What is the best way to cut a tile one time?

[A930Rocket]

I don’t plan on doing this more than once, so what is the best way to cut a shallow curve in a 12 x 12 tile?

I have a diamond blade for my cut off saw that might work.

[1990C4S]

Borrow a wet saw, or get a 4" diamond bit for your grinder.

[masraum]

I have used "score and nip" for this sort of thing, score the cut that you want, and then use nippers to "chew" it out. I'm not recommending that, mind you, but it works (be prepared to try a second time, tile can sometimes break where you don't want it to.

[911 Rod]

What kind of tile?

[908/930]

As 1990c4s mentioned, 4 1/2 diamond blade for grinder, going to be dusty.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by 908/930

As 1990c4s mentioned, 4 1/2 diamond blade for grinder, going to be dusty.

And don't breath the dust. A good respirator.

[MBAtarga]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

what is the best way to cut a shallow curve in a 12 x 12 tile?

Try to cut it straight!

[908/930]

Yes I was going to mention the respirator, goggles also a must not just safety glasses. I ended up with a small piece of marble in my eye years ago from grinding tile, bounced behind my glasses and had to go get it flushed out. That took months to heal.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Try to cut it straight!

LOL! Yep, that would do it. Although if it was me, that would probably result in an S curved line.

I had nippers and one of those manual tile cutters.
I also had a small, inexpensive wet saw that I think was $50-100 at HD many years ago. It worked well.

I was able to accomplish curved cuts with the nippers and to some extent the tile saw.

[Mike80911]

A tile blade on a dremel would do a good job on a small area like that.

[look 171]

$-4.5" drycut diamond blade with a grinder. Rough it out and grind it down to perfection. To reduce the dust, hold down the tile and run a wet sponge on the blade as you cut. Just be careful to not catch the sponge. That's how many of my tile guys cut their stuff on the job. Another way is to put a hole on the bottom of a bottle and run that small stream of water right onto the blade.

[peppy]

Don't try to cut the curve, cut straight from the edge to the marked curve and then nibble the pieces out. Then you can smooth the curve with a stone.

[Bugsinrugs]

Like others have said if you add water as you go you can almost eliminate the dust.. A helper with a water bottle with a nozzle on it slowly squirting as you cut.

[VINMAN]

I use a 4 1/2 inch diamond cut-off wheel on an angle grinder, to make all my curved cuts. Such around toilet flanges, shower valves. Cut hundreds of tiles this way. Never failed me. just go slow, use a water spray if you wet to keep the dust down.

.

[A930Rocket]

Thanks guys. I didn’t think about using water to keep the dust down. I was going to use a squirrel cage blower to keep dust away from me and a face shield.

I have a 4 1/2 inch diamond blade for my angle grinder. I only brought one tile home with me, but probably should’ve grabbed a couple more just in case.

I thinking of trying to cut the arch in one go or cut slits to the arch and take out the pieces. Might be a combination.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, as it’s going behind a bathtub and barely seen.

[908/930]

If you hold the grinder at 45 deg and use the corner of the diamond blade to scribe a line that you want to cut, you can work your way back a little and still use the side of the wheel to cut down, once in a little can do same from other side. Can make a 5" hole through tile easy enough like this, I am usually using stone tile though.

[ben parrish]

Wet saw with the fixed blade like a table saw……cut to line from the edge…nipp off with standard pliers and the smooth out the cut by pulling the tile slowly across the blade. Same basic principle you has used for notching posts.
The diamond blade on a side grinder it handy though on the smooth out.
I’ve installed a lot of tile and used this method many times for cutting tile around toilet flanges and tub/shower faucets where it had to be curved

[A930Rocket]

Diamond blade on the cut off saw worked like a dream.

The long edge, and the arc will be caulked to cover any gaps.

[masraum]

Excellent! Glad you got it done, and it seems to have come out great!

[Bill Douglas]

Well done! AND it didn't break.