Paver saw? (for brick driveway)

[Richard]

Just had breakfast with Dad as he drove through town. Seems he & his wife are going to put their own pavers down for a driveway addition..yada yada yada.

He will need some form of saw to cut some of the pavers with. I suggested he BUY it, use it as needed then resell it. He agreed they'd NOT get the driveway done in less than a couple weeks (months? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) and having it there made some sense...

I've been looking around at different brands...

any brand stick out as a "good" brand? The anticipation is, this will be purchased, used then sold. It will have to be somewhat movable, as it will go in/out of garage every now & then. Also, I don't think they have 220 availble to them so 110V will be better. (dont even know if 220 is option!) Probably prefer a style that has a stand with it verses setting it on ground.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Ricahrd

 

[DAP]

Rich ... without knowing just what material you are talking about exactly ... some of those pavers are over 3in. thick.

... don't they use scorers and tack hammers to trim/size these things?

I know you can take a punch, make a row of punchs and then a well struck and placed sharp blow will give you a very clean and straight edge on certain stone products ...

I've also seen guys split 3000lb granite blocks using pins and hand sledges ... fascinating ... requires above all, good ears.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[BB_TX]

If he is not going to be sawing too many, he can just use a circular saw with a masonary blade. I use that to saw edging stones for flower beds.
I don't know if they make masonary blades for a chop saw or not. That might be another option.

 

[jimg]

I cut a few concrete pavers for a walkway I installed last yr. w/ an abrasive cut off saw. To that pt I was using it for just metal. However, masonary blades can be gotten for them and thats what I used. While it wasnt quick the job was very neat and better than I could have done w/ a trowel or hammer and chisel. I think less than a minute to cut width-wise but alot depended on whether you were cutting thru stone or cement.

 

[Egon]

A proper concrete saw costs money. As others have stated a hand held powersaw with a dry cement blade should be a good choice.

Make a form to hold the paver block. It may only have to be scored and then hit with a hammer & rock chisel from the other side to break.

Egon

 

[Chuck52]

Richard,

When I did my several-hundred-square-foot patio, I first set all the stones I didn't need to cut. I was working mostly weekends and evenings, and it took me more than two months. I then rented a saw for only half a day and did all my cutting. I had quite a few cuts to make, but with just my son and me, it went fast. Even though my patio has lots of angles, and accomodates existing walls, stoops, etc, most of the cuts were repetetive, and once I got them figured out I was whipping them out. I would not want to use a circular saw to do those cuts. The water-washed blade of the rental unit was much nicer to deal with. Once they have a pattern figured out, just try to estimate how many cuts will be needed. You can cut a lot of bricks in a few hours.

Chuck

 

[carrickfad]

The guys that put in my walkway used a gas powered cut off saw. They laid the pavers out and used a piece of 8 ft flexible pipe to traced the curves and edges onto the stones and then came along with the saw and cut them while they were on the ground. It was quick and easy but a little dusty. They told me they do the driveways the same way.
Here is one for sale on Ebay.
EBay gas powered saw

 

[riptides]

I hate pavers, here is about 1 - 2 thousand of them.

I used about 10 masonary blades, the circular saw was never the same.....

Wear protection! Eyes, Hands and Lungs!!!!!

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BB_TX]

Really nice looking project, Mike. But, yeah, I bet you were sick of them by the time you finished.

 

[Richard]

Nice deck there.

My Dad will be doing this over a period of time, I'm not sure of the design and how easy it will or won't be to hold off on all the cut pieces, although I DO like that as an idea.

To say he is tool challanged, well... is to say I'm the Pope. (no offense to the Pope /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif)

I really don't know if I trust him with a circular saw and paver (these are 2 to maybe 2 1/2 inches thick). I'd rather perform a trachomoty on myself than see my dad with some power tools.

As an example, was visting once, found his brand new Stihl chainsaw HEAD unit and no bar/chain. I asked where they were, he said he was cleaning out the garage one day, found "those items", had no idea what they were so he threw them out. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Sigh, I digress... Thankfully, that gene skipped me.

My suggestion to him, is go ahead & buy a new (verses someone's potential problem) wetsaw, use it as needed and then sell it.

The irony of all the above? He's a developer and been in the construction business for 50 or more years. You'd think he'd have or know of a crew that would do it on a weekend, or loan/give/sell him one of their decrepit old saws or something.