10" Tile Saw by Andy Oriel Well-known gem cutter Lew Wackler calls this MK-101 tile saw a "lapidary wolf in sheep's clothing." Photo courtesy MK Diamond Products, Inc.

Andy Oriel is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to Lapidary Journal.

What if I told you that one of the best kept secrets of savvy lapidaries is a tool that wasn't designed for gemstones at all?

It's true. Lew Wackler, a nationally recognized cutter from Boulder, Colorado - who owns almost every tool known to modern man has discovered a lapidary workhorse in disguise.

Eureka! It's a 10" electric tile saw!

If you're surprised, don't be. Anyone who has used the traditional lapidary equipment is aware of the paradox specialized tools present. Power tools can greatly expand your capabilities, yet the ones you lust after most - such as that large slab saw you didn't get for Christmas - are expensive and typically perform only a single task well. So how do you get the most for your money?

Wackler found the solution, as he so often does, by looking outside the lapidary world. As the "workmaster" for a group of highly skilled craftsmen who specialize in making small objets d'art, he embraces any technology - new or old - if it promises to enhance creativity and make difficult jobs easier.

"We use equipment from optical companies, the dental industry, aerospace, woodworking, and now the tile trade," he says, quickly roughing out a palm-sized quartz. "If I could only afford one saw, this is the one I would get. It can do so many things so well. And when you're done, you can tile your bathroom!"

Since he is a full-time professional, Wackler always buys the best tools he can afford. In this case he has chosen the MK-101 tile saw made by MK Diamond Products, Inc. The saw comes equipped with a 1.5HP motor, a water coolant system, and a calibrated conveyor table and alignment indicator. The same rugged dependability found in its bigger brothers, the MK heavy-duty concrete and masonry saws, is apparent here.

"A lapidary wolf in sheep's clothing" is how Wackler describes the compact, portable unit, especially when equipped with its optional "Supreme Diamond Sintered Blade." Often, only a few minutes of work on a tile saw can duplicate a much longer and costlier effort on conventional lapidary equipment, and since the blades are mass produced for the tile industry, they are readily available at discount-house prices.

"Dollar for dollar, it's amazing how much cheaper the tile saw is to operate compared to grinding wheels," says Wackler, now making parallel passes across the high corner of an agate slab. "Where I used to use an 8" grinding wheel to rough-out a preform, I now use this. The difference is, I only use up a few dollars' worth of the diamond sintered blade versus the best part of a $150 diamond wheel."

For Wackler, who has spent his adult lifetime trying to eliminate the inefficiencies associated with improper tooling, that is high praise, but the machine's advantages go beyond economy. "It's really good for thickness planning and for quick and rough preforming of relatively inexpensive materials," he says. "And since the blade is fixed, you can use it almost like a carving arbor, to say, block out the legs of an animal carving or to do some freehand carving."

The big advantage of a fixed-arbor tool is that it allows you to use your body as a human tripod to give yourself an almost vicelike control of the stone. Other pluses are a conveyor cart on a smooth linear bearing and a table with alignment indicators for accurate cuts. Wackler has even mounted a mini-lathe on the table, using the saw to preform rock-crystal vases and jade bowls. It has a cutting depth of 3.75" which can effectively be doubled by flipping the stone upside-down.

Of course there are trade-offs. The aggressive blade eats up too much stone to use it for expensive materials. And carving, slabbing, cabbing, and turning all have dedicated lapidary machines that can do their respective jobs better. But before spending a wad of cash on them, Wackler suggests you could be buying rough instead.

"Dedicated machines like the slab saw are the lapidary standard, and they're good," he says, pointing to his 24" saw, "but they have limitations, especially when it comes to creativity. With any craft, you find that a certain combination of tools go a long way to overcoming problems. The tile saw is one we keep coming back to over and over."

As with any power tool, Wackler urges every safety precaution be taken. That includes wearing eye and ear protection - and being careful where you put your fingers. After that, he recommends enjoying yourself.