Cuttign glass shelf question

Re: Cuttign glass shelf question

Mark Nowicki

Wear PPE rated for cut resistance, gloves, arm protectors, shoes, eye protection.

Try to drill a hole in it, you will find out if is tempered or not soon enough.

Or just hit it with a hammer to see how it breaks.

A 12"X24" glass shelf or tile can't be too expensive, even for a cheapskate.

Re: Cutting glass shelf question

Lee Schierer in McKean, PA

Take your glass out side in the sun and look at it with polarized sunglasses. If you see a quilted pattern on the glass it is tempered.

Lee

Do you have a tile wet saw

Mike L

I have cut glass tiles before on a wet saw. Not sure if al glass is created equal. but it might be a easy way to cut it straight and safe.

Re: Do you have a tile wet saw

Bill Howatt

I had to cut some old window glass about 3/16" thick to make a glass shelf and I didn't have great luck getting all the cuts clean, I had a jagged bump to clean off and I used my cheapie tile wet saw to do it. Saved the day. Even though my little cutter says up to 1/2" I wonder just how well it would work and maybe my glass was "tougher" .

Bill

I did it!

Barry Irby

Rummaged around in a drawer and found a glass cutter I bought when I was a kid. Must have been then because the price on it was $.85 and it was made in the USA. I marked my line, put down a little oil (per YouTube) and used a square and made the cut. Set a weight on one end and snapped it. Worked perfectly but left sharp edges.

So I cleaned up the ends on the jointer, got to love those Shelix heads. Rounded the edges on the shaper and polished them with a torch.

None of this last part is true. Actually cleaned up the sharp edges with a 600 grit belt on the 1 x 30 sander, a tool I continue to find uses for. I did consider using a wet saw and I have a cheapo one but it's cold outside and I decided to try that on the other one if snapping this one failed. It's good to have a spare.

Thanks for the help.

Re: I did it! You had me wondering?!

Henry (Raleigh NC)

You had me wondering there Barry.

Jointer, shaper... really,\??! That seems like overkill for just a short glass edge!

Wouldn't a hand plane have been easier, with a bit of sanding to complete the soft edge?

Henry

Re: Do you have a tile wet saw

Mark Nowicki

OR it might not, if it were tempered.

https://youtu.be/XHLP9foxEAY

Flame polishing

Jerry Nicholson

I tried flame polishing the edges of some plain old (not tempered) window glass one time. Lots of little red hot chunks started popping of the edge but fortunately none of them hit me. I had expected it to act like the soft glass tubing I used to mess with but I guess the window glass had too much stress.

Jerry