Looking for saw recommendations

luke, get something with an auto feed. You will get bored with this hobby very quickly having to tediously hand feed a 2" rock through a trim saw. The resulting surface will leave the rock useless for anything but tumbling.

I would stay away from combo units. I have never seen a decent saw on the end of a combo setup.

Tile saws don't seem like the right tool for the job probably because they aren't. I'm amazed at their proliferation among lapidaries. Again, you are stuck with hand-feeding. If you do decide to polish a slab that you've cut on a tile saw, good luck, as it will likely be so rough you will never get the saw marks out. Different machines, different blades, different intended purposes.

Get the biggest saw $ and space allow. I have never heard anyone complain about their saw being too big. Be aware you pretty much get what you pay for. Generally, I would say any new saw costing a grand will probably accomplish what you desire, but just be aware for that money the feed, carriage assembly, and vise will likely be unimpressive. If you find an 18" Highland Park used, get it. You will not regret it.

For slabbing indoors you're going to need a saw with a hood. And since you're wanting a trim saw too you may consider a 10" combination trim/slab saw. Any brand with a totally enclosed hood would do (with the exception of Covington's 10" which has a history of problems).

I've had dozens of used saws that I acquired in collections that I've bought and sold over the years and the one combination model I always keep one around for myself to use indoors is a Raytech deluxe 10" trim/slab saw. In addition to a clear Plexiglas hood it has a removable plastic sump pan and is easy to clean. So if I want to cut a porous material with water or just trim a few slabs in the winter indoors using water I can and with a quick easy clean-up and dry-out afterwards. (I do use Raycool as a water additive to help prevent rust). And in warm weather it goes into the non-climate controlled building I keep my larger slabs saws in to use as a slab saw with oil.

Or if I want to trim slabs with oil in warm weather it's light weight enough that I can carry it out and set it on a table under a shade tree and have at it trimming slabs.

Raytech lapidary products have been around for close to 50 years and had a good reputation until back in the late 80s or early 90s when a shooters supply company who only wanted the Raytech line for the vibrating tumblers to sell to their ammo reloading customers bought them out. The shooter's supply company had no interest in lapidary and let the lapidary line and customer service diminish somewhat. But in recent years the rights to produce most of the Raytech lapidary line of products has been purchased by Rick Scott who is the son of the man who originally produced the Raytech-Shaw faceting machines for Raytech. I've had a few phone conversations with Rick and he is a lapidary enthusiast himself and has always been happily helpful in answering questions. Here is a link to some of his lapidary products and contact information if anyone is interested:
rick8260.wixsite.com/raytechsaw

Larry C.

Great write up on the Raytech unit there, Quailriver!

I would be interested to know if this Raytech 10" water/oil saw (equipped with proper Agate Kutter or equivalent), will make SHORT WORK of trimming down the stock (sometimes 2" - 3" in size) that I am going to throw in the tumbler??

I guess that would mean getting soaked with water, very likely though too.  Hmm.

Just looking to hand feed smaller materials at this time, preform cabs later. 

[Edit]  Found an RTH forum thread that helps describe Raytech L-10S here:  forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/42482

I haven't used the blade labeled the BD-305 Agate Cutter. But I have used the MK-225 Hot Dog blade which according to the factory tech I talked to before purchasing is the exact same blade as the Agate Kutter blade but just repackaged and marketed for lapidary work. The MK-225 Hot Dog blade is my new favorite trim saw blade!

After talking to the factory tech on the phone last summer I bought one of 10" MK-225 blades late in the summer and so far have only used it with oil for trimming slabs on my Raytech 10" saw. And man does it eat through those agate and jasper slabs like no other blade I've ever used. I've been planning to do a review of this blade after trying it for slabbing later when I got around to testing it more.

But so far I've trimmed over 350 preforms from slabs, many from larger slabs requiring a lot of cutting and the blade has held up great! The only draw-back I've seen with it so far is that being a slotted blade it's "chippy". Definitely have to wear eye protection when using it without a saw hood. My safety glasses, arms, dust mask and front of my shirt got covered with micro-chips of stone every time I used it. Especially until the blade began getting broken in better.

I suspect it will be a great blade for slabbing too but only while using the vice. I wouldn't try free-hand slabbing with a slotted blade because if you let the rock get twisted in your hands and one of the corners of the blade kerf at the cooling slots gets caught on the edge of the rock cut I would imagine that things could get ugly (and potentially dangerous) quickly!

As for using the MK-225/BD-305 blade with water I haven't tried that yet and even though they are marketed as being made to be used with water. I could not get the factory tech I spoke with to confirm that they will hold up better than a MK/BD-301 Gemking blade when using water. I tried several times to get an opinion about using water with the MK-225/BD-305 blades and he dodged the question each time. So I would still assume that it's doable slabbing small agates and jaspers using just water but that blade life won't be as good as with using oil.

tinyurl.com/yyuy5nw5

Larry C.

What are the opinions on the Highland Park 6” saw? I understand this is a reputable brand. I guess my questions are around what the largest stone I could cut with this?

6" saws at most will cut 2" but generally don't have the power for maximum height cuts. Better as slab trimmers. Tile saws always have high speed, powerful motors so will cut faster than same size lapidary saws. Also will generally be very loud and offer free showers with every cut. I've used tile saws with lapidary blades for years and find most lapidary trim saws too underpowered now. As far as price differences, most of the big box store tile saws are "throw aways". The better lapidary saws with proper maintenance can last so long you will forget what you paid for them.