Need Help....Diamond Saw Blade Dressing Stones

[pizzano]

I've searched RTH's archives, found some interesting suggestions (mostly personal experiences). But none that has "sold" me on a particular grit type (Sic, AO, ect), grit size (60, 80, 100, ect) and + reasons to use one.

I've searched the Web and (like normal), there are few and far between (common vendors) that actually sell "saw blade" dressing stones that are made for the specific application, (MK sells a 60 & 100 grit but does not state application differences).

Those that do, don't always state the grit (size), material type or specific use intended.....and the commercial vendors who do provide materials for such, want an arm and a leg for a 6" x 1" x 1" stone............in many cases, more than the price of an average continuous 7" stone cutting diamond blade......!

I spoke with the guys/gals at Covington and a tile guy I know.......got a mixed bag of suggestions. But one idea kinda made sense......use a knife sharpening stone that has the properties I need......?

The reason I'm looking........My MK blade, the one that came with the saw (ID# unknown, even MK is not sure which one it came with), has started to lose some of it's bite and getting a little shine., rather, very shinny. I've been cutting a lot of agates/jasper and who's knows what. Think it's time to dress the blade before I toss it aside and start with a new one...?

Any help here is greatly appreciated......I have stones begging to be sliced and diced....lol



   

[70karmann]

I have had very good luck cutting an old 100 sic wheel. Do a couple 2-3 inch cuts into the wheel and blade works great.

[victor1941]

I use a standard(coarse) Norton 8 inch grinding wheel and get good results. I hand feed the wheel to cut it in half since my saw has a 14 inch blade and then stack the half wheels in the vise for the next cuts. If the blade is not flat on the front edge you should also keep it from becoming rounded.

[aDave]

I get a 60 grit stone from a local lumber supply and use that. Home Depot also sells one if I recall correctly. Don't overthink this, as it appears you are. That's not meant as a criticism.

[woodman]

I have used a red brick and also 60 griet stone from harbour freight. moste any grit will do the job

[catmandewe]

I use knife sharpening stones from Harbour freight ($1 each) on my tile saws.
On my slab saws I use an old SC wheel that I just keep cutting pieces off of. Grit is not especially important although the lower grits do work faster.

Tony

[catmandewe]

Oh....... if you are using a brick make sure it is a fire rated brick as they are made out of either Silicon Carbide or Aluminum Oxide. Regular house bricks are made out of mud and have no sharpening properties.

Tony

[pizzano]

Thanks everyone.....based on the various materials being used, I may have been "over thinking" this a tad bit......I've got a couple of old 60 grit AO grinding wheels I had no use for.....now I do..!

[QuailRiver]

Most any abrasive material will work (SC lapidary wheels or sticks, AlO wheels or sticks, the old Garnet wheels used for grinding glass, bricks made with coarse sand, etc.) as long as the binder used to hold the abrasives together isn't too hard like many of the metal grinding wheels found on common bench grinders are. If the binder in the abrasive wheel/stick is too hard it can pull the diamond particles out of the blade matrix.

I usually use old SC lapidary wheels between 100 to 220 grit. But prefer, when I can find them, old crumbly hand made bricks from the early to mid 1800s. These older bricks were fired at lower temperatures than the later ones and were not as vitrified. So the sand in the bricks does a good job removing metal matrix from around the diamond particles on the blade while the clay and feldspar particles are soft enough to be worn away without causing any damage to the diamond particles. I wish I had loaded up on them 30+ years ago when they were still easy to get around here and were often free for the asking. But now most of our historic structures have either been restored or bulldozed and hauled away.

Larry C.

[grumpybill]

When a dry diamond masonry blade glazes, we run it through some sandstone. Same should work for tile and lapidary blades.

[pizzano]

Mar 4, 2018 1:33:26 GMT -5 QuailRiver said:

Most any abrasive material will work (SC lapidary wheels or sticks, AlO wheels or sticks, the old Garnet wheels used for grinding glass, bricks made with coarse sand, etc.) as long as the binder used to hold the abrasives together isn't too hard like many of the metal grinding wheels found on common bench grinders are. If the binder in the abrasive wheel/stick is too hard it can pull the diamond particles out of the blade matrix.

I usually use old SC lapidary wheels between 100 to 220 grit. But prefer, when I can find them, old crumbly hand made bricks from the early to mid 1800s. These older bricks were fired at lower temperatures than the later ones and were not as vitrified. So the sand in the bricks does a good job removing metal matrix from around the diamond particles on the blade while the clay and feldspar particles are soft enough to be worn away without causing any damage to the diamond particles. I wish I had loaded up on them 30+ years ago when they were still easy to get around here and were often free for the asking. But now most of our historic structures have either been restored or bulldozed and hauled away.

Larry C.

Thanks for that......now you got me thinking again. Maybe the old 60grit AO wheels I intended to use may be to harsh for the blade I want to dress. Since I have no idea what MK blade it is, I've purchased a Makita general purpose continuous rim (wet/dry). It's a little thicker blade than the MK, but since I'm not fine cutting any material, not to concerned with material loss........I have quite a few old knife sharpening stones of various grit quality. May try some of those to dress the MK before taking a chance with the old wheels.......at least on the MK blade.