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Worn button bits, rock bits and milling picks
Tungsten carbide mining bits scrap carries its value in small pieces: the buttons, tips and inserts set into a steel or carbide body. Send worn button bits, roller cone and PDC bits, roof-bolter bits and road-milling picks as they are; we pay the shipping from anywhere in the US.
Where the carbide sits on a bit
The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 estimates that in 2025 about 60% of the tungsten consumed in the US went into cemented carbide parts, mainly for construction, metalworking, mining and oil and gas drilling. ITIA's 2021 global industry data put 62% of the tungsten in its mining and construction segment into mining, most of it underground; in construction, tunnelling and road milling are the two biggest uses.
On almost every bit the carbide is a small hard part held by a bigger steel one:
- Button bits and drill heads. ITIA describes carbide bits shrunk into a steel part to make a drill head for mining.
- Roller cone rock bits. These carry carbide buttons and inserts; ITIA's drawing of one also shows a tungsten-bearing hardfacing layer, the kind sprayed, welded or infiltrated on to protect steel.
- Road-milling picks. A 2024 asphalt milling study describes a steel tooth with a tungsten carbide tip as the common design.
- Roof-bolter bits. NIOSH roof-bolter tests drilled with tungsten carbide spade bits of 1 inch and 1-3/8 inch.
The carbide in these tools is its own family. ITIA says mining and construction grades usually have coarse grains, up to 20 microns, and 6 to 10% cobalt.
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: tungsten; ITIA Applications & Markets (industry data 2021); ITIA: Recycling of tungsten, part 1 (2018); Zeiler et al., IJRMHM 98 (2021); Materials 2024, asphalt milling picks; NIOSH roof-bolter study (2022); ITIA: Cemented carbides (2010).
Count the picks, then weigh the bucket
A tooth tells you little about its carbide until you do the sums. In an ITIA example, a road-milling chisel weighed 280 g in total and its carbide tip 24 g, so the tip was 24 / 280, about 8.6% of the tool. Worn tips in that example weighed 14 to 17 g, and a 2021 tungsten recycling paper says only 60 to 70% of the original bit weight is left to recycle.
Run the same figures on a pail of 100 such teeth and the steel and carbide come apart: about 28 kg of tools new, holding about 1.4 to 1.7 kg of carbide once worn. A 2024 field study found pick length, tip diameter and body diameter all shrink in step with the area of asphalt milled, so a pail from a long job carries less carbide per tooth than one pulled early.
That is why a count helps us as much as a weight. Tell us roughly how many picks or bits there are, the weight of the lot, and send a close photo of a few tips beside a tape measure.
Sources: ITIA: Recycling of tungsten, part 1 (2018); Zeiler et al., IJRMHM 98 (2021); Materials 2024, asphalt milling picks.
PDC bits: diamond riding on carbide
Oil, gas and geothermal drilling wear out a different kind of bit: the PDC (polycrystalline diamond compact) bit, which Sandia says is now routinely used to drill most oil and gas wells worldwide. Sandia National Laboratories describes the cutter in two parts: a leading edge of synthetic diamond, called the diamond table, sitting on a tungsten carbide disc. That disc is brazed onto the bit body, and the diamond layer can be as thick as 2 mm, about 0.080 inch.
Under the cutters there is more carbide. Sandia says most PDC bits are made from sintered tungsten carbide, and domed carbide inserts on the face limit the depth of cut and shield the cutters from vibration. A 2021 paper lists the rest of a high-performance bit: a copper-alloy-infiltrated coarse WC or cast carbide body, steel parts, carbide nozzles, solders and layers of hardfacing.
Send PDC bits whole, or loose cutters in their own bag, and say which on the form. Loose carbide nozzles belong with our dies and wear parts.
Sources: Sandia SAND2024-13076 (2024); Zeiler et al., IJRMHM 98 (2021).
Before the bits leave the job
A worn bit does harm before it ever becomes scrap. In NIOSH roof-bolter tests, an excessively worn bit kept the drill from reaching its target bite depth and could raise the rate of respirable dust by as much as 61.5%. Pull them when they are done and set them aside for us.
Leave buttons in their bodies and tips in their picks. Do not torch, grind or hammer carbide out of steel: the National Toxicology Program lists cobalt-tungsten carbide powders and hard metals as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen, and it names sharpening and grinding of hard-metal products among the sources of that dust. Knock off loose mud and rock, and keep bits dry.
Bits are dense and hard on boxes. For a box of dense parts weighing 20 to 45 pounds, USPS asks for at least 200-pound test board, or a wood, metal or plastic container of equal strength, and heavy items held still inside. See how to ship your carbide for the rest of the packing steps.
Sources: NIOSH roof-bolter study (2022); NTP Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide; USPS Domestic Mail Manual 601.
Selling a load of bits to us
Start on the quote form and choose “Mining & road bits”. Give us the kind of bit, the count, about how much the lot weighs, and a few photos. Email help@carbidebuyersusa.com or call (877) 899-5778 if a form is not handy. Every lot is quoted on its own photos, form and weight.
Bits can ship to us from anywhere in the US, with the shipping paid by us. Across California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada we also drive out and collect them, in every city. We pay cash where state law allows it, and our guide to scrap metal laws sets out what those four states ask of a seller.
Common questions
Do you buy road milling teeth scrap with broken tips?
Send the teeth that still carry carbide. A tooth whose tip has snapped off is a steel part, so set those aside; a tip that is worn short is still carbide.
Are PDC bits carbide scrap?
Yes. The cutters sit on carbide discs, and the body of most PDC bits is sintered carbide too. Send them whole or with loose cutters bagged apart.
Can carbide button bits scrap and road picks go in one load?
Yes. Keep each kind in its own pail or box and list them separately on the quote form, with a count for each.
What should I write on the form for a pail of picks?
The number of picks, the weight of the pail, and whether they came off a road job or a mine. A photo of a few tips next to a tape measure helps too.
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Nevada
Las Vegas, Reno and the towns in between
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Sorting carbide scrap
What to keep together, what to separate, and why
Learn moreReady to sell your carbide?
Send a few photos and a rough weight. From any state, you ship it and we cover the shipping; in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, we drive out to you.