Mk303 Lapidary Blade Testing // All Hype or Worth the Price?
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- Опубликовано: 21 фев 2023
- Let's put the Mk303 to the test and compare it to a competitor that's half the price.
Thanks for watching!
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#CurrentlyRockhounding #MK303 #lapidary
Did you enjoy this video and find it to be informative? You can help ensure that more videos just like this get made by supporting the project on Patreon. www.patreon.com/currentlyrockhounding
I'm confused by the mk303 instructions. On the blade it says use oil only (multiple times and very specifically!!!!). On MK website it says designed to use water-based coolants!!!! which is correct and why doesnt MK seem to know itself??
Everybody has an opinion. I love these side by side blade comparison videos. They are proven, and its irrefutable. Thats all i need. Who doesnt want to save a little bit of money, because this hobby is plenty spendy enough! Thank you for taking the time and the expense, to do these tests and make these videos, for those of us that are smart enough to watch and take it to heart!
I'm glad you liked it! I think both blades here are perfectly good blades but all things created equal I will take two of the cheaper ones I think.
I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. I feel I have learned a lot today. Thank you
I knew this video was coming sooner or later. We've had many conversations about this before. You did a fine job on this test and I appreciate you sharing it with all of us to see. I hope the 303 nation sees this video and realizes that your not trashing there blade, rather trying to open there eyes to the amount of money they could save by switching blade brands. Lord knows when I switched from name brand I couldn't have been more surprised (and more money in my pocket). I'm glad I caught this video, thanks again for the time you took to do this test. Much appreciated.
I'm glad you liked it. I think the 301/303 lineup of blades work perfectly good and I will continue to use mine.
@Currently Rockhounding excellent!..never really heard anything bad about them since I started cutting rocks, other than price. So thats cool!
After finding a used saw I could afford, I began searching for a blade. I was shocked at some prices! Thank you for doing what you do! I'm very grateful for your dedication and professionalism in the lapidary world!
These comparisons are great. I just set up my first 6 inch trim saw and am using inexpensive $4 blades. Your earlier video on expensive vs. inexpensive blades was quite helpful when shopping. Couldn't be happier with the $4 blades.
Curious - what brand of trim saw and are the $4 blades diamond? Total newbie just starting my research on trim saws. Many thanks. 😬👍🏻🪨⛏️
@@CacklingChick I bought a used Raytech 6inch lapidary polisher (cabbing machine). Came with 2 expandable drums. Also, came with equipment that lets you remove one of the drums and configure as trim saw. Found machine by emailing local lapidary club and asking if any members had used equipment for sale. Got a little lucky, my Raytech is pretty ancient but looks like it was barely used, almost like new.
Only needed to tighten some screws and add some bearing grease.
Got the blades on Amazon from company named Jingling. Yes, diamond.
I bought the 4 dollar blades (20 dollars for a pack of 5) ther awesome! I only slice turquoise tho, Fairly soft. Someone needed one so I gave them my used one and they been cutting with them and said the same thing, they wouldn't buy name brand anytime soon. Thanks for the videos.
I flipped by tile saw and have tried several concrete blades I use for pluming. Sometimes on a angle grinder as well. Clearly not the best way and I can't do big cuts but I have come to the non segmented blade working much better due to vibrations from others harming rocks. Glad you made comparison with blades meant for lapidary. Thank you
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
I love these videos
Saves us all $$$
Answers lots of questions
Thank you for all your hard work, time and $$$
👍👍
I'm glad you found it useful.
I don’t cut anything but if I did, I can tell you I would 100% appreciate hearing your opinion. I always learn so much watching your channel. Thank you for always posting such great content. Say hi to Sarah for me.
Thank you! :)
You have a great channel, I really enjoy your videos.
I'm glad you have been enjoying the videos.
Love your BLUNT and HONEST review. Very helpful as I'm considering a slab saw and blades were of concern. Thank you!! 😬👍🏻🪨⛏️
Thank you!
Awesome information!! Thank you for doing these videos on lapidary equipment! I have picked up rocks for over 50 years. But I have just started cutting and polishing some of my finds. Your videos have taught me a lot and saved me money. You are my go to channel for my lapidary equipment questions. I look forward to seeing more of these type of videos.👍😎
Thank you for doing this comparison. When I'm ready to get my saw, I will appreciate the education.
Thank you so much for the donation, I really do appreciate it.
I'm so glad you did this. I'm new to sawing rocks so this is very helpful. Thank you!
I'm glad you found it helpful.
I appreciate your channel so much, man. So much great info. Zero fluff. Straight to the point. Present the evidence.
Thank you very much.
I try to run a tight ship around here. No clickbait and no nonsense.
Great video! I would imagine the difference in surface (and cutting time, for that matter), is because of the size and distribution of the diamonds embedded in the material. I just installed an MK 301 blade for me new 20" saw, and am VERY impressed by the smoothness of the cut. But as we talked about earlier, it does come with a price. We'll see how long it lasts.
I'm sure it will last you a very very long time. I think the 301 and 303 are perfectly fine blades, I just don't think they deserve the reputation they have of being the best things no matter what for everyone. I think it's a complex issue and people should ask questions of the person seeking recommendations rather then just saying a default answer.
Thank you for your time and effort in doing these types of comparisons. Its always a good thing to have more information. We appreciate you and your content - even on those rare occasions we might not agree with your opinion, debate and (polite) discussion is healthy. Stay true to yourself!
I'm always happy to disagree with people and often I have found that those conversations are where I learn the most.
Another excellent comparison video! I just got a 10" Hi-tech saw for Christmas. I really appreciate you sharing this kind of information with us.🙌👍Thanks so much for the helpful, awesome videos!✌️🤠🤘
Oh man I'm glad to see this!!..watching now!
Thanks for the comparison, and the information.
I'm glad you liked it!
Really appreciate the time and dough you've spent putting out these data driven comparisons. It'll save many a lot of money! I know which ones I'll be buying
I hope it does inform people some and help them to buy the right thing.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding It definitely does. I was kinda shocked by the difference in diamond concentration.
I have worn out hundreds of 10 inch blades on a tile saw in my lifetime as a stone beadmaker , and three mk101 tile saws and think the mean green blade is best for tile saws. For my big slab saws an mk makes sense as fixing flaws on a big cut is very time consuming. Nice demonstration.
Great review! Thanks for bringing it to us!
I'm glad you liked it.
I somehow missed this one. I'm glad I found it. You did a good fair test. Both are good but for the money and time in this test less expensive is better. Thanks for the test and especially the close up photos. 👏👍 😷⚒
I like your comparison of the 2 blades. I know some brands your paying for the name. Still a really good brand.
How fast a blade cuts is how hard the matrix that is holds the diamonds. The matrix needs to wear away to expose the diamonds. I bet that if you make a few passes with a sharpening stone (which all it does is wear the away the matrix), the times would be the same. The 303 is a good all around matrix hardness so it does well in a wide variety of rock hardness. This is why it is the most popular saw blade.
This is one of the reasons your channel is so good, testing and analysis. Something worth considering based on the magnified views is longevity. The HSP blade has more material to spare as time goes on, so in theory it will last longer. In all the forums I've seen the 303 is the only blade people talk about and recommend. But based on this test there is more to consider than just surface finish. If I was a production slab cutter I know which one I'd choose!
It is very highly recommended isn't it? Also no one ever seems to say why other than "it's good" but what exactly does that mean?
Maybe surface finish matter for some people but I think for most people it doesn't matter so long as there isn't deep scratches left by the blade.
I love your honest opinion. It may save others from finding out the hard way.
I'm glad you like these kinds of videos.
It's cool in the time lapse the water droplets appear to be going back up onto the blade
Price signals quality.
I agree w/ you on surface finish.
What we really need is a consumer-grade gang saw IMO
Nice work man, chat w/ ya soon
I think to for some people that cut up rocks for aspects of lapidary such as tumbling or making a cab the surface finish matters even less since its going to be ground away anyways.
That would be nice to see, I wonder what some of the issues might be with them, do the slabs get stuck between the blades at all?...etc.
The popularity of the Mk303 blades is due to their being marketed as the only lapidary blade that can "safely" be run at the higher RPMs of tile saws, so beginners more interested in savings than safety pushed up their popularity...
I am most concerned about brand / quality in slab saw blades since they get very expensive for larger blades. I recently spent $450 on a new MK303 24" blade for my Barranca Diamond slab saw. Similar generics are about $350 to $375, so the price difference isn't that great once you move above a 14" blade.
Cutting speed isn't really an issue with an autofeed slab saw.
I have probably bought 40 or more lapidary blades in sizes ranging from 4" to 24". About half of those were MK301, MK303, or MK Hot Dog (tile) blades. The other half were other, cheaper brands.
I agree with your general point that MK Diamond blades are not the end-all-be-all of lapidary blades, but they do have some advantages. MK uses tensioned steel cores (heat hardened steel). These cores tend to be flatter that rolled steel core and they are less likely to dish / warp if overheated by a slipped rock, mis-aligned arbor, or sloppy carriage. I am not aware of any other manufacturer that uses tensioned cores. With larger blades like 20" and 24" blades, I have never bought an MK blade that didn't spin true (no wobble) at the recommended rpm. That is not true of most other brands. Indeed, MK blades are rated for higher RPMs than most brands. I would wager a bet that if you increased the arbor speed of your 10" trim saw to even the minimum recommended speed for that blade, it would cut a lot faster. Almost all saws are set up to spin much slower than MK recommends for its lapidary blades, although few people actually resize pulleys to increase arbor speed.
MK quality control is also better than most cheaper brands. I have bought lower cost continuous rim sintered blades that were great. And the next time I bought the same brand, it had obvious flaws. (I remember one where the core was exactly the same width as the rim. In another case, there were so many burrs around the arbor hole that I had to debur it before I could get a bushing to fit.)
Finally, I tend to get better surface finish with MK blades than most other brands. This is important to me when slabbing rocks for cabbing since I like to see as much detail as possible when I am marking preforms. This is also important when cutting large specimen or slabs that I intend to polish. You might be able to quickly remove saw marks from a small t-egg, but if you are cutting an 8" x 15" pet wood specimen, you want as clean of a cut a possible if you plan on polishing it. When everything on my slab saws is aligned perfectly, I can get close to a 600 grit finish from MK blades with zero saw marks. I have rarely achieve this with other brands.
Just my (too long) 2 cents.
With all that said, I liked the video (and all of your videos!) Thank you!
When I shop around and look at 24" blade which I just started doing right now since I don't have a 24" saw it seems like there are some very affordable option on the market now that are not MK blades.
Currently almost every single blade on the market is a tensioned steel cored blade except for the greenlines from Highland Park and the el-cheap-o notched blades coming out of China, such as those made by Jingling which costs about $90 for a 24" blade.
I don't really agree with your statements about the quality control of MK being better than most other brands, I say this because I have used about 16 or 17 different blades from MK, Convington, Highland Park, CES, el-cheap-o rebranded blades. In all of my testing of them I find more of them to be really similar in quality than different and I have since many people say otherwise but never show otherwise. That's why I show things like this, how is it the majority of people will say ______ is the best but when testing to see if that is true I get a different result from what is commonly said? I know people like to tell me that I'm always doing it wrong but never attempt prove it wrong on video.
You do make a good point about larger cuts and the surface finish of those. Most of the things I cut are around the 6" range and at that size I have no issues getting about a 220 grit finish on my oil saw with practically any blade I put on it, so I could see it being much more beneficial to have a nicer surface finish as the material gets larger and larger. I know that at about 220 grit finish on something I can see all the details needed to lay out a cab and never have I thought to myself "I really wish this was 600 grit so I can see the details".
I see that you also make videos, I would love to see your big saw and the finishes you get off of it with you MK blades. I subscribed to your channel.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding
I'm going to send you an email and perhaps we can continue the conversation that way if you're interested. I value your experience and have gained a lot of new perspectives from your videos. Perhaps I have different experiences based on the use of different saws, different blade brands and sizes, and the different ways we use saws, and based on what is important to each of us when cutting rocks. I will be happy to email you photos and / or links to some short video clips that illustrate my specific observations about different brands of blades, both when new and during long term use, if you are interested. You may be the only person I know who would find any of this even half as interesting as I do. Thanks for your detailed response to my original message and I look forward to continuing the conversation as time permits.
@@jonathanyoung7785 I would love to continue this conversation via email! I would really like see some photos!
Took your advice and tried a HSP 10" and results are pretty good !
Compared HSP results to my MK 303 cuts . The HSP seemed easier to use , I only have a MK tile saw , and my cuts were definitely cleaner on the HSP cuts.
I'm glad you liked it, they are good value.
Thank you for doing that comparison I definitely will choose 2 blades over one
Me to.
Interesting tests👍👍
Thank you!
Giday Jarod, another interesting video, a pretty authentic comparison which I think shows the characteristics of the relevant blades. I do have one question,
Which blade do think will last the longest. That is the other aspect that makes the economy of the blade viable.
I appreciate that you take the time to do these comparisons. Keep Safe & Keep Rockin.
PS: by the clothing you are wearing, better keep warm as well, no problem here today, 32deg (C), 🤣🤣👍
The longevity of blades is a hard one since so much of it depends on what you're cutting, water vs oil, and how much pressure you're using. All blades use the same diamonds and pretty much the same matrix so in theory they last about the same provided you are treating them the same.
If the HSP is the china made blade from jingling off of amazon, I have one, I bought a 10" blade shortly after you tested those 6" blades on your high tech trim saw last year, it works just fine for what I do, thanks Jared see ya on the next one.
This one is a little different and not made by that company.
I'm glad those blades are working out well for you.
Awesome comparison test man! Seems like the MK would be worth it to someone without decent polishing options
That is actually a very good point that I didn't consider, but I do agree with you on that. If someone was limited in what they have for getting saw marks out that should be factor taking into consideration.
Good point!
To me it would be flatness of the cut area above all else. Less grinding=more polishing time= more stuff processed.
That is a good point that I didn't touch on, both were very flat off the saw but the HSP blade did have a more rough finish to it.
Thanks so much for another great comparison video! The last time I was out in the shop I noticed that one of my small Hi-Tech blades has warped slightly. (User to blame with unsteady fossil holding! 🤦🏽♂️) Should I replace that blade or keep using it? The wobble is very slight, but enough to where it hits the edge of the opening in the platform every now and then.
You can still use it but I would plan on a replacement.
This may not be as big an issue for a trim saw but what about blade tension? I bought a 14" cheap chinese blade from HP that reminded me of a 5.5" floppy disk. It cut absolutely terribly, leaving what I can only describe as tear-out on the cut.
My biggest concern with blades is durability. For that you'd need to repeat this experiment after both blades have been in equal use for six months.
I don't think that would even do it. If you really want to compare durability you would need to make like 200 cuts with each and it would need to be exactly the same material, something like basalt cores, it would need to be super consistent but I will tell you that all things created equal the MK303 will not last twice as long as a single HSP blade at half the price.
PS I agree with you
I just ordered an MK 2 days ago! Wish I saw this sooner! Do you have a link for ordering the HSP blade? My question is how many cuts can you get from each before the blade is spent? Perhaps the MK will last longer? Just wonder what your experience is. Great video!
You can find the HSP blade on the Kingsley North site.
Longevity of blades is a hard one since it depends on what you're cutting, what saw is being used and is it oil or water.
As for Nike vs Reebok...
I choose puma's all day.. 😆😆 Lol
Good workup. We looked at one section on the blades, the 303 had them more spaced and the HSP had a bunch in one spot with what looked like one sticking out! Is the picture we saw an even representation of the whole blade? Not defending either blade, only an observation and a question. Thanks enjoyed this and more doesn't always mean better.
I would say its an accurate representation of the two blades. I do have to balance how much I show on video and weight it against the general interest of the viewer. When I have gotten a new blade I will spend about 30 minutes or so looking at it under the microscope, testing the hardness of the matrix the diamonds are in...etc. that doesn't make for very interesting content for most people so I do need to shorten it up some.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Agree
So who is your source of the HSP blades ? love you channel keep up the good work.
I buy them from Kingsley North.
Thank you I have GIVEN them allot of my money LOL before .@@CurrentlyRockhounding
Where do you buy your blades? Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's or other place? Same question with a respirator and what kind do you recommend? Thanks!
I have gotten them from a number of different places but Amazon and Kingsley North are my go to places.
As far a respirators go the most important part is to get one with a good seal on your face.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Thanks for doing the evaluations so I don’t have to.
A buyer of quality goods will always suffer from the law of diminishing returns. Twice the price is rarely twice the quality.
Well said.
i was wondering if you put a rubber pad under the metal trey will it be less loud?
I have a video where I made all kinds of upgrades to this saw.
I know I am commenting to this video like after a year, but only now I saw it@@CurrentlyRockhounding
Its the only blade ive used its great but on my tile saw it can get out of tune rather fast when you force cut
Don't force cut? :X This aint Starwars! (also, you shouldn't be forcing the cut)
Which one lasts longer?
It depends on some many different factors that it would be impossible to answer that question.
The pyranna is real good but takes alot of stuff off
so many products out there that people are just paying for the name. i’ll take generic any day. heck a lot of those products were probably made at the same plant, just different packaging.
Yeah it's can be a hard subject to see really see the truth in. So many things are so similar it would seem.
👁👁. 👋
14:42
When it comes to diamond blades like these, you're never going to get a 2 to 1 faster or better cut. I'm cheap when it comes to blades. I've run the "Chinese" blades in my saws for years. They are much less expensive and usually last about the same amount of time. So, why spend for the brand name when they are not twice as good. I know those companies need to pay for all their marketing hype, but we should have to. Nice comparison. Although... Are you sure you applied the same amount of pressure each time you ran the stones through??? Also, were both bladed "used" to a relatively similar amount of time? As you know, a new sanding disc cuts much differently than a worn one. Still not at a 2 to 1 ratio. Thanks for the information.
I agree and I think a lot of those statements people make about any blade being light years a head of other are misleading at best.
I have thought a lot about which of the three main types of saws out there would be best and I think the best saw for testing actually be a drop saw since you would have even consistent pressure which the hand can not perfectly do and the autofeed slab saw can not do but I don't have which is the problem so I think the next best thing is to do it by hand being that the blade are more affordable than what you would have a large slab saw and with a slab saw you have the issue of it only wanting to feed so fast.
Both blade were used and sharpened before the testing. It doesn't really matter if a blade has been used 10 times or 300 times if its freshly peening on the edge it's like new.
I think at the end of the day its an interesting data point and other people can try to duplicate the tests as well and see if they get a similar result.
Definitive and concise 🙂 Fun fact 303 enthusiasts are comunist supporters... not actually a fact. But MK is the North American branch of Brranca.