There are so many plastics involved in pouring blanks these days some appear to be more brittle or susceptable than others certainly the order of drill then round makes perfect sense to me. It would also from Marks description of drilling the 1/2 inch before backing off is fine initially but deeper in shorter distances as well as backing out and clearing the swarf can ease drilling heat and pressure is critical IMHO.
There are so many very experienced makers and pourers of cast blanks I too will be interested in their experiences, Talking to a friend of mine this morning who makes his own blanks he only pours with material from one source chooses crystal clear that both drills and turns without problems I will ask when I see him next the type, brand etc.He does not vibrate or shake this mix.
Peter.
