| Blade basics
A diamond blade is a circular steel
disc with a diamond rim, which can be segmented, continuous
or serrated. The rims are made up of a mixture of diamonds
and metal powders that hold the diamonds in place.
As the blade hits the concrete, this
bond wears away, exposing the diamond crystals that grind
the material into a fine powder, says Thom Fisher, advertising
and trade show manager for Diamond Products, Elyria, Ohio.
One general rule of thumb is to use
a soft bond to cut cured concrete and a hard bond to cut green
concrete. A soft bond will expose the diamonds quickly to
cut harder materials, while the harder bond will wear away
more slowly to cut softer materials. Fisher's company provides
contractors with a map that shows how aggregate differs in
hardness in various areas of the country - an important consideration
in choosing a blade. And if a contractor has trouble with
a blade, Diamond Products can provide a custom bond within
48 hours.
Making sure the blade matches the saw
is another consideration. "The quality of the blade needs
to match up with the horsepower of the saw," he says.
"If you're using a small saw for a small job, you don't
need a top-quality blade that's loaded with diamonds and costs
a fortune."
However, Fisher says contractors will
regret choosing blades merely on price, because the industry
is loaded with cheap imports - at the World of Concrete show
last year, he says, 60 of 65 diamond blade companies were
from overseas. "The old axiom, 'You get what you pay
for,' really applies here," he says.
Ted Skaff, market specialist for Pearl
Abrasive of Commerce, Calif., says distributors should ask
contractors two main questions: "What saw are you using,
and what exactly are you cutting?" He's found that more
contractors are scoring lines, swirls, circles or other decorative
elements in green concrete.
General purpose blades are usually
used on cured concrete because using them on green concrete
can cause excessive blade wear and undercutting, but Skaff
says contractors are having good luck using a general purpose,
narrow-slot turbo rim blade to cut green concrete because
decorative concrete lines are shallow - typically only one
sixteenth to one eighth-inch deep. "You can have your
cake and eat it too," he says. "Not everyone knows
that."
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