I've installed a fair amount of this stuff behind tub-surrounds & showers. I generally use a jig saw with a carbide blade, which promptly goes dull. Any experienced tile workers out there find a better way?
I am an architect and I have seen tile layers on the jobsites use a table saw or a 7 1/2 circular saw to make long cuts for the cement board with a carbide tip blade (60 teeth per inch) and for small cuts they use a hand jab saw or sometimes those little roto-zip hand tools. I think that the jig saw blades are too thin and heat up and get dull too fast. for the blue board or green board they just score or break it - Good Luck
You can use a masonry blade on a Skil Saw as previously mentioned, but for straight cuts I just use a utility knife and score the board, just like gypsum wall board. You may have to score it two or three times, but there is almost no dust this way.
Yep, there's a circular saw blade made just for this purpose. Look for it where they sell the Hardie products. I replace all the trim on a two story house with Hardie 1 X 4s and the blade still had some life left in it.
If you can handle a little dust, they make a cement board blade for a 7 circular saw. It has about 24 big teeth on it and it slices right though. It will give you a nice clean edge. But there is the dust factor so I always set up outside and use a dust mask. I've used the blade for about 3 years and it is still sharp.
