# Forum Home Renovation Cladding  Cutting fibro weatherboards

## Poirot

Just a silly question before I attack my Linea weatherboards with a fibro cutting blade.
Why don't people just wet the fibro before they cut it, and presto, no dust, just fibro paste.
I have not tried so far, but it seems to simple? Maybe it is hard to wet the inside of the board, so you would need to keep supplying water while cutting like with some brick cutters etc?

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## cyclic

> Just a silly question before I attack my Linea weatherboards with a fibro cutting blade.
> Why don't people just wet the fibro before they cut it, and presto, no dust, just fibro paste.
> I have not tried so far, but it seems to simple? Maybe it is hard to wet the inside of the board, so you would need to keep supplying water while cutting like with some brick cutters etc?

  Hmmm ? Dust ? Does that mean you are using an electrical saw/grinder ?

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## Poirot

Mmmmm, yes, a power blade just for cutting fibro. Since the weatherboards are 16mm thick, it is just a little bit hard with the shears.

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## barney118

Mmm water and electricity not good, I hope you are using a portable RCD. Just cut them with fibro cutters.  
Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

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## Poirot

> Just cut them with fibro cutters.

  But then I need 16mm fibro cutters, which I have not seen yet ...

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## johnc

The safety Nazi's will love this, when cutting stone or fibreboard with a power saw I trickle a thin bead of water from a hose on to the blade at the point of cut, almost eliminates dust.

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## Poirot

> The safety Nazi's will love this, when cutting stone or fibreboard with a power saw I trickle a thin bead of water from a hose on to the blade at the point of cut, almost eliminates dust.

  That is what I was thinking, that is exactly what a brick cutting machine does or a concrete saw. 
Should be safe enough if you keep the amount of water down, use a double insulated saw, checked the response of your safety switch, and do not notify the council or any other authority of what you're up to  :Smilie:

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## ringtail

3 ways to do it. 2 are right and 1 is wrong. 
Use a proper wet circular saw. Tradetools sell them. They are cheap, have a built in rcd and are purpose meant for the job 
or 
Use a dry circular saw with a vacuum attachment and a industrial vacuum cleaner. Again, trade tools sells all this 
And the wrong way, use a grinder or saw and create lots and lots of dust. Silicosis is the new asbestos. All dust no matter what its source is bad news.

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## Poirot

Ringtail, do you mean this one: TradeTools - TBS350-TRADETOOLS 14"/350MM BRICKSAW DIAMOND BLADE AND STAND 
Why does nobody, even Hardies, suggest that is the best and safest way, because it probably is. 
"Cheap is in the eye of the beholder ..."

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## ringtail

Nope. This one.  TradeTools - RI1200TC-RENEGADE INDUSTRIAL 110MM TILE CUTTER W/ RCD

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## johnc

> That is what I was thinking, that is exactly what a brick cutting machine does or a concrete saw. 
> Should be safe enough if you keep the amount of water down, use a double insulated saw, checked the response of your safety switch, and do not notify the council or any other authority of what you're up to

  Ringtails comments are correct, there are wet saws now, some reasonably cheap that will do this safely. I have an old 9 1/4" double insulated Makita that has been used for this purpose for over thirty years of random use, it has coped well. The trickle of water is about what you would expect from a drinking straw, just a steady piddle of water and although messy doesn't go through that much water. I tend to fully support the piece being cut and have a second person holding the hose while keeping both hands on the saw. That way there is minimal chance of the saw getting into trouble or the hose flushing something important like the motor.

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## ringtail

For $ 140 that wet saw is gold. Small, light and fit for purpose. That 9 1/4 sounds like a handful :Tongue:

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## Poirot

> Nope. This one.  TradeTools - RI1200TC-RENEGADE INDUSTRIAL 110MM TILE CUTTER W/ RCD

  Thanks, looks like the bee's knees. I'll pick one up tomorrow.

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## johnc

> For $ 140 that wet saw is gold. Small, light and fit for purpose. That 9 1/4 sounds like a handful

  I think it is a habit, and a bad one at that, that little saw looks like a real little ripper, the old Makita might be heading for retirement.

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## Poirot

Got the little ripper from TradeTools and I have been cutting my first fibro Linea weatherboards today.
And absoletely NO dust whatsoever.
And it is not that noisy either.
Thanks RingTail for a great suggestion, really top little ripper (and cross-cutter  :Smilie:  )

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## ringtail

Awesome. I better buy one then eh. I've seen them in action but I haven't had the need for one yet as I try to avoid new houses (and the fibre weatherboards that go with them ). 90 % of my work is decks / verandahs and the rest is rennos. Still, it would be very handy to have. I think about it every time I go to trade tools but always seem to leave without one  :Tongue:  :Biggrin:

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## Poirot

Just make sure they only charge what they offer on the net, the price in store is $20 more.
The salesman said that because they are meant for tiles etc, and not for fibro, the diamond blade might get blunt a bit faster than anticipated.
But in my build I also still need to cut blocks and pavers and heaps of fibro weatherboards, so I am pretty happy with the purchase (so far).

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## ringtail

> Just make sure they only charge what they offer on the net, the price in store is $20 more.
> The salesman said that because they are meant for tiles etc, and not for fibro, the diamond blade might get blunt a bit faster than anticipated.
> But in my build I also still need to cut blocks and pavers and heaps of fibro weatherboards, so I am pretty happy with the purchase (so far).

  
 I can't see why the fibro would dull the blade quicker than tiles or bricks but I'm guessing the blades would be cheap enough anyway - and tax deductible  :Tongue:  :Biggrin:

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## jatt

Gives me an idea.  With exception to big jobs like my current project, I usually would only need to cut a small amount of fibro weatherboards. 
Between myself and mate we have flogged the small tile table saw from the Big B.  Has a small container of water that the blade runs thru.  With the exception of a few spits of wet tile paste its very good at keeping the dust down. 
Big jobs of course then I would have to bite the bullet and buy something more suitable.

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## intertd6

> Ringtails comments are correct, there are wet saws now, some reasonably cheap that will do this safely. I have an old 9 1/4" double insulated Makita that has been used for this purpose for over thirty years of random use, it has coped well. The trickle of water is about what you would expect from a drinking straw, just a steady piddle of water and although messy doesn't go through that much water. I tend to fully support the piece being cut and have a second person holding the hose while keeping both hands on the saw. That way there is minimal chance of the saw getting into trouble or the hose flushing something important like the motor.

  For you guys thinking that double insulated tools will save you from being fryed even with a rcd in the circuit need to understand a few facts, if say with water you become part of the circuit with out a leak to earth or produce an imbalanced circuit you just become part of the load in the circuit & by the time the circuit may trip from being overloaded your well and truly fried, electrical equipment that uses water should have a water resistance level of some sort & be designed for that purpose.
regards inter

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## ringtail

Amen

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## Poirot

Reminds me of when I cut the cord on my Makita circular saw years ago. 
I thought I was dead, but I wasn't (obviously).
But since then I make sure where the cord is before cutting  :Biggrin:

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## jatt

*I have seen what intertd6  is saying demonstrated in Elec trade class years ago.  They arent always the be all, end all that they are promoted as.*

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