Cutting stones, need advice on equipment... Dont want to lose an eye..

Hi everyone i have scoured the forum for cutting device recommendations, one solid one was a tile cutter available at Bunnings.
I just wanted to clear up if the blade will be strong enough to cut, quartz, granitiods/greenstone(fuschite/muscovite), schist and other metamorphic stone.
And can I purchase better blades?
I can imagine ill be cutting anything harder than that at this point in time. At least not until I can get my butt up to the northern reaches of WA

Thank for any input )

The best bet is to talk to a geo who logs rock core, and go into a geology department at a uni and talk to the technical staff, or join a lapidary club for a bit. Correct equipment is essential and saws, blades etc vary a lot and you can end up paying ten times what you should. Few rock-cutting labs have only one size saw, so think about the size of what you are likely to cut. Most rocks except pure quartz rocks will cut with other than diamond. Consider the issues of blades jamming with rocks wedged in them and what your saw does while that is happening. There are relatively cheap saws (and horrendously expensive ones that are little better) but I can't keep up to date, hence the advice. And ask about OH&S - people have come close to death from flying chips but it is quite easy to make safe.

This is at the intermediate range:

https://prospectors.com.au/search?q=saw*

Companies and individuals also sell a lot second-hand

Hi Itwinter.

Some of the lapidary saws sold by lapidary suppliers in Australia are in fact wet tile saws, so they do work. I have two, a four-inch blade saw (for faceting material) and a seven-inch blade saw for small stones and bits of cabbing material.

The tile blades that come with them when sold for that purpose are a bit thick though, and tend to chew up a bit too much material. Purpose made lapidary blades adaptable to these saws are sold by Aussie Sapphire, Gemcuts and I think also by Shell-lap. They also sell the saws themselves of course.

These saws are pretty inexpensive and handle small stuff well but if you were wanting to saw up large rocks, you'll need a purpose-made rock saw. The forementioned suppliers also sell these but they don't come cheap - thou$and$.

You might be able to find a second-hand rock saw on Gumtree or somewhere like that.

Cheers

goldierocks said:

The best bet is to talk to a geo who logs rock core, and go into a geology department at a uni and talk to the technical staff, or join a lapidary club for a bit. Correct equipment is essential and saws, blades etc vary a lot and you can end up paying ten times what you should. Few rock-cutting labs have only one size saw, so think about the size of what you are likely to cut. Most rocks except pure quartz rocks will cut with other than diamond. Consider the issues of blades jamming with rocks wedged in them and what your saw does while that is happening. There are relatively cheap saws (and horrendously expensive ones that are little better) but I can't keep up to date, hence the advice. And ask about OH&S - people have come close to death from flying chips but it is quite easy to make safe.

This is at the intermediate range:

https://prospectors.com.au/search?q=saw*

Companies and individuals also sell a lot second-hand

Click to expand...

Nice, I've bookmarked that site for perusual I spend the week faceting and the weekend trudging through the bush chasing rocks - lapidary suppliers have me covered for faceting but they usually only stock a few basic bits of prospecting equipment. Might find something I've always wanted at that supplier.

Lefty said:

goldierocks said:

The best bet is to talk to a geo who logs rock core, and go into a geology department at a uni and talk to the technical staff, or join a lapidary club for a bit. Correct equipment is essential and saws, blades etc vary a lot and you can end up paying ten times what you should. Few rock-cutting labs have only one size saw, so think about the size of what you are likely to cut. Most rocks except pure quartz rocks will cut with other than diamond. Consider the issues of blades jamming with rocks wedged in them and what your saw does while that is happening. There are relatively cheap saws (and horrendously expensive ones that are little better) but I can't keep up to date, hence the advice. And ask about OH&S - people have come close to death from flying chips but it is quite easy to make safe.

This is at the intermediate range:

https://prospectors.com.au/search?q=saw*

Companies and individuals also sell a lot second-hand

Click to expand...

Nice, I've bookmarked that site for perusual I spend the week faceting and the weekend trudging through the bush chasing rocks - lapidary suppliers have me covered for faceting but they usually only stock a few basic bits of prospecting equipment. Might find something I've always wanted at that supplier.

Click to expand...

I have used them for many decades, at least 30 years- not always the cheapest but reasonable in the main, and they tend to have most things. Others tend to come and go with the booms and busts...

ltwinter said:

Hi everyone i have scoured the forum for cutting device recommendations, one solid one was a tile cutter available at Bunnings.
I just wanted to clear up if the blade will be strong enough to cut, quartz, granitiods/greenstone(fuschite/muscovite), schist and other metamorphic stone.
And can I purchase better blades?
I can imagine ill be cutting anything harder than that at this point in time. At least not until I can get my butt up to the northern reaches of WA

Thank for any input )

Click to expand...

I have one of these: https://www.aussiesapphire.com.au/i...d=2446&zenid=2a6a4201f937100b52f88fc0814e988d. It is basically a re-badged tile saw supplied with a fine cutting blade for stone and gems.

It's in-expensive and works well. One thing to remember when cutting is let the blade do the work and don't force it to try and cut faster than it is capable, diamond will cut at it's own rate not because of the force you put on it, force damages everything and causes accidents. This is particularly important with fine blades, gently..gently..

We don't do much stone as out interest is gems and we use it to cut everything from quartz to sapphire plus CZ, nano and anything else we come across.

Thanks everyone, you have all been very hel[pful!!!

One advantage with Aussie Sapphire Budget saws is they have a new deck installed that suits the thinner blades and has a smaller gap around the blade as mentioned and can be used wet... Bunnings don't have this feature and some cannot be used wet...Risk of Electric Shock..... When cutting anything safety glasses and wear a mask as with a lot of stones, their dust is Toxic... Even if used wet...Mask is to be worn IMO...

One of the issues is you will get stones caught in the gap around the blades of Bunnings saws and this can lead to a very bent shaft quite quickly or worse an injury to your fingers and a saw that wont cut properly after... Aussie Sapphire saws ARE made for Lapidary... For around $110-$170 you can get a saw ready to plug in and start cutting....
You wont cut your finger on a Lapidary saw blade believe it or not, or if you do then you did something really silly to get cut, but you Will on the blade supplied with Bunnings Tile saws... :Y:

LW....