Chris the guys that taught me did not use milling machines to drill holes..
They where all done on a lathe with face plates.. Thats how old school they where..
When I sharpened the bottoms most I was doing the most high tech work I ever did.. Making the GPS's in the 80's and B-2 Bomber parts..
Mostly carbide EMs I sharpened bottoms and the owner was to cheap to buy a surface grinder fixtuer like you use, but after I left and came back a few years later he finally broke down and bought one..
For roughing tool steel so what if the bottom of flutes dont meet flush and are off .005 out of four flutes taking a .025 cut..
For a CNC's them guys want only the best of the best and still break and crash stuff.
I bought about 25 lbs of small carbide EM's off eBay and all where like new almost but all where from one seller..
He did super precision CNC work and changed tools by time clock not by when they he though they were dulled..
I would not buy used HSS EM's unless I knew where to get them sharpened cheap and knew they were name brand / USA
Last edited by Johnny Kleso; 06-08-2011 at 10:53 PM.
aka rarebear - Hand Planes 101 - RexMill - The Resource