Can You Cut Glass Tile with a Wet Saw?

[magellan]

Hello all,

I don't mean to hi jack this thread but could I ask one question of you guys.  When cutting glass tile you can't use a wet saw correct?  I've did a few tile jobs as a home owner.  rather large scale for a non professional.  My other question is what happens when you have granite and glass tile on the same matt?  I'd like to do a back splash and they are 12 x 12 matts that have glass and granite in 5/8" wide bars.  How do you cross cut this if you  can't use a wet saw to cut glass.  Am I wrong in thinking you can't cut glass on a wet saw?  Would  I have to disassemble the pieces and cut them individually?

Let me apologize if I'm getting off the subject.  You can move this if I'm out of line. 

thank you

 

[lino-man]

You are correct -glass tile and wet saws don't get along. Like you said. Pull the glass pieces off when cutting the granite in the saw. I have a special tool that is designed for cutting and snapping glass pieces, but you can do the same thing by using a glass cutter and then using a pencil to snap the pieces in half.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[Holzhacker]

Ok, I don't know where the idea that you can't cut glass tile with a wet saw comes from but it's nonsense. We spent all last week doing glass tile backsplashes in some rentals; finished the current last one yesterday. We cut the end sheets flush prior to install and individual pieces using a $100 7" China POS home depot wet saw. Been doing this for the last year or so on this job as units come up. Works great, nice clean cuts, no issues.
You will want to keep the tray a bit low on water and dry off the saw plate from time to time to keep the mesh from getting too wet. Other than that have fun.

 

[mattfc]

see
http://www.aboutglasstile.com/images/installation/tutorials/cutting/cutting_slideshow.php

you need the right kind of blade supposedly

 

[Holzhacker]

Yes, one definitely needs the right kind of blade no matter what you are cutting. So the question shouldn't be if one can use a wet saw but what one has to do in order to use a wet saw for glass tile. I have a blade on my wet saw intended for glass tile. Can't say what kind it is though since the markings have long worn off.

 

[magellan]

Holzhacker and others,

I never thought of it but I can see your point about keeping the backing or in some cases with glass tile the paper on the front that holds the pieces together from getting too wet....Had to reread your post a few times to understand your advise  but thank you for that reminder.  Yea, been very curious about this for sometime and my thoughts were that you'd shatter the glass from the point of contact because of heat.  I understand we're talking wet saw here but I'm sure we've all see the point of contact one time or another a glow because of one reason or another.  Too slow, bad blade whatever but you've pretty much convinced me that it can be done.  I'll have to go to the big box store and buy a few practice pieces before cutting that $35.00 per square foot stuff.....now we all know that the cheap stuff won't cut like the expensive stuff right?????

Thank you all for your help

 

[lino-man]

I have no doubt that each tile craftsman has their way of working with glass tiles. This is the tool I use. Only cost me $10 and cuts fast and perfectly.

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[atomicmike]

I can vouch for the glass cutting blades from MK Diamond (http://www.mkdiamond.com/tile/bld_wcon_rd100_215gl.html). I used one, I think it was the MK-215GL, while remodeling my bathroom a couple of years ago (http://atomicmike.com/2010/08/tile-time/). It worked well, albeit slowly, and only really chipped when I tried to cut too fast. And when cutting sheets, you definitely need to do something about securing the tiles. The adhesive holding the mesh backer to the tiles I used was apparently water-soluble. Tiles very quickly started sliding around or coming off. I wound up using packing tape to hold the sheets together, which worked okay.

Nippers and scoring tools might be nice, but they only work on tiles thinner than 4mm, according to the manufacturers. In my case, the tiles were around 8mm thick, so the wet saw was really the only option.

- Mike