WWA Info Exchange

So my wife and I decided to tile the master bathroom last weekend. Removal of carpet and other crud took a few hours but went smoothly.

Time to put the Hardiboard down. First few sheets fit perfect. The next few required cutting so I broke out the jigsaw. First few cuts, no problem. Then I bent a blade. I've bent blades before when I didn't stabilize the wood so I figured it was just a matter of bracing the Hardiboard better. Next blade, lasted about 4ft before bluing and bending. My stupid thinking is that I am just doing something wrong so I head down to the bandsaw. Boy was I right!

Man was cutting on the bandsaw sweet. First few cuts were easy. Then they started to get hard. I stopped the saw and looked at the blade. I had ground the teeth almost all the way off. Only then did I stop to think things through. Stupid me....using wood blades on something akin to concrete!

adam

Did something similar recently, although I didn't grind the teeth off the blade. I was trying to resaw UHMW on the bandsaw. Strings of UHMW throughout the saw housings, got under the tires and almost brought the saw to a stop. Had to finish resawing on the tablesaw, which was a little scary.

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John

I had some blue styrofoam to cut precisely and thought the table saw would be a good idea. It cut real smooth the first cut. The second cut the foam "melted" to the blade and had MAJOR KICKBACK. The antikick back pawls ripped right through the foam.

Well, I probably shouldn't admit it but I had to get to the
final paragraph to figure out why your blades were being
destroyed. Guess I get the dim bulb award for the day!

Tom

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T-n-T

3 words - Electric kitchen knife.

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I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Oddly enough, they normally cut that stuff with a toothless blade. Maybe a swap with Adam?

If you had a lot of foam to cut it would be fairly simple to mount a electric knife in a homemade table complete with a fence and tilt capability for precision cuts. In fact, you could probably strap it to a BS blade guard with a couple clamps so the blade sticks down thru the table insert.

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Usually, backerboard, as I know it, can be scored with a common utility knife and then snapped off like glass. Seen lots of tile layers use this method.

Take care,
Carlos

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Be Happy!

For the fiberglas reinforced cement backer board, score it with a 'scratch-all', at least that's what mine's called. Carbide tip on the blade; lasts longer than a utility knife blade.

Cutting rigid foam board is usually done commercially (or so I'm told) with a hot wire. I rigged up a piece of salvaged toaster element wire (stretched straight) and a car battery. Scary stuff so don't fuss around with it if you're not comfy with batteries and electricity. Nice thing is it's quite a clean way to cut foam.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

One of the brands of backer board can be cut with carbide circular saw blades. (Hardibacker?) It's messy and probably carcinogenic, though.

I've had success cutting extruded polystyrene ("blue board") on the bandsaw.

And finally, Georgia Pacific makes a product that has a vinyl cover (rather than paper) and can be used for tile. I think it's called Denshield. It's a gypsum product, so you work it just like sheetrock. However, you do have to caulk any seam with a cut edge and all the screw holes. On the other hand, it's so waterproof when installed correctly, you don't even need to grout the tiles if that's the look you want.