You guys are missing the boat here.. I cut lots of plate with a carbide toothed metal blade on a regular old skill saw.. I have a torch, and a track burner... heck I even have a CNC pattern torch... and I still cut most of my straight cuts with a skill saw.. its fast, easy, clean and cheap... You can cut 1/2" plate with a saw faster than you can torch cut it and have a machined looking edge... Dont knock it till you try it..

amazon blade info


I cut 4' of 3/4 plate with my saw just the other day.. took almost 5 min to cut the sheet in half.. but cutting 1/2" you could cut 4' in maybe 2 mins

Larry, Just gotta yank your chain on this one Clean? edge perhaps how about all tha chips flying every where? Had a guy in the shop 20 feet away cutting 1/2 in. Carbide tip came off. He didn't even know it. Sounded like just like a 7.62 round going past my head and thru the metal wall.Is your CNC gas or plasma?
If I want easy clean and fast it goes on the plasma table. Water table and exhaust fan keep it clean. Chair inna office (watching thru the window) makes it easy and CNC plasma makes it quick. Being in the other room means no noise and no
flying debries.Best part is at 65+ I don't have to climb on it or streeech.
Ken.

OK, I now have my 7 1/4", 48 tooth Bosch Steel cutting blade # CB748ST. The Blade packaging says that the blade will cut " up to 25HRC" .

What is the typical expectation for HRC of hot rolled steel plate ?

There are no hints how to judge when the feed rate is correct. Generally I would expect that a forward pressure that would allow the saw to maintain blade speed without laboring would give the correct cutting speed. Comments ?

http://www.precisiongrinding.com/Plate/Steel_Plate/custom_steel_plates.htm
about rockwell 20c, most of the specs list brinell hardness

http://www.engineersedge.com/materials/carbon-steel-properties.htm

http://www.carbidedepot.com/formulas-hardness.htm
this helped.

Phil