Cutting live rock

[Badlands25]

What type of band saw would you recommend for cutting live/base rock? I want to silicone flat and small rounded pieces to my back wall. Will a regular band saw work with a specific blade? Thanks

 

[davocean]

You could rent a a tile wet saw that should do the trick for you, and keeping wet would avoid possible fumes from heat like a band saw may do.
If it is live, be careful of breathing any fumes caused by friction/heat.

 

[Reefer54]

a diamond blade is going to go the furthest, BY FAR. If your rock is real porous like Marco Rocks, you can cut it with a grinder or even tile saw no problem at all and it will hold silicone real easy.

I used a sharp hand saw on some small pieces and that worked but it is cumbersome and easy to slip and crack the stone or cut yourself.

Show pics as you go. people love this stuff and always have questions.

 

[clay12340]

In my experience it depends a lot on which rock you're trying to cut. Some types of dry rock are pretty easy to cut with just a hand saw, so I think you could probably get away with a lot of different blades. I bought some of the quarried rock and I could barely put a dent in it with my hand saw. That stuff is basically just limestone, so you'd probably need a specialized diamond coated blade. Might even require some kind of cooling system. I asked the company I bought it from how they do it and they said that they use a concrete saw to do their cutting.

If you don't already have the rocks you can request cut pieces from at least some of the dry rock companies. Marcos sells them as prime cuts, and I was able to get some cut from reef rocks.

 

[Rognin]

This is good to know.

Here's a question on the same train of thought. What kind of drill bit is used to drill live rock? Concrete?

 

[Electrobes]

Masonry Bit, but cutting wet rock is much harder the. Dry.

 

[MSUschmidt]

The quickest and fastest way to do this, is to get an Electric Chop Saw and put a Diamond Blade on them. Harbor Freight has cheap diamond blades if you don't know a Mason / Contractor.

Take it out of the water, toss it on the saw, BAM, cut it, put it back in the water.

Here's a link to the first one I saw on Google. http://www.rakuten.com/prod/new-dew...t&adid=18172&gclid=CIr05Jylrr0CFewRMwodXEIAFg

Any Saw like this will work. Depending on the size, you will need to cut it possibly from both sides.

If you have questions, PM me. I own an Limestone Fabrication Business. Cutting Stone is all I do LOL.

 

[MSUschmidt]

You can use a Gas Saw like this http://www.rakuten.com/prod/k760-5-...r&adid=18172&gclid=COKar_mmrr0CFewRMwodXEIAFg Just not as easy if your not experienced.

You can use a Tile Saw, aka wet saw like Mentioned, but the problem is it Typically won't cut high enough for you depeneing on what size rock you want to cut

The nice thing about these little cheap Electric Chop Saws for bench top use is it really locks the rock in places when cutting.

Will get a smoother cut than using a free hand saw, but can be done too

 

[davocean]

If you do use a chop saw, make darn sure it is tight to the fence to avoid it sucking in at a significant speed that is sure to wake you up, and be careful once it is in half as well, it can launch pretty well if you are not careful.
And can't say enough, don't breath vapor/fumes from friction heat if you do dry cuts on living rock.
As for bits, yes, masonry bits, they are cheap, and oversize slightly, 3/4 bit for 1/2 rods if that is what you are using.

 

[brad]

I've tried to work with live rock. I haven't tried it on my wet saw, but I do have one. IMO most rock will not hold up to the saw and fall apart. The saw's blade might be too small, you probably want to split rock along the hardest dimension to split it (cutting it in half the short way probably won't work so well in the tank).