Copper Blade?

[spirit bear beads]

Messing around with my 6" Rock Rascal saw yesterday, trying different blades.  I have a brand new, OLD,  6" COPPER diamond blade I put on it.  Came from an estate sale.  Cut like a champ.   

Questions;  Besides the obvious, it won't rust.   What are the advantages/disadvantages of a copper blade as opposed to a steel blade?

Thanks

Oh shoulda put this under the saw topic....

[Mark]

Sometimes Diamond Pacific would send me an 8" copper like blade for my Genie Trim Saw attachment.  I always ordered the same blade as they only listed one, but sometimes i would get the copper one instead of the regular DP branded blade.  The copper ones did not cut as good or last as long as the regular DP blades.  I got to the point of requiring they only send me the regular blades.  Sorry that i can be no further help on this.

Mark

[NuevoMundo]

I would assume that copper blades would not last as long as steel, since copper is much softer.

[deb193]

I know nothing about copper blades. But if they had the same diamond as steel blades, and the coper wore away faster, exposing fresh diamond more readily, they should cut better. However Mark reports otherwise, so what the heck ...

[Mark]

My experience is limited to about 2 of the blades, and i said copper like.  They looked like copper, but i did not test them.  I would guess they are copper if i had to guess.  In my experience, these two blades lasted much less than the regular ones i usually get.

Mark

[Rockoteer]

Maybe an alloy.....a little copper/a lot of brass and some steel??  See if a magnet will snap to it.
Just some thoughts.

TOG

[slabbercabber]

Actually, in spite of the fact that copper is softer than steel it is much more wear resistant.  The two are not necessarily related.  I have a 24" copper blade that is sintered instead of notched.  The copper wears so slowly that it is the only blade in my arsenal that I actually have to sharpen.  I use it when I want a really smooth cut for polishing.  That would be for cutting geodes etc in half for polishing instead of cabbing.  The very buried abrasive leaves an exceptionally fine finish but super slow cut.