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I had these photo's of glass brilliant cutting sent to me a few days ago from Lee Littlewood . Lee came across these in an antique shop in his town.
He was saying the shop owner is asking $20.000 for this panel. He is trying to get a better shot of the whole piece. Very nice workmanship, look at the detail in the small v-cut work....
Dave
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Last edited by DAVE SMITH on Fri Feb 12, 2010 4:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dave thank you for sharing the photo and to Lee for sending it to you. This glass piece is truly amazing, not to mention drop dead gorgeous! That would definitely make a statement if it was in the shop front door. I also agree with Raymond, you would surely need a well defined game play to pull this one off.
No problem dead easy. Erik will be doing this after he has been on the course. Bloke selling is having a laugh $20,000 at 2 dollars to the pound that would give me about 10 weeks to do job, 2 weeks to do job and 8 weeks holiday. That would do me.
One note on this panel is that the early glass that was made like his panel is softer and less green than the new glass you would purchase today. Probably less iron content,
or different fluxes in the batching process.
I have cut and polished this earlier glass which was 5/16" this and refered to as "boiler plate".
Viewed in from the edge it has a soothing, almost glowing faint yellow/green color cast to it, very similar to "Vaseline glass".
And it has less tendency to squeal and flame on the stone wheels. It definitely polished up faster than then newer plate glass of today.
Pat
Erik,
Squeal and flame refers to some problems you can have with the grinding action of the wheel against the glass. Not usually with diamond wheels, but with man made
vitreous oven fired wheels.
Sometimes while cutting designs into the glass you may see some friction "flames" viewable through the glass and into the cut where
the grinding wheel loses the cooling of the water. This flaming can put deeper heat cracks into the cut that are not easily polished out.
Besides not enough water, using the wrong hardness or grit size wheel can create heat. Also the RPM of the wheel
as compared to its diameter is important. Harder wheels have more glass binder to hold the abrasive together
Squealing can accompany the flame (or not) and can be shrill enough to blow the fillings out of your teeth or the wax outta' your ears! Like nails on a backboard.
Some wheels will become your favorites because of the absolute ease with which they cut. These wheels cut the glass with a beautiful
soft "hissing" sound and tend to polish up faster and smoother.
It's just a matter of learning and maintaining the variables that become second nature to a seasoned cutter.
In taking instruction on wheel cutting, the instructor's favorite verbal encouragement is "practice, practice, practice".
Pat
Last edited by Patrick Mackle on Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Patrick You missed the best bit out about the Squeal. It drives other people mad, and if you do not lift of the stone, and you are working on a thin glass or odd shape the end drops off.
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads