Need more suitable 10" wet saw blade for marble?

I just purchased a 10" DeWalt D24000 Wet Tile Saw. It came with what I assume is a universal blade (DW4762) labeled "porcelain" in the owner's manual and on the blade as "porcelain-slate-granite". The only other blade they offer is labeled "ceramic" in catalog (DW4761)

I tested the saw's performance with "porcelain" blade on a scrap of man-made "Quartz" (Caesarstone brand) countertop (93% quartz sand; 7% epoxy binder). Even the thinnest slices produce clean and sharp edges just like those made in the counter fabricator's shop with computer-controlled tooling.

I then tried it on 3/8 thick white "Turkish" marble we bought for wall application. The factory edges are sharp and relatively chip-free. However the DeWalt blade supplied leaves the tile surface with very slight, shallow surface chips (spawls) on the tile face, at max about 1/32-1/64" into face. My cut edges are also slightly rougher than the factory edges when a thumb is run over them.

I suspect this chipping will produce a ragged edge especially since we're planning 1/16" spacings with unsanded grout

I'm not a tile pro but have lots of woodworking experience with power tools. I've tried varying the rate of cut and cutting from the back side and still the blade leaves a very slightly chipped edge on the face and slightly rough edge. It's definitely a rougher cut than from the factory.

I'm hoping this is just a matter of needing to use a different blade better suited to marble.

An alternative explanation is this is lower quality marble. It does seem to have a slightly 'sugary" texture compared to other marbles I've handled.

If we can't get better cuts it means we may have to hand-hone or beltsand each cut edge. Inasmuch as were cutting 3x6's into 3x3's, that's a lot of handwork we weren't counting on.

Any suggestions for a more suitable blade or better cutting technique would be most appreciated.

Incidentally the saw itself is really quite nice. We have multiple projects to do so it was worth it to spring for this as opposed to repeatedly renting saws.

Next project is concrete pavers. Any suggestions for the best blade for that?

TIA

You can try a blade just for marble but you still are not going to get a factory edge without polishing. You can also try a rubbing stone to smooth the cut a bit.

Jim have you ever looked closely at a piece of marble tile? Notice the very slight polished chamfer on all the top edges? Ya know why that chamfer is there?

Leasure & Bud Cline,

Thanx for your replies.

My wife feels I may be getting a bit obsessive on these tile details. But this is the final phase of a six-year project--a complete kitchen remodel. We've made all the cabinets ourselves: cherry face frames, doors, and carcases, inset doors, etc,etc. I just don't want to screw it up as the finish line is finally in sight.

So I hope you'll indulge some follow-up questions:

1) RE wet saw blades:
Is there likely to be any significant improvement in cuts made on marble with a marble saw blade vs., say, one labeled as a porcelain tile blade if both are continuous rim blades?

I've looked at photos of 10" wet saw blades from various vendors on websites like Amazon's and see continuous rim "Marble" blades selling for about $50 and others at a couple of hundred $ and on up.

Some are segmented blades at the high end.

I guess I don't fully understand the factors of blade design and use that influences quality of the cut or cost. It isn't as obvious as with tablesaw blades

Can you explain what's important in picking the best blade for the job?

2) Re: Chamfered edges

It could be this is really cheap tile. There is no chamfered edge. I looked for that originally when we first got them and looked again after reading your reply, Bud.

It's just a sharp, square, slightly polished edge. I can still see very minor chipping on the factory edges but much less chipping than on my cuts made with that new porcelain blade. that's why I thought first of a different blade as the solution.

3) Grouting closely-spaced tile:

Now I also ASSUME that tight (1/16") tile spacing with those slightly chipped edges will give a somewhat raggedy groutline even with white grout and off-white marble.

And that particularly because the tiles do not have a chamfered edge

So if y'all think it's necessary, I'm prepared to make a wood jig to hold each tile at a constant angle and then run each edge of each tile by hand over a smoothing stone to get a uniform chamfer -- both my newly-cut edges and the factory originals.

I figure the smoothing stone I bought --with a different grit on each side --is still kind of coarse--even the finest of the two. So thought maybe we'd need to go with a finer stone for sharpening steel tools to get a better, smoother chamfer

All this on the assumes a chamfered edge would likely lead to a better appearing grout lines that a narrow, sharp edge tile

Is that right?

Or

In your opinions is my wife right (again) that I'm going off the deep end on these edge flake concerns? Just overblowing the importance of clean edges

Thanx again. Your frequent replies to us newbies on this site are valuable. And most appreciated.

I use a marble blade for marble, porcelain blade for porcelain so on and so on. I believe it makes a difference.
50 bucks is cheap for a marble blade, usually they are 150-500 bucks. Try master wholesale inc.

If there is no chamfer edge it is rectified and must be spaced for grout. With a chamfer edge you can but tiles together if it is high quallity and the grout will stick. When grouting marble you must use unsanded grout or marble will scratch.

Try a dry run with tiles to achieve less cuts, and try to hide your cuts.

I would not chamfer any edges that would be crazy.

I would try the marble blade if the flaking is that bad