Completely serious angle grinder question

[Bert Coules]

In some circumstances, wouldn't it be a little late by then?

[Bert Coules]

If that is the case, I was misled by all those YouTube videos which show them in use with no guard at all, when more precision is achievable.

I suspect that it depends on the exact type, age, thickness and age of the slate. In my case, yes, very small shards.

Fortunately I was aware of that and made sure I had something suitable.

[Simon Brown]

Yes, it can be if you are using it to cut. I personally don?t use an angle grinder to cut when cutting is critical, I use a metal cutting disc in a circular saw in my own arrangement that turns a normal portable circular saw into a cutoff saw or use a cutoff saw. I normally use an angle grinder to grind welds back flush where that needs to be done or with a wire brush to get rust off and doing it that way by seeing what it does to the work works fine.

[Bert Coules]

Yes, even in my severely limited experience it's become clear that the tool is better suited for grinding (hence the name) than cutting. It just happened that the particular job I needed it for couldn't easily have been tackled with anything else.

[Simon Brown]

Why aren't you cutting the slate before its part of the roof ?

If you did it that way, you could use something much better than an angle grinder.

[stuart noble]

When you watch paving guys cutting kerbstones etc, it's clear that a high level of accuracy is possible

[Huge]

Although IME the sum total of safety equipment they use is a roll-up. No goggles, helmet or ear protection.

[Bert Coules]

I did, but I did it wrong. And it's not on a roof.

I did. I used an excellent slate guillotine. But once the slates were in their final places that wasn't practical.

[Bert Coules]

Yes, that's very true. I can't recall if the ones I've seen used the tool with a guard in place or not.

[stuart noble]

TBH I don't think the risks are that high compared, say, to a circular saw.

[Kipper at sea]

What type of slate, floor or roof ?.

[Bert Coules]

Natural Welsh roofing slates, elderly and well-used.

[Simon Brown]

The difference is that you don?t have to take the guard off to see what you are doing with a circular saw and can in fact have decent laser indication of where you will be cutting if you want with the saw.

[stuart noble]

I've never had a grinder kick back, even when making less than precise cuts in 50mm slabs. That's the advantage of a disc over a toothed blade I guess.

[Andy Burns]

He's a cocky sod, when someone criticised his lack of safety his reply was "The blade that I'm using can hurt you but you would not cut off your fingers. Diamond blades are pretty safe. You still want to protect your fingers but you would have to hold the blade on your skin for several seconds to even break the skin"

[Adrian]

I hope he went on to demonstrate...