Bearing rings are machined into the bearing surface of each cutter body. The rings face each other as the two halves are brought together. In cutter operation, over perhaps hundreds of thousands of cycles, the two halves only bear and move against each other over the very limited area of the bearing rings. Thus the metal-to-metal contact is minimized. Also, since the mechanical load from cutting the work piece is resisted at a near maximum distance from the cutter centerline, relative
cutter joint movement, or play, is minimized.