Diamond cutting blades have become common place in the construction world for cutting/drilling into stone, concrete and asphalt. The technology which makes this all possible mixes diamond with various bonds of metal that slowly rub away and expose more diamonds throughout the segment like chocolate chips in a cookie. The reason this technique does not work on metal is because then you end up with metal on metal which will not wear away but instead creates friction and a lot of heat. The diamonds however are more than capable of cutting almost anything.
The relatively new technique (at least for construction blades) of vacuum bonding the diamonds to the blade means all the diamonds are on the outside of the blade and there is only a single layer. In the case of the Diamond Products Cut Core A2Z blades the diamonds are of a higher quality and held in place much longer meaning it can cut metal, rock, concrete, asphalt and just about anything pretty equally. The cuts should be much faster however because it is a single layer the life of the blade is going to be much less in concrete. In this case the chocolate chips are all on top of the cookie not baked into it. For fire and rescue this is an idea blade because it will go through all the materials you might face very quickly while creating relatively fewer sparks and debris.
The A2Z blade while it can replace tradition concrete cutting blades it is far more advantageous for cutting rebar, mesh and other metal products where you might use traditional abrasives. The A2Z blade is available in 4.5” ($58, Ohio Power Tool) & 7” ($92, Ohio Power Tool) sizes for use on grinders which are about equal to a 50 pack of traditional abrasive in terms of price and life. The difference is with the A2Z blade there is a significant time savings in both cutting speed and however long it takes to make 50 blade changes. The blades are also available in 12” to 16” sizes for gas high speed cut-off saws.
Our though is it would definitely be worth taking a look at and testing out on most jobsites. There are many applications this type of blade is really well suited but it may take some trial and error to figure out what those are for your crew. If you have any questions about the A2Z blades or any other Diamond Products concrete cutting or core drilling applications talk to the pros at Ohio Power Tool 800-242-4424 they really know their stuff here.
