Lapidary Saw Blade Dressing // Does Cutting a Brick Work?
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- čas přidán 20. 09. 2021
- Let's test out this whole brick cutting thing and see if it actually does to sharpen a well-used Sintered blade.
Thanks for watching!
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#CurrentlyRockhounding #Lapidary
Did you enjoy this video and find it to be informative? You can help ensure that more videos just like this get made by supporting the project on Patreon. www.patreon.com/currentlyrockhounding
“…I’m a complete idiot.” 😂. No, you are definitely not an idiot! Most of your videos are common sense and informative. Thanks for testing this out and disproving the brick theory!
A part of me really wanted the brick thing to work really well. If it did that would be so easy to do.
Well, thanks a LOT Jared! Now I gotta take my pallet of bricks back to the Home Depot. Highland Park concurs with your method also.
Yeah, the whole brick thing does nothing.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Gotta get a bastard file now :) Question for ya: why use the thin sintered as opposed to the thick one? Just the amount of material removed? Would thick be better for slabbing?
@@jimedgar6789
The thinner the blade the faster the cut and the more material that is saved.
First of all who ever was calling you an Idiot they are the Idiot. You are a really nice person and I really enjoy your videos.
I actually do recommend you do reverse your blade and heres why, as you said a build up builds behind the diamond by reversing the blade you are presenting the opposite face where no build up interferes with your cutting and you will also be clearing of the build up as you go with this technique you can repeatedly flip the blade refreshing the surface with each flip. The Brick and Obsidian wont do anything to sharpen the blade.
Archangel 4 Truth.... I think reversing/flipping the blade sounds like a good idea to try. The buildup of metal in front of the diamonds( very tiny amounts, of course ), and then reversing the direction of cut seems like instead of forcing metal against the diamonds is now being forced away; is knocked off the diamonds.
I think this method is worth doing the microscope test.
Thank you, generally those people don't stick around very long.
I will 100% be testing out the flipping of the blade.
Oh I will be testing this out for sure.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding for sure i would in your test trying cutting a rock one way then with the identical rock cut it after flipping it their should be an easier cut on the flipped side but it may take a few cuts to remove all the build up on the other side.
It is also helpful to add mineral oil to the water instead of water by it self.
I look forward to seeing what resalts you get...
My favorite kind of job. Testing, r&d, scientific method, etc.
good on you.
I love this kind of thing.
Testing don't lie.
Good call! I'm going to stop the brick nonsense and get to upsetting my metal! Thanks man!
I think you will be happy with it.
I have never seen any information you have given that could be called “complete idiot” I watch your videos because of the common sense you give. Keep it up.
I like to chime in on this sharpening video if I may, I have been a lapidary for 40 years ,recently my saw quit cutting and my mentors who were in their 70's always went with the red brick then so did I, well it was still not cutting and my blade was stopping , I then cut a grinding wheel and the blade started cutting a whole agate without stopping so that was a great start!Then I tried the peaning method and I noticed a big difference in the posative , the thing is I had surgery and loaned the saw out for 3 years and it was never dressed , so my theory is if you dress the blade regulary a brick is fine but when its not been dressed for years it gets glazed and thats when the drastic measures are needed and the grinding wheel helped 75% and the peaning got it up to 100% ! thanks so much ,Im down here by Issaquah so I have Hanson Creek and Greenwater and places in between, love the videos!
I agree with you here. I plan on trying the grinding wheel method in the future as well.
I love you to the moon and back. Love that you say it like it is and remain kind, not like some others. Love the learning and now going to your site. Keep them coming.
Nicely done video. Sticking it to the haters!! Love it.
I love the logical way you broke it down!
Thank you.
I'm glad I turned my brick into a home defense device instead of using it for sharpening blades. the brick seems softer them most the rocks I wind up cutting anyway.
Exactly!
Excellent video Jarad. If you think about it, using the brick/obsidian theory, a blade would never get dull if you only cut bricks or obsidian.
Ha ha ha!
Hahaha 100% accurate!
Guess I'll not bother with the brick I just found lol. Good to be put right thank you for this vid
Very informative, great video ! Thanks for sharing
Amazing video!!
Thanks for doing the testing for us. Great info.
Another GREAT video. I'm learning something all the time. THANK YOU
Thank you for coming by to watching!
Once again, you are right on point. What else can I say, your correct. Keep the goodness coming. Be happy, safe and stay healthy 😷⚒👍
Thank you.
Awesome informational video like always, I love the analytical approach you took!
Thank you, I think that's really the only approach for something like this. I mean the photos don't lie.
Hey Jared, I bought a good used Star Diamond 10" from a rockhounding friend and it had the same type of narrow splash guard in front that yours does. I have glasses too and when cutting taller pieces of rock, which I do a lot, I would get a face full of spray. That wasn't much fun to be cleaning my glasses all the time and getting the front of my shirt soaked. So...I took off that little front splash guard and mounted a piece of 10" x 10" square Plexiglass onto the lip of the tray. I can still easily reach around the Plexiglass and guide the rock...no problem at all...and my glasses and I stay dry. I used wing nuts so I can quickly take the Plexiglass off whenever I need to and the Plexiglass cleans up easily as well.
I know that I'm probably just "preaching to the choir", but maybe this idea can help others.
That's a great idea, I should make a larger splash guard for this saw.
Would love to see a pic. (:
@@doctorofart I would do it but I do not know how. I tried copy/paste but it didn't work. I know I could e-mail it to you but you may not want to give out your e-mail address. Do you or anyone else here know how to take a picture from a desktop folder and put it here?
Once again you have provided critical information on the topic of blade sharpening. I only wish you had made these 2 videos about 3yrs ago,..I've wasted so much money throwing out perfectly good blades,and wasted countless amounts of time "sawing" a brick for Pete sake. Thanks for taking the time to make this video, I can only hope that a lot of ppl see this, and wake up!..quite wasting money!..good job buddy!
Thanks man.
You know I just want people to have fun, go rockhounding, and when they want to start cutting and doing lapidary that they have accurate and easy to find information.
Our local rock cutter told me to use the grinding wheel off of a bench grinder cut into that which kind of makes sense because that's a hard material that's the only way I ve known of' Id be curious to see you do a test on one of those. I remember him telling me a specific type of grinding wheel but I don't remember what that was zinc oxide or something weird I don't remember, thanks for your time you've been very informative maybe over time the grinding wheel was replaced by a brick through miscommunication
Awesome video i really enjoy the methodical way you do it lots of people are set in their ways you try new stuff and prove if it is bogus keep doin what you do bud!
Thank you! I try to keep everything we do here on the level.
If something works it works!
The brick and obsidian are only for unpacking the material from the blade and not to sharpen. From my knowledge the only way to sharpen a diamond blade is to replace it with new. Lol
The red brick is only ment to help extend the life of the blade by cleaning out packed in material from my understanding.
I cut alot of rocks , I honestly don't know if it actually works but it feels to me as if it helps. Just my opinion
Man, that's awesome! I've never done any of the above, but I know which one I will be doing now!
Thanks man, I'm glad you liked it.
Another Great Video Jared😎 Definitely Nailed the Coffin on me wavering to Purchase a Bastard File.😏 Ordering one like RIGHT NOW. Also, great job conquering bad information with good information. I like how you keep it 💯 real and always humble.👍
It only a matter of time before it comes in handy.
Kiss your brain! You saved my sunday cut day! Waiting for my new blade to come in but your method worked like a dream. Cutting like butter. ✌
Heck yeah!
Keep it up! Good info to know
Thank you.
Thanks as always sir, very much appreciated! 👍 I personally would like to see the follow up by peening the blade, making a cut then showing the image from before the process and after. 🤔🧐 I've got one worn out MK303 i'd like to try this on but have been chicken🐔 to perform the process and try the blade again.🤷♂️ Other than that i've dished a couple that I stopped using but still had good cutting blade thinking that one day I'd use em for thunderegg cuts but...so far that day hasn't come! 😂 As always I appreciate your efforts my friend, hope you'all have a great rest of your week! PS. Gonna be at Hampton Butte this weekend for the cleanup work party on Saturday to help fill in holes if you have any interest would be great to see ya~
I can make that before and after image happen!
I would try the peening prcoess if you a dull blade to try it on, its pretty easy and I think you will be impressed.
I would love to join you on the trip to Hampton but we will have just gotten back from a big trip at that time.
Good video Jared!
Thank you.
I think you.know what your doing and back it up with proof. Clearly your.method with the file works.. but hey what do we know...right... keep up the good work!! Thank you!
Thanks for the experiment I had wandered if the brick method was true I didn't notice any difference cutting agate with it so I bought a blade sharpener stick from Hi Tech and it seems to work so far.
I really want to test some of those sharpening sticks and some of the other ideas people have mentioned in the comments here.
I'm kind of lamenting all the good obsidian I blew through for no purpose lol
So glad for this and the first video, the file works for me.
I'm glad the method with the file is working well for you.
When a blade becomes dull it is more than likely that the metal surrounding the diamonds has been pushed to overlap the diamond bits. The best way to cure a dull blade is to cut into an old silicon carbide grinding wheel. Doesn't take much, just enough to wash the overlapped metal off the diamonds. The now exposed diamonds will make short work of the grinding wheel.
A number of other people here have mentioned those as well. I plan on testing them as well to see how well they work.
This may actually work
Ah crud that was supposed to be on the sil carbide comment
any updates?
Grinding wheel... there are so many types of grinding wheels. Would you attach a link of what you're talking about?
I use the QEP sharpening stones which you can cut into to sharpen diamond blades. I use it for my wet tile saw blades. I also use the sharpening stone for grinding and polishing rocks by hand.
I plan on testing those in the future as well.
Hi Jarad, I also heard about the brick method. Tried it and it did not work. I tried all the methods with little success until I devised a method of KNURLINNG THE BLADE TO BRING MORE DIAMOND UP TO THE RIM OF THE BLADE. I used a Cobalt knurl with a10 pitch and turned the blade by hand with a hand crank, that made it easier to turn. The tool requires two knurl inserts that produce a diamond pattern in order to keep the tool centered on the blade. A single straight knurl will run off center and flex the blade. I think a courser pitch knurl will work better, (6 or 8). Let me know if you try this. I think you will like it.
I just got the HI-Tech 10" saw and was wondering about the sharpening of the blades. Being a wood worker too, I have both a bastard file and wood workers bench, I built that I can clamp the saw blade into for the sharpening process, without fear of distorting the blade during the hammering process to the blades edge. I think clamping the blade, might be better than putting the blade on a 5/8" steel bar for the hammering process. I think it lessens the chance of damaging the blade.....
Great video, I liked the microscopic side by side. I think pinging the blade is the best method. After that, turning the blade. Then cutting a silica carbide wheel or fire brick two or three times after either process to break in the blade.
I will be testing the silica carbide wheel cutting in the future.
My experience is with regular blades like a Dewalt or husky...they can last for a minute but after a couple months they are dulled out..just take care of it the best u can and replace it...saves a ton of headaches and worry about saving money..blades come and go my friend ..good video tho cause rock hounds need to hear this knowledge and explanation🙏
I’ve been using a Harbor Freight brick and tile saw with a DeWalt XP wet diamond saw blade. The kerf is a bit wide but the blades last a long time. After cutting a lot of quartz based rocks the blades slow down but will still cut through a brick just fine. I’ll have to try peening. Longer blade life would be great.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the peening process if you try it.
My Boys and I are going to collect some rhyolite picture stones at the Teanaway Middle Creek quarry Nick Zentner from Central Washington University featured in his recent video czcams.com/video/4XknyFeRmX4/video.html. We will be cutting up a whole lot of stones. I have a used blade I stashed just for brick. I was thinking about trying to peen it and see if it will give it a new life. I’ll let you know.
I appreciate your response to comments by using your microscope to show the physical results
I'd like to see more on this topic
I do plan on testing some more things like this in the future.
It makes perfect scientific sense to me. Thanks for this.
Great and helpful video. I'm just an amateur but in your video it shows metal building up behind the diamonds which prevents the diamond from cutting into the rock. Reversing the blade allows the metal to be worn away exposing the diamond. Trick is don't wait until the blade quits cutting before you reverse blade. It will take a little time to wear down the metal that is now in front of the diamond to wear away.
It would be neat to test this, I tend to think you want to the metal build behind the diamond to support it and prevert it from popping out.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Use a blade to create noticeable wear, then check with microscope.Reverse it and use for a while and check again and compare. The idea is to allow metal both in front and back of diamonds to wear more than the diamond which lets the diamond bite into the rock. Diamonds must be higher than the metal surrounding them.
I AM A BELEIVER!
Dude this was super interesting. I think it’s important to break these theories down. I was told to do the brick trick a while ago and it actually felt like it worked. Given I did full cuts multiple times but it’s hard to say I wasn’t experiencing a placebo. Ps you’re NOT an idiot for doing what you did in the last video. I’m gonna try it because I reckon it’s super useful. The brick really felt like it worked but honestly, after seeing this I could be biased and experiencing like I said, a placebo. I love that you broke this theory down in a close up way. Now, I’m Headin to the dressing rod video because it’s super interesting.
I heard that the agates can leave a residue on the blade and that’s what the soft brick wears off but I’ve never gone into this much depth to figure it out, so this is super helpful. Also embarrassing haha! I’ve been swearing by it now for 3 years on the same blade 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Thanks for the learning man. 🤘
I'm glad you liked it. I really enjoy lapidary but what I don't enjoy is all the opinions people have on how to do it with no real evidence of what they say so I'm doing what I can now to test these things and its really enjoyable to put the theory’s to the test.
Interesting about the agates leaving a residue, that should be really easy for me to test out and look at under the microscope.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding ah yeah dude if they did you’d totally be able to see it I reckon. And dude, let me know when youve played around with the Thunderegg thing kyle started with trying to help bring about a Thunderegg core.
@@Rookie_Rockounding I know have a play list on the channel of just the blade videos just so you know.
I've been trying different things with the thundereggs and I'm not really getting the results I want.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding oh man I’m sure one of us will come up with something one day if we keep tryin.
I now use the file method to sharpen my tile saw blades. Yes it works! I have a brick. I have a red sharpening block. I have a white sharpening block. NONE of them do a thing for me. There is no method that has made a difference and helped me to prolong the effectiveness of my blades except for tapping a file against the edge of the blade..
Since uploading both of the videos about blades I have heard pretty much the exact same thing from many people.
I do really want to try the dressing blocks next.
I'm not surprised by your results. Appreciate the effort though👍👍
In case you want to try something else...MK diamond sells dressing stones for saw blades. My very knowledgeable, level headed boss swore by it. I have no idea what it wade from other than it was a dense white material. I never had the opportunity to test cut anything after it was used.
Thank you! I plan on testing the dressing stones and grinding wheels in the future as well.
I don’t use a brick but a hard cinder block. Just good to use on a blade you cut soft wall tile with. Tile is too soft to wear away the metal. If you don’t have a dressing stone it kind of works, not the greatest. Better than nothing. It works to remove aluminum stuck to the blade…if you do cut aluminum.
Don’t listen to those people everyone has an opinion as everyone has an asshole sorry for the harsh words but your not an idiot it’s sad so many have to be disrespectful like that , I love the information you share with us all always learning 😊💙, thank you 😊
Oh it really doesn't effect me at all and we all say and do stupid things from time to time, after all no ones perfect but I think theres a nice and mean way to disagree with someone.
I thought for sure though you would do the next indicated step and ping it and show results, on the same blade the other methods didn’t work. Just the pics would of been enough. I realize you already did the work in your other excellent video.
I thought about that but I really wanted to keep this video focused on the whole brick cutting thing.
lol Thank you, answered that one for me...
This makes perfect sense! I wonder though if you could just lightly touch the saw blade while it was running to an old bastard file for a couple of seconds. What would that do?
I'm not sure what it would do but I think it might just damage the blade.
I was lucky enough to get my hands on some older cinder block that had coarse sand in it. The newer block does not seem to work so well.
I will test that but I have a feeling it will be the exact same results.
Have heard the one about cutting a carbide grinding blade to remover some of the glazed metal? Like the wheels from a side grinder.
I will be testing that as well.
Another great, informative video! I personally tried the brick method, and it seemed to work for one cut, I know your theory is correct.
Have you tried peening and the cutting into a brick? Maybe that will make it 100% definitive. Thanks
I found this very interesting. I have a 24 inch saw which would require a lot of peening.
I had a rock work loose in the vise as its a feed saw, and warped the blade. Now it has a slight wobble. Still cuts, but I can't get thin cuts now. Have you got a way to straighten a bent blade?
It's worth to just take the time to do it or have two blades.
It depends on the type of blade and how bad it is.
The name callers must be experts. RPM's considered here? Seems higher RPM loads up and dulls blades / cutting tools. Great video Dood.
Ohhhhhh that is a very good question and something that I would love to test out.
In Poland we cut sandstone for sharpening diamond blades and it working.
I'm highly skeptical of this. What is in the sandstone that is capable of doing that?
I guess becouse its grainy. Everyone who cut agates in my country for seversl decades doing this as the only method( we use sintered blades). You can try :cut whole medium sandstone or even two or three times, its not enough to cut 1 or 2cm.
When I started cutting, my boss had my use a brick to clean up the blade. He swore by it. But I never noticed a difference.
I can't see any difference in your microscope pics & it would be a stretch to say it did anything.
I wonder if there is a big difference in what is used as coolant/lubricant on blades, like using oil instead of water with additive?
Its pretty curious though how this theory persists with the old cutters.
@@mrimc On my saw I bought a finer threaded drive rod so it would move slower through the rock. I filtered the oil on a regular basis so the blade could stay cooler. I used a 5 gal. bucket I drilled half inch holes in the bottom to sit in another bucket without holes & rods at the inside rim to support the first bucket. I would place 2 large paper bags in the top bucket & pour the oil into & drain through the bags. The next day the oil was clean & ready to use again.
It usually makes my blade last twice as long.
I agree. I think the fastest way to dull a blade is pushing too hard.
Sounds like an old wives tale, that people just believed.
I tend to agree with you on that.
Another good vid, I still like your peening method. Haven't tried yet but I do lay a lot of tile but I don't use cheep crap most of the time. Ceramic isn't a floor tile cus it's weak and will crack. Not sure how much harder porcelain is but have put in some crazy stuff. I have a small piece of one inch thick petrified wood tile I put in once. That was so hard on blades for our saw. These are tile saw blades so a bit thicker and might be different in other ways also. I usually cut a bunch on the saw when we do tile jobs. Maybe I can send you an old crappy blade of ours to look at. Just saying there are harder tiles that will mess with the blade, a diy shower conversation your gonna have no problem with an ok blade.
Highland Park Lapidary has a vid dated May 30 2018 on the way they sharpen their blades Highland Park Lapidary makes machines so the info can't be all bad ................be well and be safe....Bill
I watched that video, and its very similar to the video I put up on the peening method but I would suggest taking the blade off the saw to do it.
Wondering how long it'll take for someone to accuse you of "using the wrong brick" or something...
I give it a day or two....
It's already happened. I guess I didn't cut long enough.....
@@CurrentlyRockhounding 🤣...love the nay sayers....
I absolutely love the microscope of science to expose the truth!!!
Without the microscope it would pretty much be guessing.
Would have loved to seen you sharpen the blade with the rasp and then look at it under the microscope to show the difference😁
I felt like that would of been a little redundant since I have a video up about it already.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding ohh I had no idea I'll look it up 🥰
Try dressing it with a piece if grinding wheel.
I plan on testing those as well.
Are these principles applicable to core bits? I've used bits that cut very well until I tried to cut a hard rock like jasper then they won't cut anything. I have peened them and got them to work better but what's really going on with these hard rocks dulling the bit?
That's a good question and not one I can really answer but I will look into it.
I think if you used a concrete bri- oh nevermind. What about this fairly softer roc- oh forget it. I hate it when people are just trying to help you by calling you an idiot and then you go and prove them wrong. I mean geeze.
I actually love it very much so. They can just keep kicking cans so to speak
Now an Honest question. I've seen people use the looks of a grinding wheel to " sharpen the blade" now a grinding wheel or sharpening stone or is it a whet stone? The above mentioned does have the ability to take steel that's fairly hardened and reduce it in size when pushed against a spinning wheel or even a whet stone that is used for resurfacing an edge on a knife or any other tool that needs resharpening.
So thoughts on if that would work.ive seen people say nothing really works for them except those. And I do know they are only cutting lapidary stuff.
When you say a grinding stone do you mean like the wheels that would go on a bench grinder?
If so I think there might be some merit to that I would love to test that out along with the wet stone people use to sharpen kitchen knives.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Yes sir, I've seen multiple yt vids where they are using old grinding wheels, same idea with the cutting into it a few times. Additionally they will go deep enough that the sides of the saw blade that contain the diamonds are exposed to the grinding wheel/stone then they put a bit of side pressure on the blade with the wheel/stone on each side. Being careful not to put enough pressure when doing the sides to bend it. So initial cut into wheel/stone is for the front edge of the blade then you take the blade into the cutting wheel far enough to cover the diamonds on the side and put pressure one way and then the other. Theory is, now you've cleaned up the leading edge of the saw blade as well as the grinding edges of both sides. If it works you've now exsposed all new diamonds on all of the saws cutting surfaces. I believe the blade dressing stones that are sold by the lapidary company's are of a very similar material.
You need to cut longer - I by chance was cutting some jasper and then went on to cutting some basalt and then went back to jasper and it made a huge difference (after the basalt) in cutting speed. Three little cuts on the brick don't amount to much wear. The "right" softer material will contact the blade metal more than a hard material and wear the metal behind the diamonds. A hard material cuts less and thus rides Higher on the diamonds causing the blade to become "dull" Note: different blades will have different hardness in the metal binder (for sintered blades) and so it becomes more of what the blade was designed to cut.
I disagree, doing the cuts I made should show a difference which there was none.
What about a hard firebrick? Those tend to be high in alumina which is a moh's 9 (same stuff thats in sapphire)
I have not cut a firebrick.
There is no way that a fire bricks has a mods hardness of 9.
Once again the axiom has been proven true, "The truth is that which conforms with reality." #ScientificMethod
Well said.
Awesome EDU Bro! Yeah I can't imagine how many blades were tossed, that were still good! Money & time down the drain. {}
I feel your pain bro,did it too..until I watched his first video on blade sharpening...I now realize how much life is really in my blades...man,all those blades I tossed..just kills me.
So many tossed blades.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding as in 😔
Would wet sandpaper work?
How are you thinking it would be used?
@@CurrentlyRockhounding IDK. Probably during work, on a piece of flat wood. Maybe disc in reverse...
A microscope image of before/after your peening would be very informative.
I have a video showing that.
🍺🍺 ….😮…🍺🍺…👍
Im a stone mason by trade and red brick destroys my diamond blades it does not sharpen them
Good comparison… though it would have been more effective if you had also done a bit of the peening and microscope images of the result… that way all the ‘proof’ is in one place.
I guess I just thought it be a little too much for this video and I really wanted to focus on testing these two things out.
Feeding the stone too fast with too little or the wrong fluid has trashed many blades. Try a microscopic comparison with a new blade.
I agree, slow is the way to go.
You have to use *Fire* Bricks to sharpen your blades not Red Clay Brick. Fire Bricks are made of Silicon Carbide
I've tested that as well and it does nothing.
Common sense really. Sad that a rumor has more merit in society than a scientific fact.
Ah yes, sharpen a blade by cutting more rocks, because that makes any sense. If that was gonna work, then cutting any old agate or whatever material you work with anyway would sharpen it too...in reality, cutting a brick is just adding extra needless wear to the blade.
Agreed.
Thanks for abusing a perfectly good piece of obsidian for the greater good.
Hahaha, it took one for the team.