What a waste it is that so many good looking bottles are thrown away. Just think how many things you could make from bottles, if you could cut them. The bottoms of bottles make ashtrays; a bottle with just the top cut off makes a vase; stubbly bottles can be corked and made into storage jars; your imagination is your only limit.
The method for cutting bottles is very simple, and the raw materials, once you have a cutter, are free. Any bottles will do. Wine bottles are extremely attractive, many soft drink bottles and some beer bottles make attractive items.
Tools Needed
The only essential tool needed is an adapted glass cutter. A glass cutter does not actually cut the glass itself, rather, it marks a score line along a sheet of glass, which weakens the glass along that line. So, when you put stress on the glass, the glass fractures along the line you want.
What To Do
The score line is made by a small wheel with a sharp edge which is drawn, quite gently, along the glass. The tip of the wheel can be made of industrial diamonds, which will last practically forever, or of toughened steel. Steel ones are much cheaper and quite adequate for home use - one wheel should mark a hundred bottles and replacements cost next to nothing.
The cutter to be used on bottles has to be adapted to make sure you can draw a regular line around a bottle. You could rig up a gadget yourself with an ordinary glass cutter, or you can buy appropriate tools.
There are two methods by which you can put stress on the glass and make it fracture along the score line. Using a tapper or using hot and cold water.
However clean your break, there will be rough edges and you must file these down before using the glass objects. Do this with wet and dry silicon carbide paper or stone. The paper, which is similar to sandpaper, except that it is rougher is best used with a little water. Use a coarse grade first and then smooth with a finer grade. Brush the grains of glass carefully into a bag for disposal, using a brush not your hand. The stone is a block of the silicon carbide, in effect rather like sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood.
Careful finishing is essential as jagged edges can be dangerous. Do not attempt to drink from a cut bottle, just in case there are grains of glass in what seems to be a smooth surface.
Square and oval bottles are more tricky than round bottles, as the method given will not give you a horizontal cut. Because of the shape of the bottle, you will get a curved cut, which can look very attractive. It does, however, mean that the stress line will be irregular and you may not get a good break - but the principles are the same, it is just a little more tricky to break and smooth the bottles accurately. Use your imagination and try cutting a bottle you like for whatever use you think it may be suitable for.
Safety Hints
- Do be careful at all stages of the proceedings, especially on your first attempts when you are not too sure of what you are doing. There may be a little glass powder produced when scoring, so do this over a piece of newspaper, which you can wrap up carefully and dispose of.
- When tapping, there is a slight chance of sending a chip of glass flying, especially if you do it too hard, so it is best to wear protective goggles.
- When cracking the glass under the tap, wear rubber gloves to protect your hands.
Judy Martin - I have been writing for several years now, publishing my articles to several publishing sites on the web. I like writing how to articles ...
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