OT: Cutting ceramic

Yes A sabre saw would work....or the dremel tool or rotozip. Just need to have the right blade and or bit.

Rick

PS hope to meet you when I come to NC in Oct to my daughters wedding.

As seen on TV. One of those drill bits that also cut sideways seems like it might work on ceramic. You get steak knives with them if you order right now.

I bet you could find one at a hardware store if you don't need the knives.

Take the shot of whiskey anyway.

You might want to check with a tile store, preferably one that is for the professionals, to get recommendations. They might also have tools for rent.

I'd consider breaking the glaze first - a hand-held glass cutter with a wheel might do the job but the ripples in the BGE surfact might make it a little harder. You still might get chips in the glaze but it'd be more controlled.

Then I'd try to find a hacksaw with a diamond or carborundum blade. Or, if the length of the cut is large and straight enough, a cutoff or similar blade for a circular saw. Years ago I used one of these in my Skilsaw for cutting flagstone to size - it worked well but threw out a lot of grit and the blades wore down fast. You can even make pocket cuts if necessary. The downside with a circular saw is that you can't easily take it to a corner - you always have some handwork to do. You might also consider drilling at the corners to prevent an inadvertent extended break - crack the glaze and use a masonry bit.

You will be posting photos of the end product, won't you?

I used a standard masonry bit in a regular drill. Did some hole testing on a broken dome. Masonry bit works well. Should work OK with a masonry blade in a sabre or saw-z-all.






Let me know and I'll do some test sawing. The piece I have to work on is broken, so it isn;t really that much trouble.

I did a lot of research about ceramic cutting tools. If you use a rotary tool then you need something stronger than the Dremel. A commercial-grade tile cutter like the RotoZip at a minimum. The choice of bits is critical too. A diamond-coated titanium or carbide blade works best but is expensive and you might need more than one. Most tile cutting bits are only rated to cut tile up to 1/2" thick so the thickness of the egg could be an issue, or you might just go through bits faster.

An alternative is a jigsaw with a diamond coated tile blade. These blades are cheaper so you can afford to go through a bunch of them if needed. Regardless of what you cut with, you should go slow and take frequent breaks to let the bit/blade cool down. Spraying the bit or blade with water continuously during the cut might help but this makes it hard to see the cut line.

After considering all the options and buying some good diamond blades for my jigsaw, I ended up getting a local tile installer to cut my tile for me with his professional wet saw. You might call a local tile store and speak to their installer to see if they can do it for you. This would be cheaper than buying or renting equipment and they have the experience to do it right.