zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 12, 2014 23:24:27 GMT -5
I've got access to 2 blades - a Raytech Black Blazer 10" x .065" & a Golden Rimlock brand 10" x .050". Does anyone have experience or comments about either of these 2 blades? My 10" saw is mostly used for slabbing since it has a power feed & runs oil. Lynn
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,634
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Post by QuailRiver on Nov 13, 2014 1:18:48 GMT -5
If the Black Blazer is an older American made blade I would try to buy them both. I believe all of the new black Blazer Blades are made in South Korea. If it is an American made blade you can't go wrong with it or the Felker Golden Rimlock. Larry C.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 13, 2014 15:34:13 GMT -5
I think all the Raytech blades are made in China. Why would you want such a thick blade on a 10" saw? Seems like a lot of kerf loss to me.
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Post by captbob on Nov 13, 2014 16:06:03 GMT -5
Not commenting on the brands here, but we're talkin' 0.015 (4 pages in a book) difference in blade thickness here. Wouldn't the thicker blade be better for harder stuff like agate and the thinner better for more expensive material?
If I'm cutting an agate or jasper, I'm more worried about the blade surviving than .015 of material.
IF the makes listed are equal in quality, I'd base my purchase on what material I cut mostly
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Post by parfive on Nov 13, 2014 16:33:18 GMT -5
I’m with John. 0.050 does just fine on my 14” saw, cutting nothing but agate and jasper.
0.065 more like a tile saw, and those four pages will put 30 percent more sludge in the oil.
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Post by mohs on Nov 13, 2014 17:39:29 GMT -5
thin kerf man slow the speed down on the train slice hard smooth & w/plenty of precision mostly
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Post by mohs on Nov 13, 2014 17:46:36 GMT -5
has anyone ever seen a rolled rim on lapidary blad to help stabilize the rim ?
Thee do that on thin kerf carbide blades for wood cutting. I was just wondering if any lapidary saw manufacturer do it on their blades?
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Post by mohs on Nov 13, 2014 17:46:51 GMT -5
mostly
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,634
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Post by QuailRiver on Nov 13, 2014 18:45:58 GMT -5
I think all the Raytech blades are made in China. Why would you want such a thick blade on a 10" saw? Seems like a lot of kerf loss to me. The last two 14" Raytech Black Blazer Blades I bought had Made in S. Korea stickers on them. That's been a couple of years ago. Also it looked like they were made with the exact same process as the Barranca 303 blades but with larger diamond particles. They even had the thicker kerf on one edge than on the other the way the Barranca blades do now. The old American made Blazer Blades were good blades but I'm not impressed with the new Asian made ones from Raytech or Barranca. Larry C.
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Nov 13, 2014 21:45:49 GMT -5
I use a thicker (0.60) blade on my 10 inch but I also slab with it as well as trim and the thicker blade is helpful with my cutting style as I tend to be a little heavy handed with the feed rate (me pushing material into the blade)
If you are only going to trim material with it I would go as thin as you can with the blade as it will cut faster with a thinner blade. Especially if you have a power feed.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 17, 2014 12:33:23 GMT -5
Yes, the thicker the blade the more rock you grind through. Clubs will almost always buy the thickest blades they can because club members treat club equipment like rental cars. If you have a power feed you should use .040" minimum to prevent deflection.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 18, 2014 0:22:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies. I was hoping people would have direct experience with either model. I wasn't looking for advice related to thickness. But I do appreciate the effort. From this picture you can see that the Rimlock is notched. The Raytech is sintered. I expect to mohstly slab, rather than trim. Lynn
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,634
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Post by QuailRiver on Nov 18, 2014 12:01:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies. I was hoping people would have direct experience with either model. I wasn't looking for advice related to thickness. But I do appreciate the effort. From this picture you can see that the Rimlock is notched. The Raytech is sintered. I expect to mohstly slab, rather than trim. Lynn The Black Blazer blade you show in the photo is an old American made one. The new Asian made Black Blazers do not have the notches in the sintered rim, or at least the 14" ones don't. I have used both the Golden Rimlock and the American made Black Blazer blades and as stated before IMO you can't go wrong with either. They are both good blades of fairly equal quality and performance with the only significant difference being that the Raytech Black Blazer Blade is thicker and stiffer which makes it less prone to dishing but will cause more waste material. So that's your consideration to make; save material with the Golden Rimlock or have a stiffer more resilient blade with the Black Blazer? Larry C.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 18, 2014 12:21:33 GMT -5
Not to argue minor details but the old notch rims were also sintered. The cores were notched, diamond mixture applied, notches rolled over. Then blades went into high temp oven to sinter diamond mixture into the mild steel core. If I remember correctly BD used 4 workers and 20 some different steps to produce the blades. I wonder if Star Diamond or BD made the black Blazers for Raytech? Look exactly the same. When I ordered notched rim blades they would sometimes ask if I wanted them painted a particular color. Many suppliers had blades painted and labeled and sold as "our blades".
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,634
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Post by QuailRiver on Nov 18, 2014 18:04:50 GMT -5
Not to argue minor details but the old notch rims were also sintered. The cores were notched, diamond mixture applied, notches rolled over. Then blades went into high temp oven to sinter diamond mixture into the mild steel core. If I remember correctly BD used 4 workers and 20 some different steps to produce the blades. I wonder if Star Diamond or BD made the black Blazers for Raytech? Look exactly the same. When I ordered notched rim blades they would sometimes ask if I wanted them painted a particular color. Many suppliers had blades painted and labeled and sold as "our blades". I'm not sure who made the blazer blades for Raytech. I have an old Federal-Mogul Vanguard Inter Lok blade made in Leroy, NY that looks to be made the same as the old Raytech Blazer blades. Somewhere along the way Vanguard either merged with or was acquired by Husqvarna who still makes diamond blades for other industries. But it gets confusing at times. The history of lapidary diamond blade production reads almost like a pulp romance novel. Larry C.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,634
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Post by QuailRiver on Nov 18, 2014 18:22:58 GMT -5
I just looked up the patent numbers on an old Raytech Blue Blazer Blade I had laying around and they were registered by D.H. Benson Etal. DIAMOND ABRASIVE SAW BLADE Donald H. Benson, Spencerport, and Willard R. Pratt, Rochester, N.Y., assignors to Vanguard Abrasive Corporation, Le Roy, N.Y., a corporation of New York The patent numbers were 3,110,579 and 3,201,902.
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