Quick clarification: In this video, I mentioned that HSS (High-Speed Steel) is out of the equation, which isn’t entirely accurate. HSS is still widely used, especially in drills and other tools, and performs well in many applications. However, carbide is a "newer" technology designed to handle higher speeds and tougher materials, like steel, more efficiently. If I had to choose between the two for cutting steel, carbide would be my pick for its speed and durability.

That said, now that I’m a bit older and wiser (haha), I plan to make an updated video in the future to share what I’ve learned and provide even better insights. Stay tuned, and thanks for your understanding!

Note:  "still" is steel.    "Rigability" is rigidity.

I climb cut the final .010 or so. Chip load is small, finish is better. But never for roughing!

I like HSS at home because of the lower speed the whole process is less noisy in steel

Also to add, when slot cutting, use a 2, 3, or 5 flute.
Never a 4 flute, unless you can accept it to cut oversized.
But then the deeper the slot, other issues can come up.
But to use an under size cutter,  ruff and finish to size if is critical.

I bought my mill from a dear friend who collected dozens of end mills, drills, you name it. Buying the mill is the easy first step knowing what to buy next takes knowledge. I am so lucky  I can pick up a tool and learn and not have the added expense of mistakes.

The explanation of climb cutting vs. conventional cutting was very good.  The explanation of how to do the finish cuts was incomprehensible.

HSS is perfectly fine to use in mild steel.

Imagine if we could cut steel with hss. But I guess that is simply not possible

I hope you are making money with your youtube channel. Thanks for the lesson.

Strange opinion on hss tools

For a small piece like that I would rough it on a band saw first.

I thought I’ve heard from multiple sources that HSS is preferable with manual milling, because you need higher speeds with carbide, and carbide needs flood coolant, and can get shock fractures with intermittent spray coolant.

I’m new at this milling work, and this is very much knowledgeable for me to learn, thank you for this informative experience..

I’ve been using high-speed steel and mills on Steel for 40 years. You just need to get your speed and depth of cut correct. A little cutting oil won’t hurt. Of the three carbide end Mills, I think you chose the wrong one. I would’ve gone with the larger one. The larger end mill would have been more rigid and all-around more useful if you were only going to buy one.

This is the first time climb cutting and conventional has made sense to me. Thank you 🙏

if you have coolant on directly on a HSS endmill and lower the speed a little bit and take smaller cuts you can cut cut steel no problem (not hardened steel tho) and carbide is always better but cost more

I'm a Fitter Turner Machinist with over 35 years experience in precision manual metal machining and engineering. I did my apprenticeship for Renold NZ Ltd making industrial gearboxes and wormgear reduction drives and I have about 9 years experience all up making mechanical seals for Paulmen Seals Ltd and Eagle-Burgmann NZ Ltd and also another 20 or so years experience in precision jobbing shops, including extensive precision cylindrical & surface & internal grinding. The best Endmills for beginners are the cheapest plain HSS Endmills. I have cut thousands of keyways and slots with plain HSS Slot drills and Endmills. They work well when in good condition and are cheap and affordable to buy.  Ripper Cutters do make for lighter work for roughing out , but they are more expensive. Novices tend to be harder on tooling so when they are learning it's good for them to have a well rounded understanding of the capabilities of standard HSS Endmills and Cutters. That's as a baseline reference of experience with the fundamentals of High Speed Steel tooling and how it performs with a wide variety of materials and machining conditions. They should progress on to more advanced tooling with experience and practical knowledge of how basic Cutters perform.  Expensive tooling can still fail & break and they're a lot more to lose than ordinary cutters when it goes snafu and a bit of metal mayhem starts happening. Although the real lesson is knowing first hand what HSS is capable of,  then you can really get a feel for what high performance tooling can do at it's best. 🔩⚙️📏💯

Before  matriculating  university, I spent  over 20 years in tool rooms  mold rooms  and   tool and die  Never saw a carbide end mill. HSS is  perfectly  fine for  all alloys of steel  just not pre-hardened.  If there is a down side to it, it is that you have to go slower and pay more attention to coolant.   In fact  on mills such as the one you have there Carbide is   probably  the wrong choice almost all the time because your bearings are old and   small and worn and   not rigid enough to provide the  ridigity  carbide needs.  So  you are probably  getting half the  expected life of a carbide end mill.

There is a time and place for climb milling, it definitely serves a purpose, and HSS can be used to cut steel, it just doesn’t stay as sharp as long...