Diamond Blades for Silicate (Silka)

Sand-lime blocks call for a hard bond and an open rim — segmented or turbo, with slots that evacuate dust. Quartz at 7 on the Mohs scale abrades the matrix faster than concrete, although the units reach only 15–25 MPa in compression. A hard bond releases the diamond more slowly, so a 10–12 mm segment survives many times more cuts. In practice, 115–125 mm blades serve angle grinders and 300–500 mm blades serve table and block saws.

Cutting silicate with a concrete blade works mechanically but rarely pays off. Its soft bond suits a material that blunts diamond, while in silicate the matrix wears away by itself and grit falls out unused — a 10 mm segment may be gone after a few dozen cuts through a 24 cm block instead of several hundred. The reverse fails too: a hard blade glazes over in reinforced concrete. On sites with both materials it pays to keep two dedicated blades, or one universal blade rated for silicate.

Dust control rests on two methods: wet cutting, or dry cutting with extraction at the blade. The block is mostly quartz, so each cut releases respirable crystalline silica, whose occupational exposure limit in Poland is 0.1 mg/m³ averaged over an 8-hour shift. A table saw with a water tray and pump kills dust at source and flushes slurry from the segments, extending blade life. Dry work needs a guard on a class H extractor and a half mask of at least FFP3.

Severing a 24 cm block in one pass takes a blade of around 500 mm, because usable depth runs to about 30–40 % of the diameter. A 350 mm blade delivers roughly 110–130 mm, so a 24 cm unit is turned over and finished with a second pass. A 400 mm blade cuts through elements up to some 15 cm. Check the largest diameter your guard accepts.