YouTube - cutting a stone
done at Imanishi Shop in Kyoto, note no water used for the saw.
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YouTube - cutting a stone
done at Imanishi Shop in Kyoto, note no water used for the saw.
What kind of stone? What kind of blade? What surface speed? Why dry?
Those are all very valid questions, but the vid is not mine and I can't answer them.
I thought that the dry cutting of the stone would be interesting for people to see. I somehow imagined this would be done with water for lubrication.
I'll see if I can get more info.
I used to work at a quarry and we used water to cut everything. My cutting blade was approx 8ft across, we ran 2 in parallel, and it wasnt the largest we had. A friend of mine still working there says in years gone by they used to makes hones there but its all building stone now with the occasional piece used for sculptures. It was, without a doubt, the loudest place i've ever worked :)
ian
Great vid!
Even more interesting is where the off switch is located. I certainly hope there is no emergency.
I been there! He was out of town on business though, so all i could do was look. His wife's very nice, though.
I'd take one of those Aotos in a heart beat.
Wow, those stacked tubs of stones is about ready to topple over. He should send them to me for safe keeping.
I would wager that the teeth of that saw blade are diamond impregnated. Due to the extremely slow speed that the blade is turning I don't imagine that heat build-up is a problem which would explain why there is no water cooling. Aiding that would be the wide gullets which would allow the stone dust/grit which is ground away from the cut to easily move away from the cutting point. Again, this eliminates the need for flushing the cut with water.
There was mention of the cut surface of the stone being slightly rough and in this I can see a last advantage in that would make for slightly larger stone dust/grit coming off of the cut, which when combined with the slow stone cutting speed would probably allow most of that junk to just fall down quietly within the saw instead of swirling around the operator in a lung-choking cloud.
Of course, this is all mere conjecture from watching the video.
here an interesting link, of a blog about stones, same dry cutting done.
職人 丹波の青砥 - 道楽 - Yahoo!ブログ
too bad Google translator does not help much, but I am sure Jim will like it
Unfortunately in Japan this is a very typical scene. You see jack hammer operators and other loud construction projects going and no one has ear or eye protection, let alone a dusk mask with filters. But everyone has on a helmet. Heck I have one under my desk in my office.
Nice one! That's a post about cutting aoto, that man in the pic (Okamoto san) is apparently the last person mining Aoto in Japan now.
It doesn't say much else, just talks about how it's a rare thing these days, and all the equipment in that dark hole feels like history.
The owner of that blog, RinRin, is actually one of a few of the "Japanese Honemeisters" that I communicate with sometimes.
Another site that might be of interest is Yuuken-san's blog.
☆名古屋砥泥会(なごやとどろかい)☆ - Yahoo!ブログ
He's a bit of a restorer as well, but he's a generalist--axes, knives, razors, pretty much anything with a blade.
Click around and look at the pics--it's worth it.
Yeah - the thing is that these hones are comprised of clay minerals and radiolaria (silicified microscopic marine fossil critters). While both will likely liberate <1u dust on cutting (commonly much finer), the radiolaria have barbed surfaces which is the classic cause of silicosis. If I did this hone cutting a lot, I believe I'd be wearing a mask... :hmmm:
I am a self-proclaimed neat freak, but many say I have OCD.
Seeing those pictures, although hugely interesting, makes me cringe at the lack of proper organization.
On another note, does this guy have an online shop?