Home Distiller

I have a 10 imp Gallon Carboy and dropped a hammer on it. It's taken a BIG chip out of the mouth about an inch deep. If I could cut the inch off and smooth the cut, it would be fine. If not it's going to the tip.

Any ideas for a way of cutting glass around the neck like this and smoothing if out ?- It must be 3/8 " thick and about 1 3/4 internal diameter.

This is what has worked for me.

Score it below the crack with a glass cutter.
Lay it on its side and pour boiling water on the end you want to shear off.
Clean it up with wet & dry sandpaper.

THanks for getting back so quick Both are saying pretty much the same thing - I'm not great with a glass cutter on old glass - but what's to lose ? I'll give it a go and let you know. Thanks fellas

Well, I'd suggest a diamond cutting wheel on a Dremel tool.
They don't cost half an arm and the result is really amazing.
Have a little bottle with some Turpentine or Kerosene at hand...give it a few drops now and then. It cools the diamond tool and flushes the dust away.
A small carborundum grinding tool for the drill will take care of the sharp edges. It MUST be a carborundum stone or a diamond, or it won't turn out very well.
I also saw a different method with a piece of cotton string and some alcohol on it (like the video). When lit, it causes a shock to the glass and it will break where the string is. The idea is to shock cool the still hot glass.
It works because glass is a bad heat conductor.....if you ever watched some glassblowers, you can see how close to the molten glass they can hold it without burning their hand.
The only downside is, you get sharp edges and you'll have to smooth them.
Furthermore, the "cut" won't be as exact as with a diamond tool.

Edited to add: When I drill in glassware, I use a diamond tip tool to do so.
I form a small ring with some clay or play dough and fill some Kerosene in it before I drill the hole.
Ahh...Google translate, just showed me Petroleum is also called Kerosene in English.

Danespirit has another good option......using a diamond wheel. However, as a rock cutter/diamond and gem cutter, I prefer water or special water/lube mixtures designed for the purpose. Regular oils can create the wrong lubrication with diamond IMO. If you have access to a tile cutter with at least a 6" diamond wheel, and the wheel is close to the edge of the table so you can get the neck within your desired cutting range, this will simplify your mission. The tile cutter will provide the water and the diamond wheel will do the job. You can clean up the cut with wet or dry sand paper. Expect to exert some elbow grease sanding though unless you have a dremmel and the right tools to polish the edges.

go really really slow...

I was going to suggest something similar to Danespirit. If it is chipped you can use a diamond burr and smooth it out, removing the stress riser is the most important part. I used to do this all the time with antique glassware, when I was done I could sell a previously worthless glass for full undamaged value. Diamond burr/drillbit set from harbor freight, water and a little time, a cutting and polishing set comes in handy too if you want the finish to be perfect. Not sure there are harbor freights where you are but they should be available somewhere for just a few bucks. A tile cutting saw can be pretty hard on glass, sometimes they don't run completely smooth and cause fractures if you are not very very careful. A diamond bandsaw or ring saw would be a better choice but they aren't something everybody has lying around, There is also a method of cutting glass using a wire and electricity, there is a good instructable on that. I'll see if I can find it. If you aren't confident in doing it yourself, look up local glass people, glass supply places, glass artists, glass supply places, stained glass supply places, places like that. someone there should be confident enough to do it, or antique glass repairs people, there are people that fix valuable and semi valuable glassware by cutting it or grinding it down. There are lots of options.

Cranky is right.....the wheels that come with most tile cutters are course and hard on glass. I forgot to mention that it should be a thin kerf diamond wheel designed for cutting rock.
Cranky gave some good info there to look at other sources. I have some of that equipment including a wire saw, for sawing petrified wood logs, (unless you build it yourself) but these can be expensive and unavailable to most. I too have finished antique glassware pieces and that is a good option to grind out the offending crack. But, I don't know if I would recommend it to a novice without proper tools.

GrassHopper wrote: I have some of that equipment including a wire saw, for sawing petrified wood logs, (unless you build it yourself) but these can be expensive and unavailable to most.

Wish I had known you when I had a big hunk of petrified wood I needed slabbed

Anyway, I can't find the particular instructable I was talking about but there are a lot of interesting options on their website
http://www.instructables.com/howto/cut+bottle/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

My relations used to make lots of jam and sauce using fruit from the 'house orchard' on the farm.
Sometimes grandma filled four imperial gallon kerosine tins and one of her nine sons soldered the tops back on.
Or they used beer bottles (must have got them from the neighbours, they were tee total).
If I remember right they tied a string dipped in say kerosine around the bottle and lit it. As soon as the fire went out the bottle was dipped in water....
Tops were sealed with paper, not sure what kind, brushed with flour-and-water paste. All over I think, as well as sealing the sides it would tighten the top.
Geoff

The Baker wrote:My relations used to make lots of jam and sauce using fruit from the 'house orchard' on the farm.
Sometimes grandma filled four imperial gallon kerosine tins and one of her nine sons soldered the tops back on.
Or they used beer bottles (must have got them from the neighbours, they were tee total).
If I remember right they tied a string dipped in say kerosine around the bottle and lit it. As soon as the fire went out the bottle was dipped in water....
Tops were sealed with paper, not sure what kind, brushed with flour-and-water paste. All over I think, as well as sealing the sides it would tighten the top.
Geoff

Never heard of this string process before. Amazing.

cranky wrote:

GrassHopper wrote: I have some of that equipment including a wire saw, for sawing petrified wood logs, (unless you build it yourself) but these can be expensive and unavailable to most.

Wish I had known you when I had a big hunk of petrified wood I needed slabbed

Anyway, I can't find the particular instructable I was talking about but there are a lot of interesting options on their website
http://www.instructables.com/howto/cut+bottle/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Cranky, did you get rid of all your slabs out of that log? Wouldn't be Saddle Mtn Wood....would it?

pikey I could never trust that carboy again if it were mine.

10 gallons of anything is to much to lose.

cob wrote:pikey I could never trust that carboy again if it were mine.

10 gallons of anything is to much to lose.

Neither would I .

10 gallons is not too bad to lose for a wash, but I sure would be pissed if I lost that sized jar of low wines.

NZChris wrote:10 gallons is not too bad to lose for a wash, but I sure would be pissed if I lost that sized jar of low wines.

unless you loose 10g of wash on the floor in the house, I for one would get my arse handed to me by the bosswoman

NZChris wrote:10 gallons is not too bad to lose for a wash, but I sure would be pissed if I lost that sized jar of low wines.

No This would not be a wash, too heavy to manage easily and I have plenty of fermenters. At the least low wines and I did have daydream visions of them (I got two) - with oaky sticks floaty about in them !

[Edit - decision made - it goes to the tip today - Thanks all for your invaluable help and thanks cob for pointing that out ! ]

I reckon the lesson here is, stop droppin' hammers!

I was gonna say I'll practice my hammer juggling somewhere else - But now I just dropped my kindling chopper on the wife's mother's vase - Do I hide it, bin it and deny all knowledge, or 'fess up ?

Always deny, even in front of evidence!

Damned cat!

Tell the truth if you have to , lie whenever you can , and always cheat .

Seems like a real shame to toss that out. Even if you don't use it for distilling it can still be used by someone, maybe decoration or filling with pennies.

GrassHopper wrote: Cranky, did you get rid of all your slabs out of that log? Wouldn't be Saddle Mtn Wood....would it?

I don't want to take this off topic so I will post about that here>>> http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=420


As far as confessing to breaking the vase... " I don't know what happened, it must have been an earthquake"

cranky wrote:Seems like a real shame to toss that out.

.........

As far as confessing to breaking the vase... " I don't know what happened, it must have been an earthquake"

Sorry mate it was hardcore within a few hours of the decision

As to the damned dog knocking that vase over with his tail

Sometimes this forum seems like a very Safety conscious place !

Thanks Lads