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Follow-up on the chop saw saga

November 23, 2025 — BarryK

I posted about my two metal cutoff saws yesterday:

"Chop saw lesson learned"
https://bkhome.org/news/202511/chop-saw-lessons-learned.html

Very interesting, my new Vevor chop saw has a ceramic blade/disc, not carbide. I had previously only known about carbide discs. I assume that the ceramic disc must be cheaper, considering this is a budget chop saw.

Google's AI gave conflicting information. One response is that ceramic blades in chop saws are the same as cermet blades. I asked a more specific question, are ceramic and cermet blades the same, and the reply was no, they are different materials.

The gist seems to be that ceramic blades are very hard and sharp, but prone to chipping. Whereas cermet blades are ceramic with metal additives to prevent fracture. So, of the two, cermet would be superior.

The Vevor chop saw User Manual doesn't have much information, but on the Vevor website it states not recommended to use the blade with stainless steel. So I take it then, the blade is not recommended for any hard steel. Maybe that includes carbon steel and some kinds of tempered steel.

EDIT: Correction, looked again at the Vevor website, and the blade is described as "ceramic alloy", which probably means it is cermet.

I posted earlier that I did purchase a carbide blade, so have that as backup; but apparently carbide blades are also not recommended for hard steel.

This chap on YouTube compares his carbide-blade chop saw, older abrasive chop saw and a bandsaw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFE4IrT1rgU

...and he makes the point that the carbide blade is not recommended for hard steel and better to use the abrasive saw.

It looks like the abrasive cutoff saw, that I had shoved under the table when the new one arrived, does have a use, for cutting harder steel.

From online reading so far, it seems that ceramic blades cut cooler, may last longer, but are more prone to chipping than carbide. So it looks like carbide blades are generally tougher, but have the same problem, not recommended for hard steel.

Here is an example of online discussion that I found to be informative:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/carbide-blades-for-steel-cutting-chop-saws.921644/

OK, so will take the Ozito abrasive cutoff saw off the floor, see if can find some space on the table for it.   

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