Cutting Ceramic Tile -- Curves

Cutting ceramic tile on a curve requires some thought. That's because there is no one tool that obviously is intended for curve cutting... no tile jig saws.

Here's the way it works.

Straight cuts are made up to the curved lines using a tile saw. That means the straight cuts are made within the area to be cut away. The cuts are made up to or close to the line of the curve. When several cuts are made, much of the material to be removed is now gone.

Then the rest of the material to be removed up to the line is worked away using tile nippers. Nibble your way up to the line.

That means don't cut right up to the line. Cut slightly short and carefully work up to the line. Otherwise, chipping may likely result. Small bits removed at a time results in a relatively smooth finished line and a line that has been nibbled out at just the curve you choose.

So in effect you remove most of the material to be cut away to get to the line with saw cuts when cutting ceramic tile on a curve. Then nibble away the remainder of the material just up to the line using the hand operated tile nippers.

What about smoothing such cuts?

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