A carbide scribe may seem like an obscure tool, but it's not. What the carpenter's pencil is to building houses, the tungsten carbide scribe is to building with metal. As anyone who has marked metal will tell you, a pencil doesn't work and neither do most pens. If you can get a pen to make a line, it can easily be smudged off. Even the trusty Sharpie pen makes a big fat line.

But a scribe is perfect. It marks a clean sharp line. And better still, it cuts through dirt, paint, rust, and mill scale. It's the tool to use for clean, accurate lines. Its secret is at the business end, a little sharpened rod of tungsten carbide, a material so hard it can even scribe a line on the surface of a tile. The Model 88 by General Tools is a particularly good example. Its durability is outstanding (you'll get years of use from it), and its tip is retractable (you can retract it so it doesn't poke a hole in your work shirt or coveralls).

Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (the "Company") announces final drill results from the 2013 drilling on its 100% owned, 165 square kilometre Fox tungsten property. The property is well situated approximately 25 km east of the past producing Boss Mountain molybdenum mine, and 75 km northeast of the town of 100 Mile House in the south-central Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada.

Highlights of new results from the RC zone include F13-19 returning 26.25 metres of 1.19 percent tungsten trioxide (W03), including 3.66 metres of 4.60 percent tungsten trioxide, 0.62 percent zinc, 1.25 g/t silver,

Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal's engineers are said to have considerable expertise in the company's range of tooling that includes indexable inserts and solid tools in tungsten carbide, cermet, silicon nitride, cubic boron nitride and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride.

"As a company, Sumitomo has to be focused on providing solutions which are totally based on engineering experience," says Mr Tolley. "As a result, we are keen to sponsor the MTA in its goal to not only attract future engineers, but also to help provide the ideal shop window at MACH where young people can gain an appreciation of what can be achieved in this industry."

Until recently, most winter walkers and runners had two options when it came to battling icy winter trails. One could either put screws in the bottom of their running shoes or invest in a quality pair of ice grips. But now, there came out the new tungsten carbide studded shoes with the studs on the bottom of the shoe to prevent people from slipping and falling.

Screws are more economical and easy to put it. Screws can be purchased at any local hardware store and most runners opt to use sheet metal screws with hex heads. The hex heads grip well on ice as the head of the screw has a lip that digs into the ice and packed snow, providing for better traction. The only tricky part is not screwing too far into the sole and punching through the rubber and into the foot bed of the shoe. This would not be wise and would be the equivalent of standing on a bed of nails.
For those who don’t want to risk studding their own shoes, Skinny Raven will put them in for you for a minimal charge of $10.
Ice grips tend to be more expensive but won’t ruin your sneakers by leaving small holes in the bottom — this is a concern for springtime running when conditions are wet and the potential exists for water to seep into your shoes. Ice grips however are not the most comfortable to run in and are prone to slipping off. Many a runner has come across a rogue ice grip lying in the middle of the trail, seemingly lonely without its matching twin.

Fortunately, another option has recently become available for winter running enthusiasts. Tungsten carbide studded and enhanced friction grip sneakers. Ideal for those running or walking on packed snow and ice, these sneakers come pre-studded with tungsten carbide studs — the same type of studs used on car tires. These studs are supposed to last longer and provide enhanced traction in the wettest and slipperiest of conditions. In addition, these sneakers typically come with an enhanced traction rubber sole that claims to provide the flexible sole needed by runners without sacrificing comfort.

A quick Internet search reveals a number of sneaker companies have now begun to market tungsten carbide studded running shoes to their customers. Brands include Icebug, Salomon, and Asics. All have between 16 and 18 screws in various patterns along the outsole of the shoe and incorporated into the tread.

Like with all things, there are pros and cons to each option. One on hand, I can stud my existing sneakers for about $5-10. My sneakers are already broken in and comfortable and I don’t have to shell out another $100-plus for a new pair of sneakers — at least not for a few more months. After a winter of running on tungsten carbide studded sneakers people typically have to buy a new pair come spring.

The advantage of buying a pair of pre-studded sneakers such as IceBug is that I will have a pair of quality sneakers for winter while saving my other pair for my spring/summer running.

The traction method of choice is personal to each runner, but no matter what option one chooses the goal is the same for everyone: to not slip and fall.


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