How to cut rubber spacers on mosaic tile

Question

I'm using this mosaic tile as a backsplash in our bathroom.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Jeffrey-Court-Karats-White-10-625-in-x-11-125-in-Hexagon-Polished-Marble-Gold-Metal-Floor-and-Wall-Mosaic-Tile-0-820-sq-ft-Each-97937/307768950

The gold spacers are a thin metal on top of another substance. The first three appeared to have some kind of ceramic under the gold facade and cut just fine with the wet saw. But two of the sheets have some kind of black rubber underneath instead, and the wet saw simply won't cut it. It cuts a bit on the edges, but once it's fully in there it simply won't push any further.

I'm hoping I'm just missing some pro technique here. The only option I could come up with was to cut each tile on the wet saw, then cut the rubber/gold on a table saw. That does NOT sound like a recipe for achieving a straight cut, but it's all I've got. Suggestions?

Answer 1

First, I have never cut this type of tile before, so this is just an unproven idea.

As you know, a tile saw doesn't have any teeth. Its just an abrasive wheel, so it will only cut through hard materials. The rubber on your tile, which is cooled by the water of the saw, just isn't what the blade is made for. The only thing the blade can really do is melt/grind through it.

What I would do is mark the cut line with masking tape on the front and back and then use a razor knife to cut a 1/4" channel in the rubber for the blade to run through. Then turn the tile over and cut.

Actually, just trying to cut the tile upside down might work and allow the blade to push the rubber up and out of the way, but the accuracy of the cut on the small gold pieces might suffer. I'd probably stick to cutting a channel out of the rubber when working with $20 tiles.

I bet an overhead style tile saw would just power through it, but I get that those are big and expensive and not worth it for smaller DIY jobs.