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Discussion Forum

Smooth Curved Tile Cuts

Clewless1 | Posted in General Discussion on May 21, 2008 06:27am

I’m getting ready to tile a counter with a gentle (9 ft radius) outside curve to it. The edge of the surface tile is to be exposed with edge tile coming up underneath and covered by the surface tile.

What are my best options for cutting/finishing a smooth edge on this? Can I use a tile saw to cut the curve close and then use a polishing pad to get a fine smooth finished edge? I’ve never used a polishing pad, but imagine that shouldn’t take a lot of magic. I have a diamond blade for my angle grinder, but not sure if this would help me.

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  1. Waters | May 21, 2008 07:00pm | #1

    i'd lay out all your tiles in the curve, as they'll be in the end, and scribe or mark them as such.

    Then # 'em too.

    Try the tile saw first.  If that doesn't work for the slight radius, then cut them out with your angle grinder and diamond blade.  This works fine for me--I've cut some curves around bathtubs and whatnot this way.

    What sort of tile are you using?  The cut edge may look quite different than the top?

    You can buy carbide sandpaper for a RO sander that might help clean things up... or for your angle grinder.

    ??

     

  2. jrnbj | May 21, 2008 07:41pm | #2

    IMHO you are in for a lot of grief. Will the tile edges polish up nicely? Even if the answer is yes, it's a lot of hand work, and getting a fair curve won't be easy. I'd be going back to the designer, and giving some kind of disclaimer for the probable result!

    1. Clewless1 | May 21, 2008 10:56pm | #3

      jnrbj

      so ... don't just criticize ... what can you contribute, too? While I'm fine w/ the down side, I need to get the job done and I can't do it with knowing only what MAYBE won't work.

      1. jrnbj | May 22, 2008 12:59am | #6

        Looks to me like BOILER gave you a pretty good answer....but again, it requires the designer to make a change in their vision of the finished product. Sometimes that's not easy----but sometimes it's easier than the alternative...

  3. User avater
    boiler7904 | May 21, 2008 11:22pm | #4

    The angle grinder and diamond blade is probably the right answer to get a curved cut.  You're in for a lot of detail work and polishing to get this to even look close to right.

    Like someone else mentioned, the body of the tile and the surface probably have two different looks unless they are a natural stone or porcelain with color and texture that continues below the surface.  If you haven't already started, at least approach the designer and/or client ask about butting the countertop tile to the edge tile and propose using segments of a bullnose tile to give a nice finished look to the edges.

     
    1. TomE | May 22, 2008 12:00am | #5

      Yeah, pie-shaped bullnose sections to approximate a true curve might be the ticket for top pieces. 

       9' radius would not be too bad to do with a smallish tile.

       

  4. DanH | May 22, 2008 01:02am | #7

    So long as it's an outside (convex) curve I think you'd be able to do fairly well with the saw. Just tedious.

    What you need is a face grinder with a table, so you can work the rough-cut tile against it with a smooth, steady motion to get down to the mark.

    What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. --Bertrand Russell
  5. caseyr | May 22, 2008 01:03am | #8

    I used a Dremel tool with the Dremel tile bit to cut some bathroom tile. I was surprised at how fast it cut (it cut a little too fast and took me by surprise so that I had to do a little patching...). It was freehand, and a bit hard to conrol well, so the curve wasn't close to a perfect curve, but I would think that with some type of a guide it could be made passable. I have not tried the bit with the harder floor tile.

  6. RalphWicklund | May 22, 2008 02:47am | #9

    Use your wet saw as usual to cut to the line. Don't try to put a finished curve on until all the waste is gone.

    Then push the saw table under the blade and use the table as a work surface to rotate the tile against the side of the blade.

    To finish the edge to a higher standard you then need a polishing kit for your grinder.

    http://www.protoolsexpress.com/cart/product_31555_detailed.html

    If your tile doesn't have color all the way through it's going to look funky, but maybe that's what the designer wants.

    You can also fire up the kiln and reglaze the cut edges, even change the color if you wish.



    Edited 5/22/2008 12:59 am ET by RalphWicklund

  7. alwaysoverbudget | May 22, 2008 02:51am | #10

    if the job has enough money in it you could look at a waterjet guy to cut it,i'm priceing someone else's work but i would guess a 100. would get it done around here on a jet. larry

    if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?

  8. Shoeman | May 22, 2008 02:58am | #11

    Depending on the hardness of the tile - you might be able to use a RemiGrit blade in a jigsaw.  I have had pretty good luck with that on some ceramic wall tiles.

    just a thought

  9. potomac | May 22, 2008 07:16am | #12

    9' radius should be easy to get like these others said, with your wet saw to get rid of most waste, then sometimes I'll clamp the grinder to a bench or whatever and hold the tile in your hands and grind to the line, you should get smooth results this way. Maybe a belt sander clamped down as well, if the curve is not so drastic. The edge of the tile will show, why not try and talk with the designer about it, maybe, just maybe they didn't think of everything this time? I doubt it though

  10. User avater
    ToolFreakBlue | May 22, 2008 08:36am | #13

    The edge tiles will be a bunch of straight segments making the curve anyway. Might as well, as has been suggested use bull nose for the perimeter top edge tiles and then tweak the field to fit the curve.

    cut tiles on the edge don't look that great in my opinion.

    TFB (Bill)
    1. Clewless1 | May 22, 2008 11:20pm | #14

      Thanks for all the comments. I'm both the designer and the client and don't have the luxury of bullnose as I got the tile left over from a job. The tile is dark ... the edge is very light ... acceptable in my view ... the light color defines the edge. I'll put edge tile up to/under the overlapping bar top tile. It really does look fine!! ... Now to my finish work. Thanks much to everyone.

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