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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Sept 10, 2012 11:40:01 GMT -5
I am getting close to needing a new blade on my 14" auto feed saw. It seems like a lot of members love the BD303C blades but I bought one for my water cooled 6" trim saw and it needs replaced already after only 10 weeks. I admit it is great blade and cuts rocks like butter,just not sure if can afford them every 10 weeks. Right now I think these are my three choices. I would like to hear any and all comments on these or other suggestions. The blade thats on there now is an old star diamond crimped edge blade and it cuts good and leaves a nice finish on the slabs so if I could buy the same blade again I probably would but I have no idea what compares to it. covington gold series 14 x .075 rim $88 covington black 14 x .070 rim $110 BD303C 14 x .070 rim from Johnsgems - $175 Thanks! chuck
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riverbendlapidary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,058
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Post by riverbendlapidary on Sept 10, 2012 11:49:37 GMT -5
blade wore out because of water.
look for old stock mk, star diamond, felker, congo, raytech, lortone, vanguard interlock blades. even if used or rusty, they will work great if they have diamond left and are not dished.
for new blade, i would look at mk 297 - 301 - 303
pretty sure those covington blades are chinese. probably cheaper to buy a no-name chinese blade on ebay. i had one on an 18" saw i bought. worked surprisingly well even though the blade had a bit of a wobble to it and it was kinda noisy. nice thing about these... if you dish a blade or rock comes out of a vise, just throw away and get another one. do that with a mk blade and it hurts!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Sept 10, 2012 12:11:24 GMT -5
yeah everyone says its ok to use water with the 6" blades but I have not seen any info on how much it shortens the life of the blade.
After reading a few post on here about rocks coming loose and trashing the big blades I am nervous to spend $200 on one.
Chuck
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Sept 10, 2012 13:46:18 GMT -5
roller - the trim saw blade still cuts great but is down to about a 1/16" left of cutting area. Could be normal for this blade using water though. Not really complaining just making sure I shouldnt be doing something different to extend blade life.
I have a used 100 grit SC grinding wheel and have heard making a cut into that will dress the blade like the fire bricks so might try that on both saws.
thanks chuck
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fwfranklen (Mike)
spending too much on rocks
Rock-ON--Have you kissed your rock today?
Member since August 2012
Posts: 379
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Post by fwfranklen (Mike) on Sept 10, 2012 14:22:14 GMT -5
I've used the 100 grit SC grinding wheel also. It works great for dressing the blade. I've had no luck using watet except on blades that were ment to be used in a tile saw.
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keystonecops
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2010
Posts: 957
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Post by keystonecops on Sept 10, 2012 16:18:54 GMT -5
I'm waitn fer 3 blades from Kingsley North. Chinese blades, but I've got one on my 20 an I really like it. I also had the same thing happen to a 303. Used less time than yours. Was using lube cool, I'm going back to oil. Later Clyde
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Post by johnjsgems on Sept 10, 2012 19:41:15 GMT -5
Blade life needs to be measured in hours of cutting and what you are cutting. I've had the same blade on my 24" saw for years but have not used it for years. How hard you push rock through affects life also. How many weeks tells you nothing really. The 303C has a fairly soft matrix which exposes diamond more readily than a harder blade. This gives you fast smooth quiet cuts. With a power feed saw with slow feed they should serve you well. The Gold blade is a Chinese crimp rim. The manufacturer put them on all their new saws three years ago. Two years ago the MK blades were a more expensive option. This year they put the MK on everything above 10". Tells me something.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 10, 2012 19:49:46 GMT -5
Are you doing a lot of hand slabbing with your saw, or cutting lots of hard agate? Are you using the edge of the blade to grind preforms, that's really hard on blades. I have run hundreds of lbs of every type of rock through my 18 inch saw and the 303 blade is hardly worn at all. We use cheap chinese sintered blades in our 6 inch saw and they hold up pretty well.
Lee
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Sept 10, 2012 20:13:05 GMT -5
John and lee - the 6" 303 that I had was never used for edge grinding and was only used to trim 1/4" thick slabs never any slabs. Its hard to guess how many cuts or hours of use. It cuts great and is very quite like you said. I am sure I will get another of the same I just want to make sure I am not drastically limiting the blade life by using water instead of oil for that one.
thanks Chuck
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Post by Roller on Sept 10, 2012 21:56:35 GMT -5
that makes sense now my trim saw blade sucks too .lol its 1 week old .. wondering whats up with that ..
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 10, 2012 22:17:39 GMT -5
I yanked the Covington gold blade off of my 16" saw, and replaced it with a BD 303 S blade. Sure not sorry with the change. With power feed, the only thing that gold blade is good for is soft material.
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spicer m
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2008
Posts: 337
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Post by spicer m on Sept 10, 2012 23:01:33 GMT -5
Chuck I also like the BD 303S blade but I don't think they make a 14". On my 10" I did use the BD303C and It worked OK but seemed to glaze over to me. I bought a BD301 from John (JS Gem) and I love it. It cuts a little more aggressively. Will not give as smooth a cut as BD303C. It Is segmented and allows better lubrication in my opinion. It costs $218 but well worth the extra money. If You go to Johns site under saw blades and the last page of the 303S blades. Look at bottom of page to see BD301. It kind of looks like a notch (crimped) rim blade, but it is segmented with what looks like nylon filler between the segments. John please chime in about this blade, I think they just started making it this year?. Mike
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jspencer
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 929
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Post by jspencer on Sept 10, 2012 23:41:52 GMT -5
I bought an old Hilquist 14" saw with a .060 continuous rim blade from Hilquist. It cuts smooth and has shown no signs of wear yet. They sell for about $300 though. Not a cheap blade to buy.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Sept 11, 2012 5:44:04 GMT -5
The Quality of diamond blades seem to have really taken a dive the last couple of years. The 14" Mk (Barranca) and the Raytech Black Blazer blades are made in South Korea now. Last year I bought a Korean made Black Blazer blade for my Lortone Panther. It cut great for a few months until the kerf started wearing and later it stared loosing diamond particles from the edge of the blade. So earlier this year I ordered a new 14" MK 301 from Kingsley North and it wasn't flat and didn't run true. I ordered a second one and it didn't run true either. They both had a flutter unlike anything I had seen before. It seemed like maybe they weren't tempered properly and the metal was flexing when the blade was running. After a long phone call and a letter, Kingsley accepted both blades back and gave me a store credit. In the mean time Kingsley North, at my request, sent me a Raytech Black Blazer Blade so I could be using my saw. I been using the New Black Blazer for six or seven weeks and seems to be doing okay so far but I'm already seeing signs of wear. In contrast my 14" Frantom saw has a ancient Vanguard lapidary blade on it that still cuts great!
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
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Post by LarryS on Sept 11, 2012 11:42:36 GMT -5
Kingsley North sells a water soluble coolant called Gem Lube. Awesome product and I use it in my 10" 303C and 303P blades. Lube Cool is a worthless product in comparison. May want to try it in your 6" trim saw. You'll get much more life out of the blade than just using straight water. You mix it 10 parts water to 1 part Gem Lube. Then just dump it out in your yard when done. Biodegradable and all.
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riverbendlapidary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,058
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Post by riverbendlapidary on Sept 11, 2012 15:49:59 GMT -5
yeah those old vanguard blades are great. really any older american made blade will probably out-perform any newly made blade. i don't think any are made in the usa anymore. i just dished an 18" star diamond blade and was looking through my collection of old buyout blades. picked out an old, very rusty congo blade and this thing is cutting through mookaite, lace agate and petrified wood like butter. interesting because it looks just like an old interlock blade, which i thought mk never made but thought mk made all the congo blades....
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Post by phil on Sept 14, 2012 11:25:04 GMT -5
We've got the Covington Gold series 14 inch on our Lortone drop saw and use Mineral oil only. Can't say enough good about the blade. So far it has about 100 hours on it, cutting all kinds of rock, and the diamonds hardly show any wear at all. PW or some tougher agates slow it down a bit, but that's to be expected. It still cuts great. Only wear I can see is in the paint removal from the sides of the blade. Diamonds still full width and plenty showing. Actually, we like it so much, we just bought a second 14 inch covington gold for our other autofeed saw to replace the cheap chinese blade. Also bought a 6 inch gold for our trim saw where we use water and a coolant/lube mix. hasn't been on long enough to say anything, but we go thru 6 inch blades like crazy. 303's lasted 2 weeks, chinese lasted from 2 days to 2 weeks. hoping the covington lasts a lot longer, but the way the folks at the center push push push, they eat up blades way too fast. Hope this helps! Wish we had another Lortone drop saw!! Phil
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Post by johnjsgems on Sept 15, 2012 7:37:42 GMT -5
Funny how different people have different results with blades. I sell a lot of 303C blades to clubs (usually thick ones) and they love them. Almost everyone I sell the new 301 blades to really love them. I've talked to several people that won't use anything but Chinese crimp rims. Go figure. Phil, the 303 that lasted two weeks was it worn down to the core or stopped cutting? Abusive cutting will dull/glaze the blade quickly. I suppose if used a lot with abusively forcing rocks through, wear could happen. Using plain water will shorten life of blades as well.
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Post by phil on Sept 15, 2012 12:57:52 GMT -5
Thanks John. Wasn't worn down, the diamonds were worn off. None left at all. Totally abused by one person who tried to cut a 4 inch agate on the trim saw.
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Post by johnjsgems on Sept 16, 2012 8:48:26 GMT -5
The gold colored rim was gone completely?
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