What kind of Lubricant in my BD 10"

Yep, what the capt said...
I only use water based lubes with 8 inch or smaller blades on saws only used to trim slabs.

Your saw.

Guess that I used bold on the period after mineral oil above didn't show well.

You can find mineral oil at places like TSC and other farm suppliers. It is sold as a horse laxative.

TheRock, I have a BD-10 and used to use water with Gem Lube from Kingsley North. It's expensive, but you dilute it. LarryS (who isn't on here much anymore) tried all the different additives at some point and settled on this one as the best, and I just copied him. However:

After getting my saw repaired (blade woes, not lubricant related), I'm debating oil v. water.

Blade life is the principal concern, since the body is stainless. With "water+additive", you get much less blade life than oil. Only about 3 cuts on a 3" rock before you have to dress the blade. Dressing the blade isn't that big of a hassle, but it's annoying. (If you're extremely patient, unlike me, and either use the feed or hand feed really slow, you might get a couple more cuts). My understanding is that the folks who use oil get a whole lot more cuts than that before having to dress.

On the flip side, not all rocks can/should be cut with oil. Turquoise, Howlite, and some others I can't think of right now are porous and will be discolored by the oil. There used to be a thread about that from a few years ago.

Another advantage of cutting with water, you don't need a bucket of kitty litter and a bucket of dawn water to clean your slabs. And, the atomized gunk that escapes the saw (it will for sure if you're hand cutting, not so much if you're only going to use the vice and feed), is less problematic with water.

I'm quite close to switching to oil, as I can take care of most of my porous stone cutting needs on my smaller water saws, but I'm still uneasy about how much mess hand cutting with oil will make in my garage. If anybody has some experience with that, I'd love to hear it. I'm concerned with a fine layer of oil ending up on everything. Eww.

Bluesky78987 Susan Outstanding Information!       Concise  and well written. I don't want to BUCK UP my new saw but i don't want to make a mess either! I asked Shawn from the rock shop.com and he gave me two bottles of the Tool Cool therockshed.com/equipment4.html#Saw Cutting Oil he said that would work fine looks to be a 1:10 mixture just like the Gem Lube from Kingsley North. I purchased another saw (see my next article) maybe I will set up one oil one water? What smaller saws do you have? Anyways thanks Susan for all your help! 

Hi Duke.
Let's see. My smaller saws are:

7" Skil tile saw that I run with a Barranca Diamond Blade (I think 303c). Makes a cut up to about 1.25-1.5".
4" MK Diamond tile saw; total workhorse for cutting preforms out of slabs. As well as cutting anything else under about 3/4" thick.

and lastly my new favorite,

Ameritool 4" trim saw which I run with a Barranca Diamond 5" blade.

John, @jsgems, has been my blade supplier - he does drop shipping and knows which ones are good for what, as well as giving very good prices.

The only reason you might want the 7" tile saw (imo) is that it would be great for trimming rocks for tumbling. Other than that, you can use your 10" or your 4" (or a lot of people have a 6" trim saw - good size). The blade on the 7" is a little thick for cutting out preforms. It still works great, but the 4 and 5" blades are thinner and waste less material, and allow more precision.

Decision points on small saws:

1. RPM. The tile saws all run crazy fast RPMs. Cut slabs like butter. Once you get used to it, it's hard to go back to a "made for lapidary" saw. Faster cutting = faster blade wearing out too though. A lot of people like that trade off.

2. Cut height. Depending on where the arbor is mounted relative to the table (height wise), you can cut a thinner or thicker rock. The BD-10 kind of sucks in this regard, in my opinion. All saws kind of do.

3. Messiness factor. With a tile saw (wet tile saw), the way you work it is turn the side that ejects water away from you, stand behind it, and pull the slab toward you at the blade. Works fine, and you only get sort of wet.   You really have to work these outside, and whatever surface you're working on will be permanently coated in un-removable sheen of rock slurry. I ruined our condo association's patio table that way. Oops.

4. Cleanup hassle.

a. With the saws that must be used outdoors, you can't really (or I can't) leave it set up all time, and just go use it when you need to cut something. You have to move the saw, bring the extension cord, bring the hose, bring your rocks and gear, (cut your rocks), then do all of the above in reverse, maybe including hosing down the patio, depending on where you're working. Total PITA. Lends itself to doing big batches of preforms at once. Plus, if you live where it gets too hot outside or too cold outside, it impinges on your opportunities for cutting. This is actually why I got the 4" Ameritool - it's tidy enough to use indoors, barely sprays water at all unless you fill the little tank too full.

b. Cleaning up the saw. As you probably already know/have experienced/have listened to folks on here griping about, saws fill up with sludge.  Both oil saws and water saws.  Tile saws win the prize for easy cleanout - just turn it up on its corner and hose it out. The little Ameritool I have to lift the whole saw up and pour the water/sludge out, and that can get messy - they should include a pour spout on it. The BD saw is a royal pain in the m-f-ing ASS to clean out (excuse my french). You pretty much have to take the blade off and dedicate an hour to a tedious scooping and swearing session. (They decided it would be a good idea to put a drain hole in the bottom of the tank, with a rubber stopper plug. But they made the plug stick up into the tank. So you can't reach in with a cup and scoop the sludge.   And there isn't room for the cup on both sides of the blade.  You COULD probably, under the right arrangement of table, hoses, dirt patch, etc., stick a hose in the tank and just hose all the gunk out the bottom. But your table has to have a hole in it . . . I might try it now that I have a yard, but it was a no-go living in a condo complex.  If you decide to go with water, you might want to make a custom cart for the saw for cleanout.

5. Noise. You seem like a handy type, you've probably operated a wet tile saw. You can wake the dead with those things. Most lapidary saws are a lot quieter.

I guess that's pretty much it.  I think most people who cut cabs have either a small tile saw or a 6" trim saw. I think I'm the only one on here with the Ameritool saw.  I did a write-up of it about 8 months ago or something if you're interested.

That's all I can think of.  Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your setup!
Susan

Thanks Susan and Lee for the rundown of your Equipment. Looks like I will be needing a smaller saw for smaller and more delicate work. I really appreciate your help.  

I run mineral oil in my Star Diamond 10". I throw an old rag over the hood to keep the mist down. I only run water in my 6" trim saw and take the blade out after every cut to prevent rusting.

Duke, I just found this in Barranca Diamond's online manual. Not sure if it is any use.

Never run a diamond blade dry as this can immediately damage your blade. Use one of the oils/coolants recommended below. Coolant should be kept clean and below 100° F. Sludge should be removed periodically and replaced with fresh coolant so that your cuts will be clean and your blades will not be damaged.

Shell Diala Ax and Amber Neutral 100
Non-hazmat replacement oil for electrical transformer cooling. Excellent lubricating properties for blades and saw parts. Flushes sludge from rock easily, degreases easily, and sludge settles in saw tank well. In Southern California, Shell Diala Ax can be purchased from Dion and Sons, Inc (www.dionandsons.com).

Chevron Texaco Bright-Cut
A chlorine-free cutting oil with reduced sulfur and fat content. Light in color and low in odor.

Hyvolt II
Electrical transformer cooling oil. A highly re ned petroleum product, available from some non-Shell oil distributors, typically only in 55 gallon drums. Same properties and performance as Shell Amber Neutral 100.

Chevron Superla #5
Food grade mineral oil. Non-hazardous lubricating oil for bakeries, breweries and food processing machinery. Good lubricating proper- ties, degreases and settles sludge well. Can go rancid over time (1 year or less).

AVATEC 80
Food grade mineral oil, excellent for slab sawing in all our slab saws.

Texaco ALMAG
Pure petroleum based machining cutting oil. Good for slab sawing but very strong odor. Often the cheapest priced oil available but odor is tough to eliminate.

Roc Cut
Roc Cut from Diamond Paci c is a new synthetic water soluble cutting additive with rust inhibitors. Mix 30 to 1 (water to Roc Cut).

Smokey's EZ Cut
Synthetic water based cutting agaent (mix ratio 2oz per gallon).

Roc-Oil
Roc-Oil from Diamond Paci c is an oil coolant for heavy duty cutting. Provides excellent blade protection and will not cause rust to your blade or saw.

Water
Water is not recommended as a cutting uid as it is a coolant only and does not promote good cutting performance and can shorten blade life and often requires frequent blade sharpening. However, it can be used if a water soluble synthetic agent/additive such as Smokey's EZ Cut or Diamond Paci c Roc Cut is used to extend blade life and promote improved sawing. Even with additives, frequent blade sharpening may be required. These additives have rust inhibiting properties but oxidation can still result over time as mist and heat can cover the blade arbor threaded shaft and jam nut with water during and after sawing. For this reason, if water with or without an additive is used as a cutting uid, the user is advised to use water displacing WD-40 sprayed on the blade core and shaft/nut after every cutting session to inhibit rust formation.

Under NO circumstances should any of the following fluids be used in any of our lapidary saws:
Automotive Antifreeze Coolant
Ethylene glycol based automotive antifreeze and its vapors are considered hazardous and toxic. Propylene glycol based antifreeze is nontoxic but has practically no lubricating properties; it functions as a coolant only and its use will lead to rapid blade wear and dulling.
Automotive Transmission Fluid
Does not have adequate lubricating proprieties for our saws; vapors are considered hazardous and toxic.
CNC Machining Fluids
Water soluable synthetic coolants (i.e. Valenite or Cimtool) are often mixed in a 20:1 blend with water. Fluid vapors are considered hazardous. These uids do not have adequate lubricating or rust inhibiting properties for the cast iron and steel parts in our slab and trim saws.
Diesel, Heating Oil and Kerosene
Very flammable with a low ash point. At least 3 of our commercial cutting customers in Arizona and Paci c Northwest have burned down their shops using these uids. Can be very tough to degrease the residue and aroma out of the cut slabs. These uids are cheap, but very hazardous to use. Diesel is a benzene compound which is carcinogenic. All these uids can cause severe skin rashes and other ailments.