Bull Nosed Tiles

No you cannot.

Once fired, tile are virtually unchangeable.

Once fired, tile are virtually unchangeable.

That's not entirely true as standard ceramic tiles can be cut using various means (although you will likely ruin a few in the process).

However putting a complex edge on a tile (as Angus is asking) is not possible as far as I am aware.

Bad choice of words. "Impossible to re-shape" maybe. Without cutting. OK?

You could pound the crap out of some tile and make a mosaic in the shape of a bull nose tile, I guess.

What do I know?

Lyn is correct. After firing and glazing, there ain't no going back.

Bake a cake; then unbake it, remove a little bit of sugar, then bake it again. Vitrified tile is sort of like that.

[edit] I misread, your OP says porcelain tile. Pretty much the same answer.

What I have in mind is grinding an edge of the tile down to resemble a bull shape and then smoothing and pollishing it. I could coat it with a lacquer to give it gloss sheen.

Any thoughts?

Angus

Have you considered buying, etching and painting an existing bull nose tile to match your color?

I was thinking along the same lines as Lyn. Buy a bullnose shaped tile you like and use epoxy paint made for tile that is the same color, or a matching color, to the tile you have. If you use a matching color, then you could use the same paint on accent pieces to tie it all together. The paint should be available at most large DIY stores, probably Amazon, too; here's an example:

http://www.refinishingonline.com/floortilepaint.htm

If you're willing to go that far, just hook up with a local ceramics shop and make your own from scratch,,, to match....

http://www.getfireduppottery.com/

call a potter they can make them

Well you could attack them with an angle grinder but I don't think you will get the finish you are after, and you certainly won't be able to get a repeatable and uniform edge making the end result look ugly on your wall.

Grinding the edge would not work with porcelain tile because the inside looks different than the surface. This would work with granite or marble since natural stone is the same inside as on the surface.

For your porcelain the best you could do is create a beveled edge by adding a thin line about a half inch wide. The problem with this is cutting a narrow strip for the bevel without breaking it. Also the cut edge of ceramic and porcelain tend to look different than the factory edges. You will also have to modify your substrate or backer board to fit the narrow strip, but that's the easy part. You can get fancy and cut 22.5 degree angles on the four joining surfaces, but this is only necessary if you're wanting thin grout lines.

I would suggest finding a bull-nose that will compliment your tile. If this is for a counter top, you might consider stained and polyurethaned wood molding for the edge. Good luck.

Extrusions like these

http://taoyuanalu.en.made-in-china.com/product/PelxhUJMJykT/China-PVC-Tile-Trims.html

are available in many colors, for the purpose of edge trim. Powder coated aluminum extrusions in the same style are also available at most tile stores.

Mark Bingham
Relativity PL

No, I would contact a Potter and have them make some for you.

Like Black Mountain Pottery near Ashville N.C.

Angus

When I was researching bull nose tiles ... they were called coving tiles by memory ... I found a company in USA that if you send them a sample tile to get the colour they would make a batch for you ... and I think from memory they made reverse curve ones too.

Do not have time to find them today but if you cannot find them let me know and I will have a search this coming week end.

http://americanbullnose.com/ this company has bull nose tiles but there what I would not call bull nose but radius edge tiles.

http://www.wayfair.com/Interceramics-Iron-Slate-Collection-X96986.html ... have a look at these ... I really think you need to search around ...

Batt