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Thread: Cool blocks or ceramic?

  1. 03-27-2009, 6:29 AM #1
    Myk Rian's Avatar
    Myk Rian
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    Cool blocks or ceramic?

    Looking for some input. What do you prefer, and why?
    Ceramic http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=6542
    Cool blocks http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16850
    Thanks
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  3. 03-27-2009, 7:35 AM #2
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    Pete Bradley
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    Aw geez, just search the archives. The topic of alternate guides comes up constantly. A sizeable proportion of the responses are just echoes of stuff other people read, yada yada. Bottom line is if you're looking to run fine blades buried, buy cool blocks, if you're looking to customize your machine, buy whichever appeals to you. Neither option's going to amount to a hill of beans in normal use.

    Pete
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  4. 03-27-2009, 8:09 AM #3
    Marlin Williams
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    Soem people even use a oily wood (can;t remember the name right now) as blocks.
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  5. 03-27-2009, 8:15 AM #4
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    Fred Hargis
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    I switched from cool blocks to the ceramic a year or two ago...the ceramic don't wear nearly as much as the cool blocks...I'll probably stay with them.
    I long for the days when Coke was a cola, and a joint was a bad place to be. (Merle Haggard)
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  6. 03-27-2009, 8:49 AM #5
    Bill White
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    Cool blocks.
    Bill
    On the other hand, I still have five fingers.
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  7. 03-27-2009, 2:50 PM #6
    Bill Swanson
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    Make your own

    There are threads on here suggesting rock maple or hard wood soaked in Mineral oil and then microwaved.

    I went that way to try it, had been using cool blocks.

    I like these better and they are cheap. You can bury the whole blade and not worry.
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  8. 03-27-2009, 5:41 PM #7
    Frank Drew
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Bradley View Post
    Aw geez, just search the archives. The topic of alternate guides comes up constantly. A sizeable proportion of the responses are just echoes of stuff other people read, yada yada. Bottom line is if you're looking to run fine blades buried, buy cool blocks, if you're looking to customize your machine, buy whichever appeals to you. Neither option's going to amount to a hill of beans in normal use.

    Pete
    Someone get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
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  9. 03-27-2009, 7:19 PM #8
    Paul Demetropoulos
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    Well Pete made sound a little cranky but I agree with his answer.
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  10. 03-29-2009, 8:07 AM #9
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    Myk Rian
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    OK, I searched. Didn't come up with a definitive answer. But I did find references to using hardwood to make your own. To try it, I made some out of scrap cherry. They work

    It seems you can cut them out of hardwood, and soak them in either WD-40 or use mineral oil with a microwave treatment.

    Now I have a new question. Why the microwave?
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  11. 03-29-2009, 9:49 AM #10
    Perry Underwood
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    I had the idea of using wooden dowels. The upper guides in my bandsaw use blocks and 1/2 inch dowels fit nicely.
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