Tungsten carbide and sintered diamond asphalt milling bit optimization

Highway-reclamation milling bits wear out in 3–4 hours with tungsten carbide tips; sintered diamond extends life past an 8-hour shift. Tom consulted on whether to acquire the company; verdict was technologically superior but too expensive.

You ever been driving on the interstate late at night and they're reclaiming the asphalt? They have a great big machine. This is the tool that's on the wheel that's beating up the asphalt and throwing it back into a trailer to be recycled. And you can wear out these tools in three or four hours, in which case you have to stop the machine. The mechanic has to go in — you're doing all this in the middle of the night, you're paying people double time to work in the middle of the night on the highway, because you don't want to disrupt the traffic. You'd like to have something that lasts for a good eight hour shift. Lot of wear on that.