What end mill for shoulders/slot

[alexkuzn]

Guys,

what kind of end mills do you use for milling shoulders/slots?
(brand, size, type, price etc.)
What is good place to get them?

Thanks,
Alex

[Ray Rogers]

Any brand sold by MSC , Enco, or McMaster-Carr will be fine. For the materials we commonly use, end mills made from HSS or Cobalt steel work great. I generally buy the cheaper imports. The more expensive ones with fancy coatings are great but probably don't offer much advantage to us so I don't spend the money for them.

Size will be determined by the job you are doing and the size of your mill. For common knife work a 3/16th mill or 1/4" mill is usually plenty, I never use more than 1/2". For slots, the largest mill that will fit easily inside the slot works well, but any mill smaller than the slot can be used...

[alexkuzn]

Ray,

regular mill leaves sharp 90 deg cuts.
Have you ever had problems with such sharp edges during HT?

[Ray Rogers]

No, but then I don't mill anything on my blades so there are no sharp corners on anything I need to heat treat. If you plan to have such corners on your knives, then just grind a small radius on the edge of the end mill that will be used to make the sharp corner. Rotating the edge of the end mill against a running 400 grit belt for a few seconds is all it will take.

If you need a larger radius of specific size as you would if you were making an integral knife the do your milling with a square shouldered end mill until just before you make the final cut that will form the shoulder. Switch to a ball end mill and mill the radiused corner ....