Plunge Roundover Router Bits - 1/4" Shank, Carbide Tipped - Whiteside 2051;
3/16" Radius, 5/8" Large Diameter, 1/4" Small Diameter, 1/8" Cutting Length, 1-3/4" Overall Length
Whiteside is regularly rated as #1 for cut quality and #1 for value by Fine Woodworking magazine.
Whiteside Machine was originally a machine shop, many decades ago. They were machining precision router bodies for a customer. The customer went broke leaving them sitting on the router bodies so they decide to finish them and sell them. This is a real story of courage, resourcefulness, guts and just plain stubbornness.
Decades later they are still stubborn about absolutely top quality and beautiful tools.
Braze tools Have a piece of expensive tungsten carbide brazed to a steel shaft. This gives you the incredible long wear of carbide and the toughness of a steel saw plate, router shaft, etc. It makes a clearly superior tool at a greatly reduced cost.
Brazing is the joining of two dissimilar materials through the use of a third material at temperatures above 800° F.
Carbide brazing is done with a high silver braze alloy. The braze alloy is about 50% Silver. This makes it expensive but it is really worth it. Unlike other attachment methods, good brazing forms a mechanical and a chemical bond between the carbide and the steel so that the bond is much stronger than either the steel or the carbide. It also acts like a suspension on a car in that it cushions the hard carbide tool tip to protect it from chipping, breaking and excess wear.
*Please note that the above picture is a representation of the type of tool and may not accurately represent the actual size and dimensions.
WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm—www.P65Warnings.ca.gov