Cutting bottles?

teotwawki12

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Anybody out there ever try cutting bottles to make drinking glasses? I have a few old dug soda bottles with the tops broken and was thinking about it. Perused a couple YouTube videos and it seems I can do this with a tile cutter and some sandpaper. Just curious if anyone has experience in this.
 
How I did it..

Get a carbide blade for a good hacksaw frame..

Score the glass really good with the carbide saw..

Wrap string around it, pour something alcohol on it. Carefully light it, and it will break clean..

Sometimes you need to pour water on it..

<°)))>{
 
They make tools specifically for this


Nox 600
Best find to date - 15g platinum ring and 1876 love token
 
When I was a kid 45 years ago, I was intrigued by the ‘ship in a bottle’. So, I received a bottle cutting kit for Christmas. You laid the bottle in a metal cradle and rolled it several times while a small cutting bit scribed the glass in a full circle. Heat the full scribe over a candle flame for a bit, then dip the glass in cool water. “Tink” and the scribed portion would separate. Little polishing of the rough edges and there you go.
 
This brings me back, my grandfather had a kit in the 70's 5hat he could cut the neck off the bottles and glue the mouthpiece under the bottom. This would turn it into a goblet so to speak.
 
This idea of a kit sounds good....never thought to google “bottle cutting kit”...I see there are several. Duh..... Cheaper than buying a tile saw. Thanks much.

As an aside, being somewhat naive about it...I always pictured ships in bottles being put together with long tweezers and an extremely steady hand!! You have ruined it!!!
 
Dremel with a small diamond disc. Make something to drip a little water, go slow around and around. I make wine bottle guitar slides. If it is a pretty bottle, I cut the remainder for a vase.
 
When I was a kid 45 years ago, I was intrigued by the ‘ship in a bottle’. So, I received a bottle cutting kit for Christmas. You laid the bottle in a metal cradle and rolled it several times while a small cutting bit scribed the glass in a full circle. Heat the full scribe over a candle flame for a bit, then dip the glass in cool water. “Tink” and the scribed portion would separate. Little polishing of the rough edges and there you go.

I'm starting to think Grandpa lied to me about the ship in a bottle that he built.
 
Here are the 2 ships in a bottle that I made about 47 years ago. No cutting was involved.
 

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IF I remember right, it was many many moons ago. i read where you would fill a bottle with oil to the point you wanted it cut. Then put a wire around that spot and heat the wire by hooking it up to a battery. I never tried it though. I’d go with Ronco! We all know how great the Mr Microphone was. “Hey good lookn”
 
Those old Ronco commercials bring back the memories! Thanks for posting them Glasshopper. My older brother had the bottle cutter and we made drinking glasses from my dads empty beer bottles. Man my father kept us busy!
 
Two schools of cutting bottles. One involves diamond blades and actually cutting The glass. The second school is about creating specific stress to crack the bottle apart. This can be done any number of ways. Either by a physical score mark to weaken the glass, or by creating heat stress. The heat stress needs to be controlled to form a line of hot/cold as close to each other as possible. hence the heating of a string or wire around the bottle(have even seen people float hot oil on water to get a nice heat line). If done right you just need to the two parts far enough apart in temp difference and it will crack from expansion and contraction. If you can't get it to that point you can shock it by cooling the hot line. have also seen it done with a combination of scoring and heat as well. We do similar processes in our glass shop. If it is a bottle that is hard to find I would recommend a very slow cutting process rather than hot popping or scoring.
 
feel free to pm me with questions. Glass and associated processes and equipment are my job and my area of expertise.
 
I had one of those Ronco glass cutters as a kid... all the cool toys involved fire or broken glass...ahhh the 70s..memories..lol
 
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