Workforce tile saw

It should go without saying, but since Dr Joe failed to mention it.

ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES !!!!!

shards of rock embedded in your eye can put a quick end to your career in lapidary.

I'll take the other route ...

Take it outside, put it on a table, fill it with water, flip the switch, and start cutting rocks. If you don't wear glasses wear safety glasses. I don't wear an apron, I just get a little wet, no big deal.

Don't be afraid of it. You'll find that bumping the saw blade with your hand won't even cut you (yup, you'll bump it). Within 10 minutes you'll have the hang of it. Within 30 minutes you'll be rolling rocks around the blade to make slabs. Within an hour you'll be an old pro, jamming rocks into the blade like a crazy person. No need to be gentle with it. That blade will take absolute torture without flinching. I don't clean it well either. When I'm done I toss the water out of the pan, toss a bucket of water over the top of the saw, and put it away. It's a rock saw, not a precision machine LOL.

So, now that you've heard how I utterly abuse mine, and it doesn't care, feel free to maybe treat yours better if you want, but it's really not necessary.

The ONE important safety step ... never stand in front of the blade! Stand to the side or behind it. When a rock binds and goes flying and you're standing in front, you'll learn this lesson real fast. Taking a big one to the chest doesn't exactly tickle.

I was just trying to start ejs off in the right direction, he will soon enough succumb to the dark side of tool maintenance (but a little cleaning doesn't hurt).

DR Joe

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yep...michaeljohn touched on something.....stand or sit behind the saw....ya aint gonna get wet that way....and any flying rocks go the other way.

i always have a water hose ran to my tray....i never have to refill it that way....and its constantly washing out smaller particles so they dont become gunk in the bottom of the tray....kev.

Seems like every time I come here ready to post a question, someone else has beat me to it. It's great to be learning right along with others...

I bought my Home Depot Workforce 7" wet tile saw today. I havent been so pleased with a purchase since I bought a 40lb box of stones from michaeljohn Now the hard part,,,waiting for Spring so I can set my saw up and see how it goes....


And my sweetheart bought me a vibratory tumbler for Christmas.


To say I'm excited is an understatement.

Hey Amigo!

Me too! And the weather has turned fine again, so I'll be off and running in no time,,,

About preform shapes..what do you make these out of?
And how do you choose which stones to cut and which to tumble?
I can eyeball many of them and tell they're going to be great, but what about the others?

I don't know what kind of tumbler he bought me,,,he has been out in the Gulf for two months and wasn't going to be able to come home for Christmas, so he e-mailed me and told me everything I got!!! Now Global is sending them home for a few days,,,

Which to cut, which to tumble ... it just depends what you want to end-up with. If you just want to tumble a bunch of rocks, as I guess most people do, then you end-up with a bunch of shiny, rounded rocks. If you cut slabs, then cut preforms from those slabs, after tumbling you end-up with shaped pieces, suitable for making pendants, earrings, tie tacks, cuff links, whatever.

As far as peform shapes, you can either use a template to draw a specific shape on the slab, draw a freehand shape on the slab, or just take the slab to the saw and cut it "on the fly", as it "tells" you it wants to be cut. All three methods are good, it just depends what you're after.

Matching sets are always nice. If you want a pendant with matching earrings, or you want to make a bolo tie with matching cuff links for your hubby, then plan your preforms accordingly.

If you want to try your hand at a gem tree, then you need to tumble a lot of small pieces that will end-up about the same size.

If you want a gemstone hotplate to place in the center of your stove, then get yourself an appropriately-sized base, then draw a pattern on a piece of paper with the size and shape of the finished stones you'll need to create it, taking into account the rocks you have on hand, or rocks you'll need to buy to do it.

See what I mean ... depending what you want to do with the rocks, just plan accordingly.

If you're just going to tumble rough stones, bear in mind that vibes don't handle the rough stage real well. The sharp edges and coarse grit can put a lot of wear and tear on your vibe's bowl. So, to ease the rough stage, take your rough over to your saw and round-down all of the edges a little bit. This will keep the sharp edges from grinding-down your bowl, plus reduce the amount of time needed for the rough stage (grit wear). For preforms, no need to do this (you want the edges defined).

Try putting a piece of tape over the slot where the blade guard attaches to the bracket. That will keep a lot of the water mess down.
Also, draw or inscribe a line in front of the blade on the front of the table. It helps you to eye up cuts straighter.

Oh yeah, have fun!!!

ejs, You can hand hold a larger stone, standing behind the saw and carefully starting the cut by sitting the stone onto the top front of the blade and then gently rocking the stone towards and away from you. As the cut increases in depth, the stone can be gradually rotated all the way around the circumference. Let the weight of the stone do the cutting, don't apply much pressure. If you see sparks, lighten up on the pressure. I can cut a stone up to 3" or more in this way. For a larger one the same cut can be made and though it will not make it all the way through, one can then use a small chisel (or a blade from a hacksaw) to pop or finish the rock in half. Otherwise, I usually candle or otherwise inspect a stone for fractures, and carefully pop it along a fracture line with a sharp cold chisel. Use a hammer to crush a stone as a last resort, as it will often cause a lot of bruising and crumbling. I learned this from others on this board, hopefully I have described the process well enough to get you started.