OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88 
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 1, 2018 0:40:03 GMT -5
So an older fully customized Lortone 8 inch lap saw followed me home from a rock sale a couple months ago. I cleaned it all up. They were using antifreeze as a coolant, which I have replaced with a blend of mineral and baby oil. It has an MK 301 blade on it now, but that tends to give me some ridging on slabs and small eggs that I cut using it. I want a flatter 303 blade. But the question is, do I get the .025, or the .032 blade for it? Or even an .040? I do mostly trimming of slabs using it (the 301 works fine for that) but I want to get smoother cuts 'slabbing' and splitting small eggs, smaller jasper and agate pieces 3 inches and smaller for making into cabs and jewelry. I realize that the kerf takes out more rock, but I want something that will last and take some punishment from a non auto-feed rail vice (meaning my wrist) for slabbing and splitting, as well as cut and trim out slabs for grinding. I typically cut pet wood, jasper, agate, and some jade, and a lot of obsidian. Price does not seem to vary much with kerf until you get to .050, and they are about $45 on Amazon with a 5/8 center.
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Post by Rockoonz on Jul 1, 2018 0:56:34 GMT -5
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 1, 2018 1:08:14 GMT -5
Well, I can get a .032 MK Diamond branded blade for $1.38 more on Amazon with free shipping. But is an .032 enough kerf?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 1, 2018 8:53:42 GMT -5
Well, I can get a .032 MK Diamond branded blade for $1.38 more on Amazon with free shipping. But is an .032 enough kerf? Never heard of a good blade going for so cheap.....(just saying)..They usually average around $38.00 - $70.00... I use the thinnest blade out there on my trim saw, its working great, but all I do is shape stones for cabbing.. |
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2018 10:25:06 GMT -5
About 16 years ago, I bought a Genie and it came with the trim saw attachment for $35. It is 8" with .032. It works great. The issue with the Genie is that it has a 1" hole and most blades are 5/8". I bought some 303 .025 on Amazon which are quite cheap with a 1" hole but I thought that they were not stiff enough. I was probably using the blade for slabbing small rough in addition to trimming. They might be ok just for trimming.
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Post by Rockoonz on Jul 1, 2018 11:09:30 GMT -5
The thickness of the blade has little to do with cut quality. The people who sell the 032 blade also sell a 060 blade, which would probably increase cut quality and blade life for people who push the rock through with too much force.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2018 11:41:34 GMT -5
The thickness of the blade has little to do with cut quality. The people who sell the 032 blade also sell a 060 blade, which would probably increase cut quality and blade life for people who push the rock through with too much force. Blade life is reduced by forcing the cut. I use the blade to round some straight lines doing a preform Gently pressing the slab against side of the blade. .032 works better than .025 for this. Biggest blade killer for me was using it to slab. It makes sense for very small rough, but excessive slabbing kills the blades. |
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 1, 2018 16:49:40 GMT -5
Well, I can get a .032 MK Diamond branded blade for $1.38 more on Amazon with free shipping. But is an .032 enough kerf? Never heard of a good blade going for so cheap.....(just saying)..They usually average around $38.00 - $70.00... I use the thinnest blade out there on my trim saw, its working great, but all I do is shape stones for cabbing.. If I could get MK Diamond blades for $1.38 each, I would buy 100 of them and sell them myself.
I posted that the Amazon blade would be $1.38 more (keyword here is MORE) than the generic Korean blade that Rockoonz posted. For clarity, that Korean blade is a generic .032 8" Diamond 303 and is $42 on Ebay with shipping. The Amazon blade is a .032 8" MK Diamond label 303 and is $43.38 with shipping. All of a buck thirty eight more.
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 1, 2018 17:11:58 GMT -5
The thickness of the blade has little to do with cut quality. The people who sell the 032 blade also sell a 060 blade, which would probably increase cut quality and blade life for people who push the rock through with too much force. Blade life is reduced by forcing the cut. I use the blade to round some straight lines doing a preform Gently pressing the slab against side of the blade. .032 works better than .025 for this. Biggest blade killer for me was using it to slab. It makes sense for very small rough, but excessive slabbing kills the blades. Thanks. Exactly the type of answers I am looking for here. 0.40 is as large a blade as I can find in the $45 price range. The thinner blades are somewhat cheaper. I guess I will toss out the .025 option. Some other posts on saw kerf here say that either a 032 or 040 tend to last in shops open to club members (ie, the Mt Hood Rock Club shop in Portland). So maybe a 032 for thinner cuts and rigid enough for some small slabbing, but remove less rock than a 040.
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 1, 2018 17:23:29 GMT -5
The thickness of the blade has little to do with cut quality. The people who sell the 032 blade also sell a 060 blade, which would probably increase cut quality and blade life for people who push the rock through with too much force. Big difference in price for 060 blades, They are $62.77 on Amazon. *cough* The 040 blade is $48.63. All Mk Diamond branded 303 blades. |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 1, 2018 19:15:29 GMT -5
I think I use my trim saw twice a year... My blades last awhile...(crossed fingers) LOL
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2018 19:59:51 GMT -5
I think I use my trim saw twice a year... My blades last awhile...(crossed fingers) LOL My wife bought me a 16" Covington combo saw in 2008. It sat in the box until 2014 when I retired. I spent my free time when I was working, cabbing. I slabbed small pieces using my trim saw and gnawed off smaller pieces that I could slab off of the bigger pieces. I went through a lot of blades. |
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Post by broseph82 on Jul 2, 2018 14:59:54 GMT -5
personally I like the MK-225 for everyday use on my harder agates, jaspers, and pet woods. My last one lasted me a year and 8months of constant use everyday and speedy slabs that are like 5/8" thick. Cut through em like butter up until I decided to retire the blade (was shooting sparks).
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 2, 2018 16:32:57 GMT -5
Granite tile blades are even more spendy. I found this information on this site poking around:
from johnjsgems:
"Barranca is the lapidary division of MK. Before they dumped the blade furnace they (Barranca) made blades for MK, Lortone, Covington, and many other brands. All their blades come from Korea now and MK303C is exactly the same blade as BD303C with a different sticker. Diamond Pacific until last year was Barranca's biggest blade customer and always ordered with the MK label. They now advertise BD blades. I think it was last year that MK raised prices and BD didn't. That might be why they changed names. The 303P is used mostly on the MK101 or BD 2014 (also same saws with either MK red or Barranca blue) that run 3450 rpm. The 303P (P stands for porcelain) was made for cutting porcelain, granite and hard stone in high speed saws. I know a little about these blades as I am one of the two dealers that passed DP in annual blade sales of Barranca products."
"I've used 303C blades on a couple of 10" hand feed saws. I used .032" to save material. If you have a power feed use the .040". The extra width is more forgiving. At $130 list for the 303P vs. the $76 list for a 303C I wouldn't even consider a P for a saw running that speed. For cutting agates/jaspers, etc. oil would be best. When I had only one saw (a 10" Frantom) I cut with oil. Anything that had to be cut with water I stockpiled. When the oil got really dirty I would drain and clean the saw and refill with water. After cutting the oil sensitive material I drained, flushed, dried and refilled with clean oil. It worked for me for a long time."
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 2, 2018 17:04:21 GMT -5
Was leaning toward the 040, but it turns out that Amazon does not have that size blade. Only 025, 032, and 060 in 8-inch in the 303 MK line. The Korean blades on Ebay are only available in the same sizes. Amusing... and obviously the source of the MK blades. So it seems that the 040 kerf is not available in 8 inch. Which narrows down my options. So I guess its a 032 x 5/8 303 blade for me. 025 is a tad thin and the 060 is more spendy and cuts twice the rock in kerf.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 10, 2018 10:29:32 GMT -5
.042" is a good size for 8". .025" too flexible for slabbing. The "Agate Kutter" a good choice if you want a thick blade. Spendy but really tall kerf.
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
Posts: 88
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 10, 2018 17:37:16 GMT -5
.042" is a good size for 8". .025" too flexible for slabbing. The "Agate Kutter" a good choice if you want a thick blade. Spendy but really tall kerf.
You mean a .032 here? .040 (or .042) does not seem to exist in a 303 blade (MK or BD or Korean). Contrary to that, .040 seems to be the only size available in the 301 series in 8". The saw I have came with that blade. The BD 305 Agate Kutter is .050 in 8" and is $69 from BD direct. Not too bad a price, marked down from $115 on their web site.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 10, 2018 19:13:34 GMT -5
Sorry, yes .032". They keep making the keyboard smaller. 301 only available in .040" but rim is taller than 303C. Rim really tall on 305 blades.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 10, 2018 19:48:10 GMT -5
You might try dressing your 301 blade and tapping edge flat if it is rounded. I have cut a lot of rocks with a 301 on my MK101 tile saw and the cut is as flat as my wallet. If you are hand slabbing without a vice you will get saw marks with any blade you try. If you are pushing a vised rock through by hand make sure vice is not lifting or rock moving in vise. Also saw bearings not worn and letting blade run off.
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Post by sophia13 on Jul 11, 2018 13:49:18 GMT -5
So, Which blade (brand and size, etc...) would you recommend for my 10" Raytech that will be used for slabbing smaller rough like Agates and Jasper? I read about the Agate Kutter, 303c and MK225? Thank you  |
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