Patent 7166371 was granted and assigned to Hardide PLC on January, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
There is disclosed a cutting tool having a blade coated on one side with a hard coating living a laminar or layered microstructure. The coating tends to wear evenly and smoothly, thereby keeping a cutting edge of the cutting tool smooth. Furthermore, by coating the cutting edge on one side only, the cutting edge becomes self-sharpening. The coating preferably includes at least one layer made of tungsten carbides substantially or entirely free of metallic tungsten.