How to Trim Tiles to Fit Space
At first glance, cutting materials as hard and brittle as stone and ceramic tile may sound like a job for Old World craftsmen only. Nothing could be further form the truth. Over the years I’ve cut dozens of tiles, and hacked up stone for a mantel, a hearth and a bluestone walk and porch. I’m certainly no old World craftsman, yet in all those cuts, I’ve never had a real problem.
With the right tools and techniques, I don’t see why you will have any problems, either.
Ceramic tile – The surface of a glazed tile is actually coated with a thin layer of fused glass, so it shouldn’t surprise you that cutting tiles is a lot like cutting glass. In fact, you can usually do the job with an ordinary glass cutter.
Start with a new cutter, and lubricate its wheel with a drop of light oil or kerosene. Place your tile face up on a non-skid surface, and using a straight-edge as a guide, run the cutter along your desired line of cut. Use plenty of pressure and try to make the cut with one smooth stroke.
Now place your tile – still face up – with the score line you have just created directly over the edge of a table or bench. Alternatively, place the score mark directly over a thin dowel.
Now just press down on the scrap side of your cut line, and the tile should break neatly along the score. If the scrap is relatively narrow, you may have to grip it with pliers to snap it off.
Although an ordinary glass cutter will usually work on most tiles, those that are particularly thick may require a real tile cutter. You can rent it wherever you buy your tiles. This tool will give you greater accuracy and cutting leverage than an ordinary glass cutter. And it will speed your work considerably if you have lots of similar cuts to make.
The folks at your tile shop will show you how to use it. For curved cuts in tile, I like to use a carbide-coated cutter designed to fit a hacksaw frame. These come in two types. One looks like a grit-coated rod (see sketch) while the other looks like an ordinary steel blade with a grit-coated edge. You want the rod type to cut curves.
Use this tool just like an ordinary saw blade. It’s usually best to clamp your tile in a vise – padding the jaws with scraps of wood to prevent breakage.
Work carefully with smooth, long strokes. If you let the saw wobble too much, it may bind and crack the tile. Because the tool is coated on all sides, it will cut curves in all directions. I once used one of these tools to cut tiles to fit around some complicated woodwork and it performed perfectly.
Stone – Carbide abrasives are also the way to cut stone. In this case, however, you want an abrasive blade for your circular saw. This will look like a disk sandwiching a layer of abrasive grit between two layers of fiberglass screen. These blades are made in different types – one for masonry, the other for metal – so make sure you get the right type.
While your are at it, get goggles or, better yet, a full face mask, some ear plugs or muffs, and a dust mask.
This is going to be a noisy, dusty job, with bits of grit and stone flying all over the place. All that grit doesn’t do your saw a lot of good, so if you have a lot of cutting to do, you might like to buy an inexpensive saw for this job and save your good one for woodworking.
Straight cuts are easiest. Use a straight-edge to guide your saw, clamping it to your work at both ends. Mount the abrasive disk in your saw and set it to cut about a quarter-inch deep. Fire up the saw and run it slowly along your straight-edge. Don’t rush things, or the saw will start to ride up and you won’t cut deeply enough.
After making a quarter-inch cut all the way across your work, you can snap the scrap off, just as if you were cutting glass. I just hang the scrap over my straight-edge, and break the scrap free. To do this you can knock it off with a heavy hammer, or just stamp on it with your foot.
Curved cuts are harder. Start by laying the cut out with a piece of chalk. Then score lightly along this line with your saw, working freehand. You have to work very slowly and lightly, making a dozen or so passes. If you force things, the blade may bind and shatter.
Once your cut is down to a depth of about a quarter-inch, you should be able to break the scrap off. Tap lightly along the score line (on the back side) to encourage the stone to crack there.
Keep working back and forth along this line, tapping and tapping until you see a crack develop. You should then be able to break the scrap free.
If the curve of your cut is sharp or complex, your scrap may want to break off in two or more pieces. This is OK. In fact, you may want to encourage this by cutting a few score lines from your main line of cut out to the edge of the scrap.
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