[Banff]

I have about 200 18 by 10 in sheets of old glass (old being the operative word) . I'm not going to waste it or throw it out so I'm going to use it for all kinds of projects but I've run into a problem . I have a six wheel cutter and the blades seem okay but because the glass is old it just keeps breaking on me every time I try to snap my cut line . I was told lighting the cut line on fire with butane and letting it burn out before snapping it works .Please help

[Richard]

I have done that with a quick shot of lighter fluid you bet.

[Banff]

Richard Richard:

I have done that with a quick shot of lighter fluid you bet.

I'll give that a try thanks

[fatbasturd]

Clean glass breaks easily and just where you want it to, but a little bit of dirt can cause a little break in the score and let the break take off for the north forty

[LittleBastard]

If all else fails... try a HAMMER!!!

LOL

[oldcaper]

Try dipping your cutting wheel in clean oil (motor oil will do) before you score the glass. This keeps the score from being "hot". Make sure the glass is clean and don`t press too hard on the cutter. I spent 8 years in the glass business. Good luck

[Banff]

PorscheBoxster2001 PorscheBoxster2001:

If all else fails... try a HAMMER!!!

LOL

that was very tempting after breaking 6peices about 25 times and only getting 2 good breaks
anyway thanks everybody I'll let you know how it goes .

[Jaime_Souviens]

Banff Banff:

I have about 200 18 by 10 in sheets of old glass (old being the operative word) . I'm not going to waste it or throw it out so I'm going to use it for all kinds of projects but I've run into a problem . I have a six wheel cutter and the blades seem okay but because the glass is old it just keeps breaking on me every time I try to snap my cut line . I was told lighting the cut line on fire with butane and letting it burn out before snapping it works .Please help

I once worked on a project making stained glass pieces (as in church windows). I cut thousands of pieces of glass.

The bad news : I really think the only way to do it is to get a cheap pair of leather gloves and start making cuts and breaking it until you get a feel for it. That is, the only way to really do it right is hands on, and training your hands to know what to feel for. This means you're going to go through a fair amount of glass. But once you do, you'll be able to pop out any design you want and do really fine work. ---I used to be able to pop out a triangle five inches long and a half inch at the base.

One bit of advice is that it is very important, when cutting a line, to have a consistent pressure on the cutting wheel the whole time, the whole length. Somehow, variations in pressure in cutting will later cause the break to veer one way or the other.

The better news : 1) we never tried to snap a crack first and then break, it was once with the cutter, and then all at once. It'd either work or it wouldn't. 2) we applied a coat of kerosene first, and then score with a cutter, and then break. I don't know how the kerosene helped anything, but it definitely did.

If you can think of it like this, you want to have the stress in the glass along the line of the cut, so that when the glass is broken, the break runs along where you've scored it with a cutter. Think of the scoring with a cutter like folding a piece of paper before you tear it, you're weakening along a straight line in hopes it will tear along that line.

So, if you're doing a long break, have the glass resting on a long support along the length of the cut. For example, the glass on the edge of a table. This causes the stress on the glass to follow that line, and hopefully the break will follow the line of the highest stress.

And I'd throw out your cutter and get a new one. A really cheap disposible fresh cutter is far better than anything old no matter how it looks.

[Wullu]

Is this glass old as in antique banff? If so ya might want consider a pro?

Jess a thought.

[Banff]

Jaime_Souviens Jaime_Souviens:

Banff Banff:

I have about 200 18 by 10 in sheets of old glass (old being the operative word) . I'm not going to waste it or throw it out so I'm going to use it for all kinds of projects but I've run into a problem . I have a six wheel cutter and the blades seem okay but because the glass is old it just keeps breaking on me every time I try to snap my cut line . I was told lighting the cut line on fire with butane and letting it burn out before snapping it works .Please help

I once worked on a project making stained glass pieces (as in church windows). I cut thousands of pieces of glass.

The bad news : I really think the only way to do it is to get a cheap pair of leather gloves and start making cuts and breaking it until you get a feel for it. That is, the only way to really do it right is hands on, and training your hands to know what to feel for. This means you're going to go through a fair amount of glass. But once you do, you'll be able to pop out any design you want and do really fine work. ---I used to be able to pop out a triangle five inches long and a half inch at the base.

One bit of advice is that it is very important, when cutting a line, to have a consistent pressure on the cutting wheel the whole time, the whole length. Somehow, variations in pressure in cutting will later cause the break to veer one way or the other.

The better news : 1) we never tried to snap a crack first and then break, it was once with the cutter, and then all at once. It'd either work or it wouldn't. 2) we applied a coat of kerosene first, and then score with a cutter, and then break. I don't know how the kerosene helped anything, but it definitely did.

If you can think of it like this, you want to have the stress in the glass along the line of the cut, so that when the glass is broken, the break runs along where you've scored it with a cutter. Think of the scoring with a cutter like folding a piece of paper before you tear it, you're weakening along a straight line in hopes it will tear along that line.

So, if you're doing a long break, have the glass resting on a long support along the length of the cut. For example, the glass on the edge of a table. This causes the stress on the glass to follow that line, and hopefully the break will follow the line of the highest stress.

And I'd throw out your cutter and get a new one. A really cheap disposible fresh cutter is far better than anything old no matter how it looks.

-I used to be able to pop out a triangle five inches long and a half inch at the base. WHOA ! I'm impressed but ....
Somehow, variations in pressure in cutting will later cause the break to veer one way or the other. is what I was afraid of . pause ...............okay I just did four out of ten in rush fashion I think I can do this with a little more care put into it .

[GunPlumber]

i used to convert old wine bottles into goblets. after scoring the glass with a scribe, I would rotate the scribed line through the flame of a candle. as the glass was heated, you could see the scribed line extending into the glass. followed the heat by rubbing an icecube along the line, and then gave a quick snap on the bottle to seperate it.

don't know if this technique will work on plate glass, but it might be worth a try.

[Jaime_Souviens]

Best advice:

Be the glass.

[Arctic_Menace]

Glass!! It's not just candy!!!

[Banff]

GunPlumber GunPlumber:

i used to convert old wine bottles into goblets. after scoring the glass with a scribe, I would rotate the scribed line through the flame of a candle. as the glass was heated, you could see the scribed line extending into the glass. followed the heat by rubbing an icecube along the line, and then gave a quick snap on the bottle to seperate it.

don't know if this technique will work on plate glass, but it might be worth a try.

hmmm ...I like that idea

[GunPlumber]

let me know if it works on plate glass.

last year i built a wooden cabinet for a friend and i'm thinking i'd like to do it over (or a similiar project) with glass inserts in the upper doors.