Cleaning Saw Blades, Router Bits and Carbide Tools
Tungsten Carbide is made to be wear and corrosion resistant. It really is very hard to damage it at all. I have never seen any proof that any cleaner damaged carbide. It can affect the surface but that is extremely difficult. Even when it does affect the surface it is only the very top.
When you wash your hands you remove skin cells, mostly dead skin cells. Whether bathing damages your skin is your decision. However the level of damage is about the same in either case.
I have been researching carbide applications and developing advanced grades for 30 years. My approach has been using chemical processes to affect the surface of tungsten carbide and similar materials for brazing. Making new grades of high wear carbide is hard; Making new grades of high wear carbide that will stay on the saw through brazing is even harder.
Chemical attack can be a huge wear factor in carbide in both wood and metal so it is heavily researched.
Probably the use that is hardest on tungsten carbide is cutting green Western Red Cedar in a sawmill. Western Red Cedar is a very high acid wood. Yet a carbide tipped blade with a modern grade of carbide can cut constantly for eight hours before it dulls enough to need sharpening.
We did some work on this a couple years ago and the results are at:
http://www.carbideprocessors.com/pages/Cleaning-Saw-Blades.html
More articles at:
http://www.carbideprocessors.com/pages/Saw-Blades.html
There are also articles explaining why saw tips come off.
Tom
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[…] If you are putting grinder teeth on your stump grinder for the first time then you need to make sure that your steel is free of scale or rust as well as free of oils or greases. Just wiping the steel clean may or may not work. Using a strong caustic cleaner and a thorough rinse is a much better way to clean steel for brazing. […]