TC, there is some rationale to what you are saying, but I do think that diamond, which is considerably harder than the target rock, is actually cutting the rock on a very minute scale. That is why when you are polishing with diamond, you need to go to very fine diamond sizes to get a good polish.

At my club's shop they use water with inhibitor in their trim saws. At the senior center, I also go to, we use oil in trim saws so that the oil in the pan just touches the blade so actually little oil is splashed on the slab or rock and onto our hands. This means oil has to be added to the saw often to keep the blade oiled. It has been my observation that the it is much easier to cut using the trim saws with oil and the blades do last a lot longer. I personally prefer the trim saws using oil and would never use water with inhibitor in a slab saw. For grinding wheels, which need quite a stream of coolant, water, with inhibitor for diamond wheels, is the only way to go. Grinding units are specifically designed to be used with water and do not have the moving mechanical parts of a slab saw that need to be lubricated.

From jay bates - November 17, 2009 at 12:21:40

Message: 68546