"Harold & Susan Vordos" wrote in message
...

"ATP" wrote in message
...

snip---
You might have work hardened the material, or loaded up the abrasive
wheel.
Everett suggests using a piece of an old abrasive blade, firmly clamped,
to
dress the wheel. I prefer a band saw, of course, but have cut solid
stock
with abrasive saws without a problem (unless you count the noise, smell,
sparks, etc.!). There is also the fact that some materials are too hard
to
be cut on a band saw.

Nah! My money says he was using a silicon carbide blade when he should
have
been using an aluminum oxide one. The reactions he described fit
perfectly.
Grinding wheels have no respect for work hardening--it just doesn't
happen,
not as the wheel sees it, anyway.

Wheels intended for masonry are silicon carbide. They should *never* be
used on ferrous material aside from cast iron. It does no harm, they just
don't cut very long. You can't dress them often enough to make the
difference, either. In spite of the fact that silicon carbide is much
harder than aluminum oxide, it is easily outperformed by aluminum oxide in
ferrous materials because it isn't soluble in steel, very unlike silicon
carbide.

Harold

I've always used ferrous metal cutoff wheels but it seems as though a lack
of pressure or power leads to a very hard area to cut through. Could be just
from the wheel loading up, though. The cheap 110 volt Ryobi type cutoff saws
don't have nearly as much power as the more professional abrasive cutoff
saws. I think that contributes to the wheel just spinning in the cut, if you
try to keep the saw moving through a solid section, it just bogs down.