Breaking things to repair a thing

  I finally managed to shatter the insert in the cutoff tool.  Once this was done, pressure on the screw was relieved, and it came right out.  I wound up bending the blade-fingers that hold the insert a wee bit.  Bent them back to roughly the right shape and angle, put a new insert in, and tried again.  Promptly broke it.  Why?

 One mistake I made is that cutoff speeds are much, much slower than normal turning speeds would be, for carbide.  I did not know this.  For turning five-eighths material with carbide, I ought to be running 1,700 RPM or so.  But for a cutoff tool working on that diameter, it's got to be more like 400 RPM.

 I am still learning.

 I'd like to just buy another tool, but oddly, this cheap cutoff tool only seems to be available in kits like the one I bought.  I'll keep shopping.  A blade type might be worth trying.  Otherwise, well, I can always go back to using a hacksaw.

 I also used this incident to justify finally buying a folding set of Torx™ wrenches, since the shiny toy T20 that came with the tool, and which was stamped 'CR-V' - which usually signifies "chrome vanadium" - was in fact made of soft stainless, and the splines of the tip bent under high torque.

(and that was with a four inch handle and my weak-ass arthritic hands
turning it; it's not as if I put a three foot long cheater pipe on it)