How to saw porcelain tile with a circular saw: a complete guide

How to cut porcelain tiles

Porcelain tiles are a great choice for flooring, countertops, and wall tiles, as they offer a sleek and elegant look. However, cutting porcelain tiles can be quite a difficult task because they are very hard and brittle.

So, if you are thinking about cutting a porcelain tile with a circular saw, which is a common power tool that you may already have at home in this article, we will show you how. We will also explain the pros and cons of using a circular saw versus a wet tile saw, which is the best tool for this job.

Can you cut tile with a circular saw?

To put it short, the answer is yes. It is possible to cut with a traditional manual tile cutter or a wet tile saw.

The key lies in the following. With the tile cutter it is a specific scoring wheel that is responsible for making a shallow cut in this material. The advantage of doing this is the ability to take full advantage of the brittle nature of the ceramic by breaking the tile along the cut to finish. Scoring wheels or tips are made of heavy materials such as tungsten carbide or titanium. Such force is necessary to score this material.

The answer to whether you can use a circular saw tile cutter is therefore yes. Is it the best way to cut porcelain tile? In fact, the first choice for larger works is that. With a tile cutter it can be time consuming and there can be a lot of wasted material. So, can porcelain tiles be cut with a circular saw? By far the best option, let’s keep the cutter one for small cases only.

The circular saws sit on a compact electric bench and have the diamond-coated blade suitable for the job plus a water pump. Friction can make the blade extremely hot, but remember that the water keeps the blade cool while cutting.

The perfect tile cutting blade for a circular saw when cutting porcelain tiles, is the diamond blade. The reason is very simple: the diamond of the circular saw tile blade is one of the few materials harder than porcelain. To put it simply, it not only marks the tile, but is also capable of roughing it completely thanks to the diamond powder that coats it.

Start with the basics if you are interested in learning how to cut tiles with a circular saw. You need to understand how a tile cutting circular saw works. Once you understand that, you’ll see that the job costs absolutely nothing. Don’t worry, we’ll make it quick and easy for you.

How to cut porcelain tile with a circular saw

First of all, you need to know that cutting tile with a circular saw is not ideal. We will show you how to work with it just fine, but we also want you to know that it is not the best option. Maybe you did already have one and you want to save some money. But consider why it is or it is not worth it to go and rent a proper tile cutting saw for a couple of days.

If you are sure about cutting porcelain tile with a circular saw, this is what you will need:

• About the tile blade for your circular saw: it must be a diamond masonry blade specially designed for porcelain. It has the proper size for this kind of saw.
• Here you have two options: you can make a water-cooling mechanism at home with some help, or you can be very patient and use a construction-grade respirator mask.

The blade you will be using for your circular saw is the same blade that you would use on a wet tile saw. It is essential that you choose the right size for your saw, and obviously it has to be specifically designed for cutting 20 mm porcelain tiles, for example, among others (in another post we will show you specifically how to cut 20mm porcelain tiles, if you want). Remember that porcelain is a very hard material, which means that you can’t just use any blade.

In most of the cases, it is recommended performing a wet cutting. Keep in mind that it will be easier for you to work with the saw, faster, and more importantly, it will be safer. Besides, the tile will be less likely to chip.

You can ask for help, and the assistant would have to do the wet cutting by slowly pouring the water flow over the tile and the front of the blade. He or she could use a bucket of water or a garden hose. Whatever you choose, you need to be very careful. Remember that tile saws are created to be used with water. But circular saws are not. This means that there is a real risk of electrocution.

If you choose to perform a dry cut, we highly recommend you wear a proper respirator mask. Not just any dust mask. Remember that you need to cover yourself to be protected from the crystalline silica dust that cutting porcelain tiles produces. It is very dangerous. Besides, a blade specially designed for dry cutting will be required. If you must dry cut, the work will be a bit slow, because you need to make short and shallow cuts, or the blade will get overheated.

Tile blade for circular saw

With these pieces of advice and precautions, you can cut porcelain with your own circular saw for tiles. But if you are interested on cutting tile professionally, we suggest you spend some money and rent or buy a bench tile cutting saw and instead of using a circular saw to cut cutting tile.

Whatever you end up doing, remember to wear the proper protection gear and use common sense.