I went on a quest to find some good BIG carving burs after watching Andrew Daniels (FromASeed) on YouTube and Instagram. I gave up after not finding anything that looked good.

Then one day I was ordering some steel tubing from McMaster-Carr and checked out their carving burs. The price was more than I would have liked. But, McMaster does not sell cheap crap. So, I tried a couple of them and I was HOOKED.

I highly recommend the McMaster burs shown below. They are awesome. They run absolutely dead true at high speed and they do not create a lot of tear out.

The burs come in plastic tubes with a label that says “McMaster-Carr”. See photos below. Thus they are “McMaster-Carr” brand? I have never seen this before. The burs appear to be made and sold by McMaster-Carr.

Note: In the past I have ordered some smaller 1/8″ shank burs from McMaster and I was not impressed. They were ok. But, nothing special.

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1/4″ Shank, 1/4″ Diameter Head Burs

1/4" Shank, 1/4" Diameter Head Burs (Sx-1 Size)
4292A32 - Ball Head, Trade Number SD-1, Double Cut
4292A88 - Inverted Cone Head, Trade Number SN-1, Double Cut
4292A41 - Rounded Tree Head, Trade Number Sf-1, Double Cut
4292A21 - Rounded Cylinder Head, Trade Number SC-1, Double Cut
4292A.. is www.mcmaster.com part number.

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1/4″ Shank, 3/8″ Diameter Head Burs

1/4" Shank, 3/8" Diameter Head Burs (Sx-2 Size)
4292A34 - Ball Head, Trade Number SD-3, Double Cut
4292A89 - Inverted Cone Head, Trade Number SN-2, Double Cut
4292A42 - Rounded Tree Head, Trade Number Sf-3, Double Cut
4292A23 - Rounded Cylinder Head, Trade Number SC-3, Double Cut
4292A.. is www.mcmaster.com part number.

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1/4″ Shank, 1/2″ Diameter Head Burs

1/4" Shank, 1/2" Diameter Head Burs (Sx-5 Size)
4292A35 - Ball Head, Trade Number SD-5, Double Cut
4292A99 - Inverted Cone Head, Trade Number SN-5, Double Cut
4292A43 - Rounded Tree Head, Trade Number Sf-5, Double Cut
4292A24 - Rounded Cylinder Head, Trade Number SC-5, Double Cut
4292A.. is www.mcmaster.com part number.

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Up to 1″ Diameter Head Burs

McMaster has Burs up to 1″ in diameter. I have ONLY tried and recommend the burs in this blog entry. In the past I have ordered some smaller 1/8″ shank burs from McMaster and I was not impressed. They were ok. But, nothing special.

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1/4″ Shank Tools

All of the above BIG burs require a 1/4″ shank on the bur. Thus they will not fit in a Dremel style tool with a 1/8″ collet chuck. I recommend one of the following 1/4″ Die Grinders. But, in a pinch you could use them in a hand held drill.

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Hang Them Up

I like to hang up carving tools. See photo

You can purchase some fancy hooks like in the photo. Or make your own out of “RG45 Gas Welding Rod“.

• The orange tool is a “RoMech RM-105 Hot Knife”. It is an awesome wood burner for STRAIGHT lines ONLY.
• The light grey tool is an “Automach Power Carver”. See my Power Carving Textures blog entry for more info.
• The blue tool is a “Wen Model 2307 Rotatry Tool”. A good (but not great) cheap alternative to a good Dremel tool.
• The black tool is a “Dremel 200”.
• The green tool is a “Votoer 260W Die Grinder”. See above.
• The turquoise tool is a “Mikita GD0601 Die Grinder”. See above.

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Others

It seems like I spend all my time writing about power carving burs. Click here to check out ALL of my other Power Carving and Bur blog entires.