Needed: draw saw
Just acquired a 600 pound jade boulder, from wyoming, found about
1958, uncut. Took one year to negotiate the price and other factors
It is too large for my 24" saw, so I want to acquire a drag saw, a
homebuilt one is ok. I can build my own, but if you know of one in
the corner of someone’s barn or garage, that would save some time.
Honestly, I should have taken up stamp collecting, but uintil then,
a drag saw, western US, would be great. I will need to get 3 to 5
cuts out of the machine.
regards
Mark Zirinsky, Denver CO USA
Make a cable saw if the cuts don’t have to be perfect and the idea
is to downsize it into 24’’ saw pieces. Working outside, a couple of
pulleys, some grit, a small motor, and an improvised grit feeder
(pail with a hole punched in the bottom will do) and patience and you
can do it.
Kay
Kay,
Make a cable saw if the cuts don't have to be perfect and the idea
is to downsize it into 24'' saw pieces. Working outside, a couple
of pulleys, some grit, a small motor, and an improvised grit feeder
(pail with a hole punched in the bottom will do) and patience and
you can do it.
you are right, I am trying to get this down to maybe 3 or 4 pieces
in the 150 or so pound range.
Do you know of some photos of this type of saw? I can rig up some
pulleys, a motor, and some spring tensioners, but it would help if I
had an idea of approximate sizes of, for example, the cable and so
forth.
Have you used these yourself?
regards
Mark,
I have never set one up myself but have seen them in use in Granite
quarries just south of here in Vermont. to cut the blocks into
slabs. Basically the setups I have seen use 1/2 inch diameter cable
and ordinary pulleys etc with silicon carbide grit.
Firing up Google I found that the market these days seems to be
diamond cable cutters. Try searches using: slurry saw stone cutting
or wire stone cutting carbide or wire stone cutting diamond And you
will find many possibilities.
A brief description from one site
(www.diamondwiretech.com/diamond_wire/cut_dia_wire.html -) to give
the general idea: The original principle of diamond wire saws
originally came from slurry wire saws, Slurry saws were used to cut
the stone for the pyramids of Egypt,.
Good luck and please let us know what you finally do go with.
Kay
I ran into this link the day before I saw your post.
http://www.cyberrockhound.com/used_equipment.htm
Bruce D. Holmgrain
JA Certified Master Benchjeweler
Goldwerx
http://www.goldwerx.com
I ran into this link the day before I saw your post.
http://www.cyberrockhound.com/used_equipment.htm
thank you, that is the modern drag saw, I will contact him directly.
Also, I am considering building my own drag saw, I already have a
motor and a gear reducer, liberated from an X-ray fluoroscopy table,
all I need to do is make a crank and a flat piece of steel for the
blade. After several suggestions (thank you Jesse) I pulled a title
of the shelf “Gem cutting shop helps - best of 17 years of lapidary
journal” - has photos and descriptions of 4 large saws, some of
these sawing 3,000 pound jade pieces. Makes my 600 pounder look like
tumbling rough.
So, now that I have the rough, time for a carving project.
I think, before I attempt a violin, perhaps I should do a flute or
“pan” pipes first, just to play with tuning an instrument made out
of jade. It would seem that a wind instrument would be simpler than a
stringed one.
Has anyone in the group made an instrument out of metal or
all pointers on the basics of instrument construction are
appreciated.
regards
Mark, it would be fun to make a xylophone from jade. For books, I
like “Sound Designs” by Reinhold Banek & Jon Scoville, and “Musical
Instrument Design” by Bart Hopkin, both purchased from Powell’s
Books http://www.powells.com in Portland OR How about a giant goblet?
With a sphere inside?
Rex