Some people say they have bits with chips in the carbide part of the cutters. Freud uses the best quality carbide. The higher the quality, the more fragile the cutters are. Don't let the knives bang against each other. For example, a higher quality carbide like C4 is significantly more prone to cracking when the carbide collides with other carbides. In the past I have received poorly packaged beats that were cracked. Freud quickly replaced the damaged item.