In the name of full disclosure, I will tell you that I’ve laid tiles only a handful of times, and only once had to use a tile saw. I have also never lost a digit while cutting ceramic tiles, although I have nearly lost the tip of my finger to a table saw and I’ve impaled my thumb with a nail gun. So I can say with some weight under my belt (or a lot of weight) that safety, especially while cutting small ceramic tiles, is paramount. And boy do you get safety with the TileSizer.
The TileSizer is in actuality a pretty simple little tile cutting jig, and thank goodness it is, because who wants to fight with a ton of working pieces when you have a 1″ x 1″ tile that needs to lose a 1/4″ off a corner. With the TileSizer, you can take off that little bit, and so much more.
Working Parts of the TileSizer
Before we get down to brass tacks, let’s talk about the working and moving parts of this little workhorse. The center opens and closes, much like a caliper, up to a 6″ x 6″ tile size. It clamps each side down tighter than Aunt Edna pinching the cheeks on your 4-year-old face. By clamping the sides tightly, not only does it completely negate slippage but it also minimizes the dust and larger particles that can fly up as the saw cuts. This means more saved pieces for later and less loss of fingertips all around.
The Glorious Capabilities of the TileSizer
Now what can it do – and how useful are the features? All the bells in China can’t get a frog to pull a train, if you catch my drift. Sure it can do a straight cut and a mitered cut, but so can my Uncle Shakes McGee. Sure it comes with a template that allows for straight cuts even down to the smallest pieces. (Check out the picture to the left.) But it also can be used free-handed, allowing you to cut rounded edges and custom shapes in your tile. And while it’s not going to handle large 2′ x 2′ tiles, how often are you really going to have to remove a pinky-sized chunk off of a tile of that size? For the sizes of tile that it does handle, you won’t risk removing a pinky-sized chunk from your…pinky while you cut your tiles.
The TileSizer is Inexpensive
Another beautiful thing about the tool is it costs about the same as a box of relatively inexpensive tiles. You can get the Tilesizer for $34.95, with free shipping to the lower 48 – cheaper than you stapling your fingers back on, and more time-saving than trying to freestyle tiles on your own. Check out the video below to view this tool in action.
Interesting. I just finished a huge tile project with a boatload of mosaic tile sheets. I bought a Ryobi tile saw that looks like a radial arm saw. Most of the tile cuts I did freehand, or I was able to cut entire sheets. All that being said, a diamond grit tile saw blade isn’t all that dangerous. It would be like nicking your finger on sandpaper. The work was very wet, though. I could see a saw shooting a tile or fragment of one if you weren’t careful. The biggest advantage I could see in this wold be in doing point to point cuts or a LOT of cuts to the same dimension.