Diamond blades - Whats best? how much to pay

[dig dug dan]

Currently doing a massive paving job. 400sq of injun stone
Hope to post the pictures when finished.

Anyway, the diamond blade burnt out on the stihl saw, and although there seemed to be plenty of life left, i tried to sharpen it on a pudding stone, but no no avail.
Today i visited a local independant tool hire and sales shop, and they told me that i need a special diamond blade for cutting sandstone.
I have brought it, its a Marcrist Am500,and intend to keep it for only cutting hard abrasive materials, and brought another (IM750)for all other work.
I paid £159 per blade+vat and got a 10% discount.

Does it sound fair? or was i being BullS***ed!

[Rich H]

I haven't noticed much difference between the £40 blades and the £160 blades when cutting sandstone to be honest. Usually, the £160 ones go through quicker and with less vibration, but they don't seem to last that much longer to justify the price. The one blade should see you through the job, though, even if you have a lot of cuts.

I get mine from brandon for £28 with the discount. Very occasionally on of the 'teeth' comes off entirely making the disc unusable (unless you like vibration white finger and blindness) but otherwise they do me fine.

[lutonlagerlout]

you've been mugged dan
the 20 for £220 blades i have last ages and cut well and true,the mix in the fuel tank is more important i reckon
and i have never lost a tooth
if you are up this way dan i will bung you one to try out
cheers LLL

[dig dug dan]

oh dear
sounds good tony

I will let you know how they perform on the next cut next week!

regards
dan

[Dave_L]

We pay about £90+VAT for multipurpose blades, we usually get about a three month life from them, cutting concrete products and tarmac joints.

[Pablo]

£160 +vat is way to much to pay for a sandstone blade but the one you got is top spec so you haven't been ripped off you just could have got a better deal on a similar cheaper blade. I use Tyrolit top for paving on my main saws and Tyrolit classic on my backup saw. The top costs £125 +vat and the classic £45 +vat. The top absolutly flys through sandstone and paviors and lasts 3-4 months the classic cuts well too but the blade is thicker and it lasts about 2-3 months. I've tried them all and settled on these they get used 4 out of 5 days and are worth the money. The way I see it is that if you get some extra life out of them and they cut quicker then they the money you save on labour plus the added lifespan saves money and gets the job done quicker. And as LLL says a saw running at it's optimum makes a huge difference aswell.

[lutonlagerlout]

the ones we use sometimes last 3 months,and thats being used at least every day,i have bought the expensive ones but find you only really need these on granite or tarmac
never had a problem wizzing sandstone
cheers LLL

[warnergrounds.co.uk]

Hi LLL

Fancy sharing the secret of your blade supplier with us - sounds like just the job for the other half as he's constantly moaning his blades are unable to cut paper

Thanks



Lara
Warner Grounds

[lutonlagerlout]

will dig out the paperwork later
LLL

[thegardensurgery]

I use a shitty hilka £8.50 disc from jtf and it has lasted and lasted and ...you get the picture.........dry cutting forever...goes to show maybe you don`t have to have these expensive blades...steve

[Jason Herring]

just to put my 2p worth in.... I switched from cheapo Hilka's and the like to Marcrist about 18 months ago for my grinders. Not going back.

Marcrist cut faster, less vibration and last much longer. Indian sandstone really varies tremendously in strength and ease of cutting. The softest I've found is Fossil Mint through to hard and brittle Kota Black (which is actually a limestone). If you're cutting a soft colour then you will get away with a cheap blade. If you get bored of taking 2 minutes to make a 600mm cut though a piece of Kota black then a Marcrist blade with murder it in 30 seconds.

A lot has to be said for the grinder you are using too. I have a Metabo 23-230. It's got LOADS of torque allowing the blade to keep spinning at high speed under more pressure. Mine's over 15 years old and apart from new brushes (£5) runs like new.

I also have a TS400 with a Norton Explorer 4x4. £350 for 2 blades in Howden's locally but £50 on ebay for 1. VERY long lasting. I think I've made over 100 cuts with the one I'm on now and it looks like new. Not particularly fast though and more vibration than Marcrist.

[Dave_L]

We're currently using those Norton Explorer discs - fairly good so far on concrete and tarmac use.

[lutonlagerlout]

much later obviously
we use
www.obas.com
for diamond blades
work fine for most stuff except very hard concrete
and reasonable
LLL

[matt h]

following on from an earlier post about dry cutting.. was in fareham today and they are doin the curbs and widening the road in the centre of the town... clouds of dust and what i would call very dodgy work practices goin on and the public just milling by regardless. wheres the h and s when you need them?:(

[Dave_L]

H & S went out the window, they probably wanted an early finish on a Saturday.......