A:
The first thing to understand when measuring the life of a diamond blade is the unit of measure that represents the actual amount of material removed by the diamond blade. Material removal when referenced for diamond blades is expressed in inch-feet. The unit of inches describes the depth of cut of the blade and the unit of feet is used to indicate the distance of travel. So for example a blade this is used to make a 30 foot long cut 5 inches deep will have removed 150 inch-feet of material. It is also possible that a blade that is used to make a ten foot long cut ten inches deep will have removed 150 inch-feet of material. So to get the amount of material removed it is simply a matter of multiplying the length of the cut in feet by the depth of the cut in inches to get the total inch-feet removed.
Some general notes about applications:
Using a blade designed to cut dry in a wet cutting application will significantly reduce the life of the blade but improve the cutting speed.
Increasing the horsepower will reduce the footage and in some drastic cases result in catastrophic failure of the steel core.
On average an economy blade will strive to achieve somewhere in the 800 to 1500 inch feet when used exactly as specified on the label.
A premium product when used as specified on the label and in the appropriate application is estimated to achieve in the range of 3500 to 5000 inch-feet.