Best Blade For High Speed Asphalt Cutting

Cutting asphalt is a task that you want all the right tools for. If you’re cutting long stretches of asphalt, you want to have a high speed saw. Ideally a walk behind saw that targets about 65 to 72 horse power. For small stretches of asphalt, gas hand held saws in carts work fine. Husqqvarna and Stihl both make great cart systems to simply click in your regular cut off saw and use as a walk behind. Also, there are low horse power walk behind saws that range from 13 horse power to 35 horse power that can do a great job cutting asphalt.

For the lower horse power saws in the 10-25 horse power range, finding the best diamond blade is pretty simple. There are usually only a couple of choices anyway. You just want to make sure the blade is laser welded. Once you get to 35 horse power saws, you want to make sure the blade is specially formulated to cut at that speed. They are only a little more expensive than the 10 horse power blades but will cut much more effectively and last longer than if you try to cut with a blade made for 10 horse power cutting.

For high horse power walk behind saws, you really want to make sure you do your research on the job site. You need to determine what kind of asphalt it is you’re cutting, how deep you need to cut, and more importantly, what is underneath the asphalt. For straight asphalt cutting, the choice is a little simpler. You want to go with a PRO Asphalt Black Top series. You can elect to go with the entry level pricing or upgrade to the PRO series for extending life and better cutting performance.

If you determine there is material underneath the asphalt that you might run into, the best choice is to go with an overlay series diamond blade. Asphalt Over Concrete diamond blades have a medium bond that offers better cutting action on both asphalt and concrete surfaces. Even if you get into dirt under the asphalt, this blade will cut and not completely burn out. A straight asphalt blade will have its life severely limited if it were to hit concrete under the asphalt surface.

So in closing, make sure you find out the horse power of the saw. Next you want to investigate the job site and the material that is under the asphalt. Lastly, check the diamond blade specifications to ensure the match the job site needs.