Those of you who have traveled around the country know that concrete is not created equal, it varies from region to region. All concrete contains aggregate, and that aggregate is sourced locally. On a jobsite in St. Louis I saw a contractor show up to cut a foundation with a nice diamond chainsaw blade, only to leave without making a dent in anything but his wallet, because he ruined his blade. The next contractor came, noticed the flint based aggregate in the concrete, and anchored a rig to the wall that left a nice clean cut. That’s because he knew he needed a softer blade to cut the hard aggregate in that region.
So before you hit the road, take this aggregate map with you so that you can be sure to have the right blade for the job wherever you go, and you might want to bring an extra blade if you’re going to be tackling some flint based stuff.
While we are talking about concrete, here’s an article about how small cracks might be able to repair themselves in the near future, and this may help prevent some spalling. I love innovation in materials, and this is some incredible tech.
Picking the right blade for the job can save you time and money. This chart shows the different types of blades and what materials they work best with. Bosch just updated their Diamond formula to cut faster and last longer. I also like how they are taking some of the confusion out of the blade selection, by clearly saying what every blade was optimized to cut. You can check the new lineup out at Home Depot

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