The question that every contractor asks when buying diamond tools. How long does a diamond blade last or cut for? This is an important question to determine job estimates. It can be challenging to properly forecast your tools budget if you don’t know how many diamond blades you will need for the job. First, let’s focus on what determines how long a long blade will last.

So how many hours can you cut with a diamond blade? To figure out this equation, you will need to consider the material being cut, the saw being used, and the saw operator’s training and experience. Once you figure this out, it is important to focus in on what you want to spend on each diamond blade.

These tests were based on use with a regular gas cut off saw and 14″ diamond blades. If the contractor elects to go with a more economic or cheaper diamond blade, then our testing indicated that it will cut for 10-15 hours. This would be based on the full cutting time. If the blade were to fall on the lower end of the quality spectrum, you would know that the material being cut maybe does not match the blade type, the saw is not performing optimally, or the saw operator is being a little hard on the blade. If the cheaper diamond blade lasts towards the 15 hour mark, then that means the conditions were optimal. The Jester diamond blade would fall under this category

If the contractor wants to spend a little more on the blades and go with a higher quality, material specific diamond blade, we can see life of the blade range from about 100 to 130 hours of continuous use. So if you do the math, a lower quality diamond blades can potentially last 1/10 of the life of a higher quality blade.

Each company has a different philosophy on diamond blade usage. Some just figure to budget a little lower on what they want to spend per blade, others want to get the highest quality blade with the highest diamond content. There isn’t really a right or wrong answer. The best thing to do is test different diamond blade types and take notes on how long each lasts. This strategy and investment in time will pay off in the long run.