Cutting stone with bandsaw ?

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

I am building a retaining wall for which I need to build 2 right-angle corners I would like to cut the stones very precisely, so that I could fit and glue the corner stones together Were I doing this with wood, a band saw would be the ideal tool to make such cuts

So, is there a bandsaw that can be used to cut stone ? It obviously needs to be waterproof to allow for water flow to lubricated and cool the blade band It also needs a floating deck to allow movement of the stone toward the cutting blade.

[RayV]

Why not one of these:

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

I saw one of these at the tool rental shop

The problem is that to do the cuts I need, I would have to build 2 different jigs to hold the stones to cut it with this tool The stones have a flat base, and I need to need to make cuts on the vertical axis. The front of the stone is neither smooth nor consistently aligned with the other surfaces, and therefore would require shimming to make the cut To make the side cuts, I would need to shim up the side of the stones

So this is the second fall-back choice. A bandsaw would allow me to make simple cuts by pusshing the stone into the blade used the saw platform without any alignement or jigs. A far better choice

I also need a 7" cuttting face, or in the case of the above tool cutting depth. It&#39;s borderline that the blade would reach the other cuts. Whereas the bandsaw would garantee it.

[dadiOH]

1. It is normal for quarriers to use bandsaws. I&#39;ve seen rows of *huge* bandsaws cutting away at recently quarried limestone slabs weighing many tons. Lots of noise :)
2. I&#39;ve use plain steel blades uncooled to cut soft stone. The blades don&#39;t last long but should for your purpose depending on the type of stone.
3. You can get diamond blades for bandsaws.

dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH&#39;s dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[Frank Warner]

Or, find somebody who makes headstones or granite countertops. They might could maybe be talked into cutting your stones for a six-pack.

-Frank

[newsreader]

A diamond wire saw would be more appropriate for this. I have a diamond band saw in one of my shops. It is fine for cutting stone up to 2" thick, but not much good on thicker stone unless the stone is extremely soft. I bought this machine from Vic International probably 15 years ago. Made by a German company call Goldschmidt. It was the "3000 series, IIRC.

A diamond wire saw is a much beefier machine, uses a steel cable with diamond "pellets" or beads in either an 8 mm or 11 mm diameter, so they cut a pretty wide kerf compared to a band, which only cuts about a 1/16" kerf. I also happen to have one of these, called a "Lady W", made by Candiani Mechanica of Italy. This machine would make short work of your project, but unfortunately it is currently out of service due to an electrical gremlin in the DC Motor control, which I have been unsuccessfull at getting repaired. (Reminder to self, don&#39;t buy anymore non-USA built machinery)

[Richard J Kinch]

Suggest you temporarily cement (bed) the rough side to a sacrificial flat scrap of MDF or something to give you an even bearing surface. Like resawing rough logs on a bandsaw.

[Goedjn]

You are far better off doing short-radius curves than right angles. And even if you are doing right angles, there&#39;s no reason for that sort of precision. Unless you do the whole wall, it will just look out of place. What do you mean "glue", anyway? If you&#39;re using mortar, a fairly standard tolerance is around 1/2".

[Danimal]

[ameijers]

If this is a one-time job, mark your stones and take them to the local tombstone company, and they can probably fix you right up for a few bucks.

aem sends...

[Noozer]

What kind of floor needs tiles that are two feet thick??? How wide are they?!?!

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

Can&#39;t do that The rough surface is the "face" of the stone.. The angled surface is the side. In both cases, I would need to build a cradle to do the cuts and they might end up too talll to work

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

There is actually a non-mortar glue, comes in a tube like caulking, that is use to glue the top "cap" layer of stone to the blocks used to build the wall.

As to the "right angle cuts They are really straight cuts that come in from either the rear or side faces of the stones.

The stone is shaped like this --------------------------- / \\ \\ / \\ / \\---------------------/ I would like to cut one stone like this (not to scale) --------------------------- / -------- \\ | / | / |----------------/ And the other stone like this --------------------------| / | \\ |------------| \\ | \\-----------| And then the next layer would be reversed The glue would e applied to the surfaces exposed by the cuts

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

I believe your suggestion is the best yet.

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

Shouldn&#39;t you be screwing right through the siding into the frame of the house? I should think that otherwise, the plywood would go for a jaunt, taking the siding with it.

[Goedjn]

Are you building an ashlar retaining wall, or gluing polished stone tiles to an existing facade? If you&#39;re trying to simulate ashlar, what you&#39;re planning is going to make the corners look wrong, and invite cracking and the base of those prongs.

Why aren&#39;t you just stacking the corner with the corner blocks going in alternate directions, like normal walls?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Water jet. A tenant in our warehouse building does custom stonework using a water jet for cutting. Amazing tolerances and any shape can be done; straight, curved, through holes, etc.

[wayne]

[Wayne]

You can get a carbide grit bandsaw blade. At work we cut computer floor tiles that are steel and have a cement like core for strength. We spoke with the folks at starett and actually sent them samples and they came back with recommendations for blades. we do not use any lubricant. yes it cuts down on blade life but it is not as messy and is not that much more we don&#39;t have the blade moving too fast.

this is what we use

our tiles are only about 2&#39; thick but there is also a bit of steel to be cut too!

Wayne

[<ThrowAwayAddress]

1) What&#39;s an "ashlar retaining wall" ? 2) There are no "corner blocks"