seg blade verses continous

[waynespizzaworld]

I have a question regarding the blade and saw I have used on the last oven I built. Photo attached shows the saw, segmented blade and jig I used for compound cuts on the dome build.

I found this set up on some days to be bordering on dangerous. What seemed to be happening is as the blade got a bit glazed it would tend to grab if you were not careful and try to pull the sliding table and brick into the blade. Seemed like the bits from firebrick off cuts were a bit on the course side and would stop the table from sliding smoothly and the sliding table would kind of ride up and over the coarse bits on the slide track and cause the jerky in feed which would in turn grab the brick and table and try to pull it all towards the blade. I would deglaze the blade on a cinder block every once in a while but I don?t remember this being that big of an issue with my old saw and continuous blade.

I am thinking back to my smaller 10 inch wet saw with a cheaper continuous blade I used last time, and I think it worked better than this fancy new saw I have just got. The new one is 14 inch so its nice for deep cuts etc but I am wondering if I should be using a continuous blade instead of the segmented one I had on my new saw for this last project

[Tscarborough]

Re: seg blade verses continous

Tile blades are for brittle material like tile and granite.

[Tscarborough]

Re: seg blade verses continous

And keep the table runners clean. If the blade is grabbing, you are imparting side pressure.

[waynespizzaworld]

Re: seg blade verses continous

Interesting,thanks Tscarborough, I would have not thought that side loading would cause the grabbing. I am sure you are right and thanks for that. I am still a bit curious why this blade and saw seem to leave a lot of course grit from the cut. My fireclay rescued from the drain bucket is nice and fine but the stuff in the tray was quite course. Maybe by bricks had a different make up to them compared to the bricks I used last time but I keep thinking this segmented blade was the reason for the course gritty bits?

The blade was 150 dollar MK blade so I am sure it was a good quality.

[Tscarborough]

Re: seg blade verses continous

It is normal for coarse chunks, especially when doing other than 90 degree straight cuts. When cutting off small portions, you have to let the blade do all the work otherwise it will tend to fracture pieces off short of the finished cut.

[RTflorida]

Re: seg blade verses continous

Not that I really have a clue, but I have always been told that the segmented blades are typically used for fast course cutting of brick and stone. I know they are the only blades used by paver and patio stone installers on those monster gas powered (dry cut) saws that they use.
I've always used the smooth blades for anything that will fit on my wet saw (common bricks, firebricks, all types of tile including marble and granite) and have never experienced what you have described unless I foolishly tried to force the cut.

RT