I'm laying a walk using concrete stepping stones. The walk connects to the beginning and ending surfaces at an angle. The stones are 16" wide and 2" thick with no steel in them. I need to cut four stones on an angle. What is the best way for a novice to do it? Do I need to rent at concrete saw or will one of the diamond edge blades do it in a circular saw? Is there a better way? Advice is appreciated.
cutting concrete stepping stones
- Thread starter 40cpe
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ratdoggy
Well-known member
Cheap angle grinder and masonry blade. Gonna be dusty.
OccupantRJ
Well-known member
Since they are portable, mark them and see if you can get a local masonry contractor to cut them with his wet saw, a sixpack type of job if he is set up on a jobsite already. Use a cutoff piece to "sand" the cut edge to deburr. Some of the Lowes will do this in the tile section, if I am not mistaken.
I'm leaning toward the diamond blade in a circular saw. What quality blade do I need? I want to buy one that will make the four cuts, but I don't need to buy one that will make tens of cuts because I'll probably not use it again. I see the home stores have them from about $15 to $45.
How about a water hose running on the cut area to reduce heat and dust?
How about a water hose running on the cut area to reduce heat and dust?
Yeah, didn't think of that. Thanks.
rburke65
Well-known member
How about an inexpensive HF 4 1/2" angle grinder and a 10 pack of masonry blades. Probably your least costly way to go. And, as always......just my opinion.
Circular saw will work. If the surface of the stepping stones is rough, you may want to put duct tape on the bottom of the saw plate to keep it from getting scratched/chewed up. I scratched mine up and the next time I used it on wood, it left groove marks on the wood from a burr on the saw plate. Maybe only cutting 4 stones won't do much damage. Just something to be aware of.
Thanks for the replies. I bought a Rigid diamond blade at Home Depot and got it done. I cut each one in three stages with each cut progressively deeper. It did a good job and it seemed to cut as well at the end as it did at the start.
JakeKohl
Well-known member
You will be amazed at how long that blade will last even without lubrication. I built a 30' landscaping block wall with a tight turn, cut two door openings through a brick and cinder-block, some terracotta pipe a couple of times...I did it all with a 4.5" blade in an angle grinder - that blade is still like new.
Ask This Old House showed splitting rocks for projects on an episode recently, and one of the tools they showed was an angle grinder with a diamond blade in it...
Glad to hear it works well.I've used cheap B&D masonary blades in a circular saw. I'd also blow out the motor with some compressed air when you're done. When I started my garage floor part of the refurb, I bought a SKIL saw just for the sake of not screwing up my DeWalt circular saw.
Always_Thinkin
Well-known member
X2. I used this setup to cut through 6" diameter concrete cylinders for testing I did in a concrete lab.
Milton Shaw
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I bought a cheep throwaway circular saw just for block/brick cutting. Don't worry about scratching base plate etc. Just a cheep HF saw and a good diamond blade. That way I don't worry about burning it up and don't run a good PorterCable saw etc.
JimVonBaden
Well-known member
I've always used water when cutting concrete or granite. There is very little dust this way, and if you don't go crazy with the amount of water, ( the saw will start to cut like a hot knife through butter in concrete) and use a gfci recepticle, you should be fine.