Smoothing Sharp, Rough Edges Of Cut Glass Question

wet/dry sandpaper on a sanding block if you only have a little to do. rub the edge with another piece of glass will make it lots less sharp too.

belt sander or grinder if you have a lot.

If you you're doing it by hand, Emory cloth tape, or sand paper, with about a med. grit. Coarse might cause chipping of the edge. If you're using a machine of any kind you will need to add water to it

Randy Hansen SC Glass Tech. Scam Diego, Comi-fornia (what's left of it)

Whatever tools are mentioned, its the technique that smoothes it, and without some kind of practice, and professional instruction, ( by that I mean instruction from someone who KNOWS how to do it), you can make things worse and irreversible. Get some hands on assistance in this one, even if you have to go to the local glass guys, it will be worth it. Too difficult to explain on a newsgroup. really simple once you see it done.

Your sig line sounds as if you might be just a weeeee bit disenchanted with the Left Coast?

I agree with Randy H; for a small amount of sanding any old medium grit sandpaper will do. If hand rubbing a lot (or for other future work), a diamond hand sanding block about 180 grit does an excellent job, and lasts for at least a year if you are careful not to rub corners of glass in the same spot etc. These are $22 here in Australia, and should be available from glazing supply companies around the globe I imagine. If using a machine, you should use water, and from glazing company suppliers (or abrasives supplier) you should be able to get some silicone carbide belts, made especially for glass sanding.

Ok, true. I read it as just wanting to take the sharp edges off, and sure a rub with any old medium grit (wet & dry or dry rub) sandpaper will do this. It wears out quickly though, so for long term work of this nature you'd need to consider a hand belt sander with silicone carbide belts, or a diamond pad. For better edgework, I suggest a local glass shop with an FEP (flat edge polish) machine, upright belt arrisser, or a pencil edge machine.

Golly gee - cut plate glass is cheap. Emery cloth is cheap. Medical repairs of fingers testing sharp edges awkwardly may be expensive, but probably is not. WARNING: if you drop the glass, you will make the sharp edges worse - it is almost impossible to make them more sharp - worse - with the following technique. Get some cheap glass scraps. Get a block of wood. Get an assortment pack of wet or dry black emery cloth "sand paper". Wrap a piece of the medium cloth around the block of wood. Observe the sharp edge of the glass in good light to observe how fine the sharp line it. Holding wood at 45° angle to glass edge, gently stroke the sharp edge with a couple or 3 longish strokes. Observe the increase in width of the sharpness from almost nothing to a fine white line. Gently stroke the line sideways [hoping you have tested a knive blade in your life without cutting yourself - otherwise find an expert to learn how to do this] to observe the loss of sharpness. Decide how unsharp you want the glass and continue the process if you wish. A - Using finer grit paper, you can reduce the drag of the whiteness - smooth it. With other materials you may be able to polish it. B - Using a rounded groove cut in the wood, try making a rounded over edge (work involved, time also.) With the flat wood, you may be able to make a pencil edge.

WHO asked about cheap? Run the tool "up" the edge and see what the chips look like and how they "improve" the look of your "cheap"(how thick is the plate? 1/2" table top? cheap?)plate glass. Mike's right, you can't, most likely , make it sharper, but you can make it uglier.

Get a block of wood. Get an assortment

Why not use a disc sander with PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive) back silicon carbide disc, aluminum oxide is available in MOST hardware stores, you could even use a belt sander, same material on the belts

HOld a angle to the edge, just be sure that the direction of motion, disc or belt is "toward" the edge, not toward the center of the glass. Continue until you, or the glass, has had enough.

Still easier to see than explain.

Observe the increase in width of the sharpness from almost nothing

Maybe you could make us a VIDEO? Heh, heh. Nudge, nudge. ;>)

You can get a set of three diamond plates, 2x6", at Harbor Freight. Great for removing any sharps from glass edges.

You ALWAYS want to use water when sanding or grinding glass. Glass dust is not good for you to breath. Even the best ventilation wont get rid of all of the dust and a respirator dosn't stop it from imbedding its self in your clothing only for you to breath later. So ALWAYS KEEP IT WET.

Stone

Stone has it right. Do it wet. But, even if it's wet use a good (not a drugstore paper) respirator. If you doubt this, look at your safety glasses after cutting or grinding wet. All that stuff is going in your lungs without a respirator.

John Bassett

Gee Whiz!

Lots of great ideas about smoothing edges of cut plate glass. But - there are times that you don't want to have a sanded/ground edge showing.

If you want the very clean look of a well cut edge, but without the sharp edge, simple run a "stone" along the corners and top and bottom edges at a

I'm mostly disenchanted with those who are in charge of this circus. It's a bit irritating to watch all the fires burning all around you and here about all the planes and helicopters that sat on the ground only because of regulations and jurisdictional in fighting from a bunch of pencil necks.

It is "we the people" who have paid for every helicopter and plane in the Military, National Guard, Coast Guard, Police and fire dept. To have all these resources virtually at your door step, and only be able to watch all these communities (2500 homes, 18 deaths) burn the way they did is nothing more than organized mass insanity.

It's bad enough dealing the Fire Department's extortion of business in the guise of fire safety. Now to here them complaining and covering there ass's with the lame politically motivated excuses that it was a "lack of funds" as to why this fire got out of hand. Makes me want to puke.

Now, lets talk about taxes, illegals, congestion, cost of living, traffic,......

......SNIPPED.... 3 pages of rant...........

But other than that I sure like the weather!

Randy Hansen SC Glass Tech. Scam Diego, Comi-fornia