Carving Bit Recommendation: Dremel Tool

[cbrshadow23]

I've been doing some carving on my Bougainvillea's and have been using a dremel (1/8" shank) and some of the Dremel branded bits. Their bits seem good for the first 5 minutes, then they're dull and don't work well. I carved away some big areas of my bougainvillea and it took 2 hours and required a lot of effort on my end, plus I went through 2 bits. I'm sure the bits that I'm using aren't great for removing so much wood.

What bit would you recommend to use with my dremel? I have other bougainvilleas that will need a fair amount of wood removal and don't want to use those dremel branded bits anymore.

Thanks

 

[MrWunderful]

I still am trying to find some of the samurai bits in 3mm (1/8”) but they seem to be sold out everywhere. Those seem to be the best.

 

[Ruddigger]

Stick to carbide bits, they should last longer.

 

[RJG2]

Haven't bought any yet, but I hear good things:

Shop – Bonsai Nibblers

bonsainibbler.co.uk

I think I'd try the R-Mega for removing a lot of material, then the dremel bits for detail.

 

[Forsoothe!]

High Speed is a grade of steel which is fine for lots of purposes, but carbide is better and longer lasting and more expensive. Regardless of what bits you use, keep them cool. Once you heat them to the point where you can smell burning wood and see charred wood stuck in the grooves, the bit has been over-heated and that takes the sharp edge off it. Feed, don't force is the wisdom of elders on any cutting tools. If you can hear the tool bogging down under load as you are impinging the surface with the cutter, you are creating more heat than you should. Feed slow enough to not slow down the bit. Harbor Freight and KBC Tools sell sets of carbide burrs. Slooow down...

Price matters, you don't always get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get.

 

[leatherback]

Haven't bought any yet, but I hear good things:

Shop – Bonsai Nibblers

bonsainibbler.co.uk

I think I'd try the R-Mega for removing a lot of material, then the dremel bits for detail.

This is my go-to bit for large carvings. These are VERY aggressive.

I have both the Dremel as the 9mm / Makita versions

 

[cbrshadow23]

This is my go-to bit for large carvings. These are VERY aggressive.

I have both the Dremel as the 9mm / Makita versions

These look great but it looks like they're in the UK. I'm wondering if anything similar exists here in the US

 

[Dav4]

https://kutzall.com/ 1/4 in and 1/8 in shanks, varying shapes, sizes and coarseness. I've yet to replace one due to losing it's sharpness though they can load up with sap and wood dust that can be burned away with a micro-torch or by soaking in certain solvents. Not expensive and can be bought by numerous on line sources like Amazon.

 

[Forsoothe!]

These look great but it looks like they're in the UK. I'm wondering if anything similar exists here in the US

I'd bet those are intended to be used in a machine with vise holding the job and a screw feed, otherwise the once-per-revolution cut would be fed at more than just a few thousandths at a time and would break the part or your arm holding the tool spinning the cutter.

 

[TomB]

Wrong. They’re designed to be used freehand in a rotary tool, specifically for carving bonsai.

 

[Forsoothe!]

What kind of rotary tool? How many rpm?

 

[TomB]

All the info is on the website e.g. https://bonsainibbler.co.uk/shop/#!/Nibbler-T-mega/p/100806769/category=0

 

[Forsoothe!]

I see they are two cuts per revolution at ~25,000 rpm. I still think they would be difficult to feed by hand. I won't be convinced otherwise, but to each his own poison.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

 

[penumbra]

I see they are two cuts per revolution at ~25,000 rpm. I still think they would be difficult to feed by hand. I won't be convinced otherwise, but to each his own poison.

What little experience I have had tells me that faster rpm is a whole lot easier to handle than an rpm that is too low. I can't really precisely state why this is so. It is something that has to be experienced.

 

[0soyoung]

I see they are two cuts per revolution at ~25,000 rpm. I still think they would be difficult to feed by hand. I won't be convinced otherwise, but to each his own poison.

By my counting there are 3, three, 3 cuts in a revolution (kinda like one-up the DoubleMint gum thing)

One of the pix from the web site -->

 

[Forsoothe!]

Three cutting surfaces are better than two, and the higher speeds are better, because the time lag is shorter in-between the cutting edges striking the surface, which limits the length of the plunge fed into the surface of the job. But, the throat of the cutter in this case is much deeper and can dig deeper into a soft vein which can bog down the speed which allows the plunge to increase relative to the lower speed and is a self-perpetuating problem that further decreases speeds, ad infinitum. It always goes back to feed, don't force. The angle of attack is also changing as the cutter plunges into the job. That changes the amount of control the operator has on the plunge. The approach has be thought out so that as the tool changes orientation it skips away instead of digging in and bogging down. That sounds easier than it is when the job is not in a vice or some other holding fixture that does not allow it to shift. Hand-held tools have lots of cutting edges to allow the cutter to skip from edge to edge faster and not dig as deep. The ball shapes are easier to use, and blunt or flames are the next level up, all with lots of teeth. Screw-fed tools have deep groves to thrust debris up and away and keep cooler. The slice per cut still has to be minimized to avoid digging in. Anybody using the 3-edge bits above should be experienced or they can get hurt, not even to speak to throwing the job across the room at about 50 miles an hour when the tool bites in a little too deep. I'm not bad mouthing the bits, but they are for the very experienced, only. IMHO

 

[leatherback]

but it looks like they're in the UK.

That is what the mail is for..

 

[leatherback]

The work done in the first post here: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/summer-pruning-and-die-back.43780/ was all done with the dremel version of the nibbler.
The finer work on this olive, after the chainsaw work, was all done with the large-shaft version in my makita handheld: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/my-big-olive.40212/#post-754551

These are made for handheld carving. None of the problems mentioned in this thread occur. These are well balanced and sharp. As always with powertools, you need to handle them in the right way. Holding the tool against the piece you want to carve and then switching it on, is asking for trouble. Putting so much pressure on the tool that it seriously slows down is a bad idea because it will burn instead of carve.

Maybe people who do not use powertools for carving should not chime in?

 

[leatherback]

What little experience I have had tells me that faster rpm is a whole lot easier to handle than an rpm that is too low. I can't really precisely state why this is so.

My experience too. Challenge is that with increasing speed, there is a higher risk of burn, dulling the tool. I take great effort on not burning the tips of my carving tools..