http://www.vhf.eu/en/Tools/Info/CarbideorDiamond

Count on Carbide...

Due to its extraordinary features, tools made of carbide are far superior to those made of high speed steel (HSS). For high speed cutting, HSS tools can no longer be used. That’s why all tools in this catalogue are carbide tools – either completely or partly. Most of our tools are solid carbide tools, the diamond tools consist of a carbide shank with an attached diamond and the router bits have carbide cutting edges.

Carbide is an artificial product and consists mainly of the hard materials tungsten carbide and other finest grind powders. This mixture will be sintered under extreme pressure and high temperatures until it becomes a solid object. Therefore carbide cannot be compared to ferrous materials like steel. However, due to its extreme hardness and finest graining which ensure a long endurance and clear edges of cut, it is also more brittle and fragile than steel.

... or on Diamond!

Diamond is even much harder than carbide. Carbide tools with diamond attachment have a multiple of the endurance of carbide tools.

We use two sorts of diamonds – mono­crystalline and polycrystalline diamonds. Our monocrystalline diamonds correspond in their structure to natural diamonds although they have been produced artificially. They are excellent for polishing acrylic to a high gloss. Polycrystalline diamonds will be sintered from numerous single crystals at high temperatures and pressures to a solid plate. This production process is comparable to that of carbide. Despite their higher cost price, diamond tools are the more economic alternative for many processing tasks – last but not least due to the possibility that they can be regrind for several times.