Diamond Blades, Concrete Cutting:

The only limit to decorative concrete is your imagination. You may have heard that for years and it is just as true today. Products, tools, professional training and ideas are just waiting for you to make the most of your opportunities.

Picture an eagle with an eight foot four inch wingspan! Darrel Adamson, Engrave-A-Crete, created this image at a recent seminar. A line drawing of the eagle was scanned into and enlarged with a CAD/CAM program. After tweaking to make it just right, it was put on a floppy disc and inserted into a computer-controlled mill to cut a template. Seminar students used carpenter's pencils to trace the outline. Reactive stains of various colors were applied with pointed brushes to simulate feathers. DecoSup concrete dyes were used for the flowing ribbon. After curing, the surface was washed and a clear sealer applied. The template was returned to the concrete and, using a Shark engraving tool, the cutting began. Engraving provides a clean, crisp outline resulting in beautiful concrete images like those shown above, Bald Eagle or colorful butterfly.

Company logos, family crests, pictures of pets or children can all be engraved. The caution is that it may look "cool" in the beginning and then not so cool when the household or business has to move.

Freehand creations are good for stones and natural looking surfaces. Marvin Dodson, Rare Earth Labs produces concentrated stains that provide a wide variety of colors and tones. His designs are both engraved and freehand. He suggests when not using equipment (such as Engrave-A-Crete or Kaleido-Crete) the design be placed using graph paper and drawn on the concrete with chalk, soapstone, pencil or marking pen. Designs can also be placed with a black permanent marker since stains will not bleed across the marker lines, according to Dodson. The freehand stone pattern is an excellent choice to incorporate existing cracks as part of the pattern. Cracks can be cleaned out, or made bigger, and form the skeleton for the new "look."

When planning a concrete creation, the first thing to look at is the concrete surface. Is it structurally sound? Will a topping (overlay) be installed? Since the survival of an overlay is the bond, concrete must be clean and the overlay properly applied if these types of creations are expected to last. Adamson points out that the hardness of an overlay and concrete are not the same, therefore the harder the surface, the cleaner the cut.