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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2018 7:35:00 GMT -5
I'm not so great at slab cutting with my small saws. I was wondering, is it possible to cut one large slab 10mm thick into two? It is a large 9x6 inch slab of Tiffany stone. If any of you feel confident about doing this, would you post here with details and tell me if you are open to doing it for a fee? Not 100% sure if I want to do this, but I want to hear opinions. Seems pretty solid, but I don't have it in my hands yet to be sure.  |
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 26, 2018 7:53:50 GMT -5
Glue a block of wood to the face with wood glue or sodium silicate. Then you can mount the wood in the saw vice, which will keep the slab straight while you cut it.
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Post by orrum on Apr 26, 2018 8:01:50 GMT -5
Tiffany isn't the most stable and you gotta remember the blade width will be take away from your 10mm thickness. I say it's a no go Tela. There will be a lot of vibration for suchildren a thin slab. If you want to try it I would glue full coverage of wood on both sides and after its sawn you could soak the slabs off. I would either trade it to a slab polisher type person or sell it and buy tiffany that's thinner maybe....
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Post by orrum on Apr 26, 2018 8:04:43 GMT -5
10 mm is .4 inches less a big thick blade leaves super thin slices and I almost guarantee they will be wonky thicker on one end.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 26, 2018 8:13:34 GMT -5
I have cut a few that thin by gluing to wood. They were all with a 10 inch saw that would have a thinner blade. The other issue, for me anyway is getting a cut that is parallel to the current flat. I find it difficult to do and the least bit out of parallel will make for thick/thin slabs, that's effect is multipled for the bigger slab. Have you considered cutting the large slab,  , into more manageable pieces, then try the glue to wood on a 10 inch saw? |
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 26, 2018 8:15:16 GMT -5
That is a very nice piece of material.
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2018 8:29:01 GMT -5
10 mm is .4 inches less a big thick blade leaves super thin slices and I almost guarantee they will be wonky thicker on one end. Yes, I was aware of the kerf. I was assuming a thin blade. I figured it would be hard if not impossible to get 2 slabs, but I am not that proficient at cutting slabs, so I figured I'd ask. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2018 8:31:33 GMT -5
I have cut a few that thin by gluing to wood. They were all with a 10 inch saw that would have a thinner blade. The other issue, for me anyway is getting a cut that is parallel to the current flat. I find it difficult to do and the least bit out of parallel will make for thick/thin slabs, that's effect is multipled for the bigger slab. Have you considered cutting the large slab, , into more manageable pieces, then try the glue to wood on a 10 inch saw? Yes, I was thinking it would be very hard to get perpendicular cuts on something so thin. Yes, I was wondering about cutting it into smaller pieces to slice it. I think I will have a go at that. I have a real small saw with a paper thin blade. Maybe I can slice up a few prefroms. Thanks! I thought it was a nice slab, too. I got what I considered a good price. I just wish it were a wee bit thinner. |
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Post by woodman on Apr 26, 2018 9:05:04 GMT -5
Glue a block of wood to the face with wood glue or sodium silicate. Then you can mount the wood in the saw vice, which will keep the slab straight while you cut it. How Do you align the block of wood to ensure a parallel cut? 10 mm sounds a bit thin to try and resaw to me. would depend on how stable the material is. |
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Tommy
Administrator 
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,989
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Post by Tommy on Apr 26, 2018 9:29:28 GMT -5
With a slab that large I would not attempt it - First of all the saw would have to be in perfect mechanical tracking alignment (which my 18" saw is not) and visual alignment between rock, vice clamp, and saw blade would have to be *perfect* or you end up with a two mostly unusable wedge shapes.
10mm is not thick enough to yield two usable slabs IMHO. After blade kerf width on a saw large enough to cut it you'd end up with 3.5 to 4mm slabs at best which I doubt would hold up since it's tiffany stone.
As someone else said I would attempt it by hand if anything. I would cut the slab into 10mm thick, untrimmed cab size pieces (35mm x 45mm?) then turn them sideways and cut with as thin a blade as I can find.
Edited to add: Beautiful slab btw. Maybe you don't need the whole thing sliced - just the two *super* sweet spots where the breccia is. Thus the trim then cut idea above.
Edited again: The kerf on my 18" MK-301 blade is 2.2mm. Based on your picture I would say you would need an 18" saw to cut it efficiently.
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minerken
Cave Dweller 
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466 
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Post by minerken on Apr 26, 2018 9:45:58 GMT -5
I have to agree with orrum , Tommy and others but if you were to chop it into cab size pieces and use like a faceting blade on a 4-6 " trim saw you may be able to but you're still going to looking at something less than 5mm thick. You might try some high dome cabs too they might be cool. |
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geostrong
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Life is like saltation, you have to bounce off of others to become a well-rounded individual
Member since April 2018
Posts: 88
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Post by geostrong on Apr 26, 2018 10:17:03 GMT -5
I have cut a few that thin by gluing to wood. They were all with a 10 inch saw that would have a thinner blade. The other issue, for me anyway is getting a cut that is parallel to the current flat. I find it difficult to do and the least bit out of parallel will make for thick/thin slabs, that's effect is multipled for the bigger slab. Have you considered cutting the large slab, , into more manageable pieces, then try the glue to wood on a 10 inch saw? Some good ideas here. I have to agree though, the piece may not come out intact if you try to saw it. I like the 'cutting to manageable size' approach (you can mark out some cabs before downsizing to know where to cut). HankRocks, for getting parallel cuts on stuff like this I push my vice/carriage back toward the blade where I can place the rock in the vice and use the blade as a flat spot/plane (put your current flat against inside of the blade, not touching the rim) to align the rock in the vice. This can work but, depending on the shape of the rock as you tighten it in the vice it can tweak the rock out of the plane. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2018 10:21:36 GMT -5
Well guys, I appreciate all the great posts and agree that it would be a bad idea to attempt the whole slab.
I just received the slab in the mail and it's a BEAUTY! Turns out it is a little thinner than advertised at 9mm. So, cutting in half would definitely NOT work. I can deal with 9mm. Seems fairly stable, too. One crack showing to cut around.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 26, 2018 10:36:05 GMT -5
Wow, Tela, that's a gorgeous slab! Good on you for getting it.
9 mm is a tad thin to split, BUT you can make some awesome book-matched earring stones with it. Obviously, use the sweet spots for the awesome pendant cabs and then cut your preforms for the earring stones from the rest.
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Post by parfive on Apr 26, 2018 11:48:25 GMT -5
Smack that puppy on the bench first. Might as well find any fractures and weak spots the easy way.
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2018 12:02:56 GMT -5
Smack that puppy on the bench first. Might as well find any fractures and weak spots the easy way. Yup, planned on it.  |
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 26, 2018 12:21:10 GMT -5
I can't wait to see the cabs you make out of this!
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 26, 2018 16:04:49 GMT -5
Glue a block of wood to the face with wood glue or sodium silicate. Then you can mount the wood in the saw vice, which will keep the slab straight while you cut it. How Do you align the block of wood to ensure a parallel cut? 10 mm sounds a bit thin to try and resaw to me. would depend on how stable the material is. When you put the block of wood in the vice you can line up the edge of the front edge of the block with the edge of the vice base. As long as the blade is properly aligned this would give a straight cut parallel to the original cut. |
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Post by rmf on Apr 26, 2018 18:13:31 GMT -5
Yes it is possible in theory. 10mm -3mm for the saw blade kerf (to cut a 6" high rock you will need about a 16" or more common 18" blade due to the big flanges supporting the blade). This means you have 7mm thickness left so each slab if you align it perfectly will be 3.75mm thick. I would call that too thin. Not that I have never tried cutting a slab that thin but you would be left with cutting very thin or small stones. I tend to line things up visually but there may be some here that have a more exact method. For me I would just hate to mess up that beautiful stone.
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Post by Rockoonz on May 1, 2018 0:08:58 GMT -5
Another thought.
I don't recall ever seeing it, but do you ever bezel set your cabs? Reason I ask is there is a solution for bezel settings, same as I do for Spencer opal if it has 2 fire layers.
First you would trim it down to roughly preform size, and then use that Al Sesona grinder to make both sides flat.
Then take thin basinite (or argyllite) flattened slabs and glue to both sides of each preform slab, then split down the middle by hand.
You end up with 2 preforms thick enough to work with, but you have to bezel set to hide the basinite
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, into more manageable pieces, then try the glue to wood on a 10 inch saw?
