Diamond saw blade?

[Richard]

I'm putting down some flagstone for a sidewalk. I have a DeWalt 4" grinder that I have a diamond blade attached to. I use this to help cut/fit the flagstone when I need to.

Sometimes, this entails cutting a 1/2" strip off the stone that might be 24" long. This makes for a lot of grinding with the little 4" grinder.

I then thought about a larger blade.

I have a Milwaukee 7" circular saw.
Milwaukee Tilt Lok Circular Saw - 6390-21 at The Home Depot

Sucker is essentially brand new so I am not keen on trashing it with a bunch of rock dust BUT... for time savings, it might be worth a tradeoff.

I've looked (via internet) on Home Depot's website for a diamond blade and thus far...do not see anything. (perhaps just not looked in right location)

Do they make a blade like that?
Am I asking for trouble trying to mount a blade like that and using it on this saw?

Is getting one of these, one of my rare moments of brilliance?

I've spent over an hour on a single stone, "machining" it to fit my need (notched for a 6x6 post and some other shaping)

I'm trying to NOT cut them as much as I can avoid it but with 2" stones, this little 4" , though better than nothing.... isn't terribly fast.

Thoughts?

 

[rus_geek]

I have picked up "generic" diamond blades from Home Depot and Menards before. No damage to my saw from them so far, cutting landscaping blocks, patio blocks and tile.

-rus-

 

[Chuck52]

Rent or buy a tile saw. Much easier to use, water to catch the dust, not real expensive. If you have many stones to cut it really makes sense.

Chuck

 

[Richard]

Indeed, I was evidently not looking hard enough.

Cement - Circular Blades - Saw Blades - Power Tool Accessories - Tools & Hardware at The Home Depot


Would these work? (the 7" blade)

would I need to remove/defeat my blade guard? I can't see that I'd be cutting this stone in a traditional way like you'd cut a board.

For the record, I'm agasint defeating a safety item like that but... with my grinder, I have to score a line and keep scoring it into the rock. Rather hard to do with a blade guard in the way.

 

[Richard]

Rent or buy a tile saw. Much easier to use, water to catch the dust, not real expensive. If you have many stones to cut it really makes sense.

Chuck

Wow... I should put some pictures up. No way at all do I see a tile saw working.

These rocks are 2" thick and go anywhere from say...20" square UP TO maybe 36"x36" (and weigh a freaking portion of a ton!!)

 

[Richard]

I guess I wasn't too clear. These are not "square" type flagstones. Nope... the wife wanted NOTHING to do with square/rectangle of any shape. These are 100% irregular pattern which means fitting them with nice tight seams (as she insists) is just about impossible becuse when I need a seam with a 90 degree angle in it... I only happen to have rounded stones. When I later need a rounded fit...I only have pointed stones.

 

[Richard]

This is a BEFORE picture but it's the only one I seem to have here at work.

(did I just admit I'm hanging around here while at work? )

Anyway, this is the original sidewalk we (I) put down and this is just before I ripped it all up so we could do our addition to the house.

Now that the addition is done, I'm in process of putting the walkway back down. I've had to buy two more pallats of flagstones (4 tons total) These new flagstones are much more consistent than the ones in the picture. The new ones are about 2-2 1/2" thick and as these in the picture, are irregular shapes. The new ones however, seem to be larger stones than these in the picture. Some of them are downright BIG and I'll use them on our stairs to replace the "piecemeal" treads we have on the stairs. (I have had one of the existing treads "flip" up on me about an inch or so when walking on the steps, I'm going to pull those off and replace with a single larger (new) flagstone)

Regardless.... this is the mosaic type of stuff I'm having to piece together. Why she didn't simply get square cut in the beginning to make life easier....is beyond me.

I think she's trying to kill me while maintaining culpable deniability

 

[moeh1]

Even HF has diamond blades for a circ saw. 20 or 30 bucks. Get one with segments since you are dry cutting. Might not want to cut all the way thru, just partial depth and chip the pieces off?
Good Luck

 

[Scooby074]

Probably not in the budget, but what about a gas powered cut off saw. either buy or rent.

I just got through killing my new makita grinder with stonedust when using a diamond wheel.

If you do use your skilsaw, try to keep the cut wet and you might want to consider a cheepie saw just for this job.

 

[Richard]

I just talked to Milwaukee Tool. Bottom line, he said I'd probably trash my saw if I used it for stone. At $150, it might be worthwile if it will cut my cutting time down. I could then use this as my 'trash' saw and get a new one (although this is new itself)

Moeh1: Regarding cutting & chipping... that's exactly what I'm doing now however, I'm trying to chip the entire section off (think of something the shape of a piece of pie). I'm trying to keep that intact so I can use those as fillers in other places rather than be "chips" and therefore, trash.

Scooby: I've thought about keeping the cut wet however, that would entail flowing water with an unprotected electronic instrument in my hands. Would create a mess and make me uneasy with the thoughts of some excess moisture finding it's way between my hands and some electrical contacts. My wife hasn't been talking to you has she?