Cutting Glass
Gary made mention of a couple glass cutting tips in this post. Does anyone have any additional tips? I have a brand new glass cutter and a small stockpile of 60-70 year old glass I salvaged from a few hopeless sashes. I should have enough glass to repair three panes if I don’t screw up too much of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, my wife may kill me if the mood takes her.
posted by John | 4:21 AM
4 Comments:
I had to cut lots of glass as substrates for my research project in graduate school. A couple of tips that helped me out were to either breathe (like you would to clean your eyeglasses, ghetto style) on the score line or sprinkle a little bit of water on it to facilitate the break before you tap. (I never had much luck with the tapping, actually) Also, with a little practice, you can feel it when you get a good score line with the cutter. If you get a really stubborn piece (usually due to a bad score), place the score line on the edge of sturdy table or countertop, put one hand flat on top of one half of it on the counter, and then flex down on the other half with your other hand. You may want to practice on a box of microscope slides or something cheap glass first to get the hang of it. Oh, and wear eye protection!!! When I break glass in the lab now, I usually wear gloves and eye protection and turn my head away when I break, just in case.
special pliers called groziers will cause your glass to break where you score it.
There is a place on Kavanaugh where they will sell you a pair and show you how to successfully cut glass: Chameleon Art Glass.
Good luck.
I do stained glass. Here are the things I find helpful. Clean glass. Make sure the cutting wheel is oiled and sharp. Hold the wheel straight up and down and pull towards you. I like to stand over the glass. You should hear a very cool zipping sound. Don't push down to hard, the object of the cut it to break the surface not cut the glass. Make the cut one long uninterrupted line. Cut should start for the edge of the top and run off at the bottom (i.e. cut runs to the edges) Do not run over a previous cut with your wheel - it can wreck the wheel. I have a grozier, but prefer to just place my hands on either side of the cut (thumbs on top on either side and rest of the fist below - cut side up) and snap the glass downward into two pieces. It shouldn't take much pressure. Good luck. Its pretty easy.
Thank you all for the tips! I actually feel like I know what I'm doing. Now all I need is a little practice.
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