Another Project Completed

Whew.  This project has been on my list for a year.  Last year I had used the old saltillo tile to top my little retaining wall, but I ran out of usable pieces and I had no way to cut the ones I had to fit the curves.  Oddly enough, it was difficult to find a place around here that sells saltillo tile.  I would have thought that it was a common thing sold in any tile store, but that's not the case.

Anyway, I finally found a store that sells it, so a few months ago I went and picked up enough to finish the wall.

I still didn't have a way to cut it, though and the wall is pretty curvy.

A few weeks ago, Tom found and bought a cheap tile saw.  I think he got it at his favorite man shop, Harbor Freight.  The weather was lovely on Friday, so Tom set up his...

Then he got out the shiny new tile saw.

And assembled it, attaching it to the work bench.  It looked like a cheapo little contraption.

In the meantime, I gathered up the other materials needed.

And here goes the first cut.  That white tray on the bottom is full of water, which wets the saw as it spins.  I think the designer wasn't thinking ahead because as the blade spins, drawing the water up onto it, it spews the water right out onto the person operating the saw.  Tom was covered with red clay spray by the time he got done, but I forgot to get a picture of it.  So, if you want to use one of these things, it might be a good idea to have some sort of work apron unless you don't mind get it all over your clothes.  Oh yeah, and wear goggles.

And here goes the first cut.

See how dirty the water is already?  Tom had to clean the tray after every few cuts.  That was kind of laborious, but it worked out OK with both of us working.  He stopped to clean the tray while I was marking the next tile to be cut.  Despite the cheap appearance of the saw, it worked great and took us less than an hour to get the whole wall, all along the front of the house, done.

And here's the same wall pictured above.  No more gaps!

It feels so good to cross that off my list and to know that this summer, I won't have a crop of weeds growing on the top of my wall.