How to cut mosaic tiles with a Hammer and Hardie
Mosaic tips and instructions from Xinamarie
The principle of a mosaic hammer and hardie is that the stone is cracked between 2 blades -- the blade of the hammer and the blade of the hardie. The hardie gets embedded in a hunk of wood -- the flat top of a log is good, so long as the log stands up stable. (see instructions on how to install a hardie in a log) The stone is placed on the hardie, and the hammer comes down on top to slice the stone.
It takes some time to "get your hand" with this, and in my opinion, its something that can't really be taught – you just have to keep doing it and doing it and doing it until you get it -- the tiniest subtleties of pressure and hammer angle are something that your body learns without your brain even knowing about it.
There are a few tips that may help:
its important that the hammer come down straight -- angled hammer hits will either cause angled cuts or will shatter the stone rather than cutting it.
the stone that you are cutting can't be too big -- if it is long but thin, this is OK, but if it is big and square it is really difficult to get a straight cut. I sell marble by the "rod", which are cut lengths of marble ready to be easily cut with hammer and hardie.
Accuracy is FAR more important than strength usually the weight of the hammer is enough to cut the stone. Some kinds of stone are harder to cut than others but for the most part, go for a quality hit rather than a quantity one.
Its important that the marble isn't too thick -- 1 to 1.5 cm is ideal.
Use a paper or plastic shallow bowl/plate with a hole cut in the middle for the hardie to stick up out of to catch the pieces as you cut them.
You can crack large pieces of stone or glass over the hardie with your hands: Grip firmly with both hands and crack down over the hardie, and it should break.
For maximum precision, work in “halves” -- if you have one 8cm long piece you need to cut into eight 1cm tessere, cut two pieces of 4cm, then 4 of 2cm, then 8 of 1xcm. It is much more time consuming than just cutting 1cm pieces off the end, but if you need perfect precision, the cuts will be more accurate if you are cutting across the middle of a piece rather than an end.
MOSAIC TIPS FROM XINAMARIE
mosaic tiles and tools for mosaic art and hobby