My vintage end mill collection finally earns its keep

Collected old cobalt end mills from estate sales for years, figured they were just wall art. Then a job in Cincinnati needed a weird 3/4 inch radius on some hardened steel, and nothing in my new tooling cart would cut it. Dug out a 1960s Cleveland cutter, sharpened it on a whim, and it ran flawless for 40 parts. Now I grab the old stuff first for any nasty interrupted cut, is anyone else hoarding vintage tooling that actually works better? I used to think new carbide was always king, but that week proved me wrong.

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1 Comment

olivia_moore26d agoOG Member

The 1960s Cleveland cutter worked because it was already worn to match your exact setup, which is luck, not proof it beats modern carbide, and I'd bet real money that same job runs faster with a fresh insert if you push the feeds. Vintage tooling is for nostalgia, not production, and that 40-part run just means your speeds and feeds were too slow to expose its limits.