Bone yard

[muskymike]

What the heck are you doing way up there, anyways?

Fishing and setting tile! And trying to hunt in between. The only bike I have is a mountain bike. I could be there in about 3 days.

[ragdoll]

I went to harbor freight during lunch to look at the "2.5hp" 10" brick/tile saw. I was eyeing it up thinking it would be a great/cheap way to cut down these huge granite chunks. Plus I could use it this weekend to install my granite tile countertops(FINALLY).

I was disappointed that the saw doesn't come with the stand or a blade as depicted on the website and on the box it comes in. It killed the deal in my mind. I'll think about it a little more, I guess.

QUESTION: To those who have actually bought this saw. What blade did you end up buying for it? Thanks.

[Lazarus]

Ragdoll~~

My regular saw is a Felker TileMaster and a TM 75 for smaller jobs. About 2 years ago, picked up on of those HF saws and it's worked real well for me for larger foremat stone. Yeah, yeah....I know "It's Chinese," but then again, I've used some chinese porcelean that wasn't too shabby either! (for the price) Anyhow, I started with a "Hot Dog" blade and that worked pretty well, but it's thin and you need to be careful not to warp it. Recently, my partner picked up a thicker blade and it works well....we've used it on a slew of Travertine...including a fair amount of diagonal cuts. It ain't a Felker, but for the money, it ain't bad.

[ragdoll]

Big Box..... ugh.

I ended up buying the 2.5hp 10" paver/tile saw from Harbor...

So I called Menards, Lowes, and Home Depot in the area and asked them what they have for 10" blades.

Menards: "Don't carry them"
Lowes: "We got nothing"
Home Depot: We only have one from Husky

Doh.

So I just assumed that the Home Depot guy was one of the duller pencils and so I went in. Had a Hotdog right next to the Husky. Bought it, $60. Then I went to Lowes later in the day to pick up my special orderd granite, Figured I'd look in hardware for the fun of it. Yep, have a 10" Dewalt XP blade there for $40. Idiots!

[/rant]

[ragdoll]

Any opinions on the Dewalt blade compared to the Hotdog? I'll be cutting 1.5" thick granite and a few paver blocks with this saw after I do my granite tile countertop.

[ragdoll]

Well, no one here said anything... so I bought em both.

[ragdoll]

Well, no one is reading this but I'll post this anyways...

I am having a lot of fun with this saw. I just ran a 1.5' x 2.25', 1.5" thick slab of UbaTuba granite through the saw. Think of a hungry fat guy discovering a twinkie in the cupboard... that's what the saw did to that chunk o rock.

After squaring off the short sides of the slab it was a bit over 2' long. I cut it the long way and measured with metric tape. A pinch over a millimeter off. Good enough for me.

[Lazarus]

Glad to hear it worked out. Which blade did you use? The "Hot Dog" blade seems to me to be pretty precise......but you can't rush the cut. For big, heavy-ass work, the thicker one might serve you better. Congrats....as I said before, it ain't a Felker or Target, but it gets the job done!

[JAW]

Well I don't know why this is the first thread I decided I needed to register for but I love recycling materials and I also love my Harbor Freight tools. Yes there are things they sell that are trash. At the same time their 10 in saws are pretty great. I have two just because I got the first one for 150 and the second one for 100.00 for a backup. Needless to say Ive never needed the backup. While these are very basic saws, with a great blade on there it should last a good long while. I also have their bridge saw that I picked up for under a hundred bucks as a store return? Works great and is the same as the QEP bridge saw that HD sells. Since I can always get their warrenty with a large purchase for almost nothing I would not have any problem owning alot of their knockoff tools. Just don't get caught on a job without a spare or a local Harbor Freight.
Great Find on the Granite. Mi Madre' is from Wisconsin. I havn't been in years....Maybe I should go get some free granite
Welcome to the tile world by the way.

[JerryL]

Chad,

I set up a cheap circular saw and a straight edge for cutting large slabs and I found it's pretty easy to cut almost any shape with a 4" diamond blade on a grinder.

Go here and click on 'wet saw' to see ho I set it up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32945742@N00/

Also, if you need polishing tools these guys are great:

http://www.granitecitytool.com/

I love playing with stone.

Have fun,
Jerry

[ragdoll]

Anyone recommend a 10" blade to cut smaller slabs?

Right now I'm lightly using a $45 continuous Dewalt blade from Lowes.