I recently bought a bunch of stones on an auction that seemed to come
from a jeweler’s estate…lots of nice stones etc as well as
synthetics. Other than stones, I found some odds and ends metal
pieces including a couple of wire making dies and some heavy metal
triangles with a part nr on them. They are a mystery to me, and I was
wondering if anyone could identify them for me? I have pictures of
them at http://www.jeannius.com/triangle.htm
The triangle appear to be tungsten carbide cutting inserts. They are
used in machine shops for cutting metal. They are very hard ( and
used, notice chips). Possibly used to scribe glass or softer stones.
In a past life my husband worked in a machine shop. He says these
look like carbide inserts for tooling. They are braized onto a tool
and used for cutting. I think we have some of the same left over in
his old toolbox.
If I had to guess, I’d say they probably carbide inserts for lathe
tools or milling cutters. They’re used in industry for turning &
milling metal. When one of the apexes gets dull, the insert is
removed & rotated to a new apex. It’s then clamped in place again &
returned to use.
No question your mystery metal triangles are tungsten carbide tool
"points" - to be brazed clamped or otherwise affixed to a steel
carrier tool. The ones you have look like lathe tool points.
Tungsten carbide is super hard but somewhat brittle so a steel
carrier is used. It’s the carbide tips that do the cutting work.
Cheers
Hans Durstling
Moncton, Canada
counting the days until Tucson
wondering if anyone could identify them for me? I have pictures of
them at http://www.jeannius.com/triangle.htm
Those are carbide lathe bits. They are held in a fixture mounted on
the traversing part of a lathe and used for cutting hard metals. They
are noticeably dense, aren’t they? Probably the jeweler that had them
was using them for the same thing I used to use one for. They are
excellent for shaping all sorts of abrasive wheels. I used them to
dress and shape mizzy wheels, aluminum oxide cut-off disks, abrasive
impregnated rubber wheels, etc. Just run the wheels fairly fast
against one of the sharp edges of the carbide, the wheel will wear
down and the carbide won’t. Very handy.
No question your mystery metal triangles are tungsten carbide tool
"points" - to be brazed clamped or otherwise affixed to a steel
carrier tool. The ones you have look like lathe tool points.
Tungsten carbide is super hard but somewhat brittle so a steel
carrier is used. It's the carbide tips that do the cutting work.
I sell these in the day job…
Mostly some form of tungston carbide…
Some of them are actually quite ornate, and they come in many
colors… And shapes…triangle, diamond, square, and round… Some
have holes… You can get some coated with Diamond or CBN…
I have absolutely no idea how they would solder or braze onto
findings…
The ornate design one sees at times has to do with chip-breaking and
such…
TIN (titanium nitride) makes them golden…but they come in many
colors…
I agree Gary, I have often thought that cufflinks etc with the more
complex chipbreaker designs on them, diamond set in the screw hole
in center, would probably sell to the machinist trade. The designs
are sometimes really beautiful…
