Grozer’s Corner
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Several of you have asked about having a problem with turning your Zinc black. Here are a few tips that will probably help.

1. After you have done all your soldering you really need to make sure the window has been washed and neutralized of the flux and oil you used. I use a flux and patina remover called “Glass Pro Flux and Patina Remover” it will stop the mild acid reaction that is happening on your piece.  If you leave flux on your window too long you will potentially etch your glass window.

2. Here is where there is some debate by people, I wash the window using a soap called Orvis; it is a soap used by veterinary industry. This soap is very mild with a neutral ph and will not leave a residue on your piece.  This kind of make sure nothing is left on your window that will ruin the patina process.

3. When the window is dry place it on your work bench. Take “0000″ steel wool and lightly rub the zinc frame until it is shiny.  Wipe and blow off any of the steel wool that may come off.

4. Using Patina for “Zinc” in a small container, I use a small glass cigarette ash tray.  Using a small flux brush I paint on the patina. Do not, let me repeat that DO NOT pour the patina you used in the dish back into your original container. That patina is contaminated and will ruin what you have.

5. Now do the same thing with the solder lines using Patina for “Solder”.  A big important thing is do not use Zinc Patina on solder and do not use Solder Patina on Zinc. Now that you have everything has patina on it, bring it back to the sink and neutralize and wash it again.

When you are drying the window try not to rub down the zinc as much as pat it dry, that will help. When the window id dry use some wax and polish your window and zinc.  This should take care of your problems, I hope.

When scoring your glass try and remember some of these tips:

1. That screw on the cutting head it should be pointing up at you. As we teach a little saying in our classes that sometimes helps and that is, “In our classes we want you to be a screw up.”

2. Always at least try and always place your glass so that when you start your score you can complete the score easily.

3. Run your score on the “good side”, Look at your glass and run your score on the smoothest side. If you need the textured side to be the side showing remember to turn your pattern over before you place it on the smooth side.

4. Sometimes when you score it seems to get stuck because of the design of the glass, ease up slightly and and continue the score.

5. Do not run your cutter of the edge of the glass. You can damge the cutter head and chip the glass. Stop right before the edge of the glass. Remember you have scored the glass and it will run right through the are at the end.

6. Keep the area you are working in clean. As you cut your glass take a brush and sweep of the area you are working in on a regular basis. This will keep of all the little glass shards from sticking in your hand and from scratching your glass you just scored.

7. Don’t forget to make sure you dip your cutting head in a little oil each time you cut. It helps keep the wheel clean of debris and running smoothly. Some use kerosene, oil, essential oils etc.

Questions and concerns about the use of lead seem to come up on a regular basis, especially for those that are pregnant. Safety is an important issue when using lead in stained glass because lead is a powerful neurotoxin that can damage the nervous system and affect the brain and cause blood disorders.

The thing that we stress in our studio is that there should be no open food while working on your project. When you’ve decided to take a break you need to make sure you are washing your hands thoroughly. Not having open food is not just because of the lead, but also because of the glass shards and dust that gets kicked up while you are working on your project. In regards to lead, leads leading way of entering your body is hand to mouth ingestion. That hand to mouth ingestion can be as simple as an inadvertent wiping of your moth with a contaminated hand. Lead is not absorbed through your skin; in actuality your skin is a wonderful barrier for many things, it’s your first line of defense.

When you are done working on your project or are deciding its time to take a break and eat you need to wash your hands well! I like to use soap and a small scrub brush when I’m done and ready to EAT! This should be enough to protect you from contamination. If you have small cuts on your hands or are just concerned you can always use surgical gloves to protect your hands while you are working on your project. There have been several times that I have used gloves because of open cuts on my hands.

If you’re pregnant we always suggest that you ask your doctor about doing this art to see what they may say. Sometimes it is better to error on the cautious side and just abstain from stained glass work until your pregnancy is over, but that does not excuse you from coming by and visiting with us! You can always just sit on the side and eat our cookies while we can’t!

Stained glass pieces are beautiful but they can be fragile and they do require special care. The Stained Glass Association of America recommends minimal cleaning. Simply dust most of the time and when needed, wipe clean with a soft, damp cloth. It’s best to use distilled water only, hard water could spot the glass. Don’t over wet the cloth, spray the glass or allow water to leak between the glass panes or window seams. Don’t use scouring pads, steel wool or anything that contains ammonia or abrasive cleansers.

Waxing the piece helps preserve the original finish. There are many fine products for polishing your glasswork, but paste auto wax can do very well. Apply the wax onto both sides with a soft, lent free cloth. An old toothbrush can be used to apply the wax in corners and seams. Allow a moment or two of drying then wipe it back off with a clean, non-abrasive cloth. Use a different old toothbrush to remove the wax from the corners and hard to reach areas. Wooden toothpicks may be carefully used to make sure all the lines are thoroughly cleaned. Buff the piece with yet another clean cloth and there you have it.

What type of glass cutter is the best?
This answer can be answered very easily; which ever one you like. I know that’s not what you are looking for, but it is the truth. We have been doing glass now for over 24 years and have our personal preferences, but that does not mean my glass cutter is right or good for you. Going out and buying several different cutters can be an expensive adventure and I would not recommend doing that. Look for a good studio/store that will let you try their cutters. In our beginning classes we let our students try all our hand tools. Why, because you need to find the tools that work best for you. I will be the first to tell you if you put a pistol grip cutter in my hands I feel like I have two left feet (or hands), but a high percentage of my students walk away buying that type of cutter, even watching me cut glass as I demo for them with a different cutter. Good luck! You’ll find the right one in time!

Toyo, Fletcher, Aanraku, Mitsuboshi, Silberschnitt and others all make nice cutters you just need to play with a few and you will find the one that works best for you!

Of all the solder that is out there which do I use for my stained glass? Good question. There are several that the stained glass industry use so lets try and explain the differences.

Usually, solders used in stained glass are made of two metals: tin and lead. They are identified by a weight ratio of tin to lead. For example, a 60/40 solder means that it is 60% tin and 40% lead by weight. These two metals are used together for a couple of reasons; lead lowers the surface tension of pure tin, which means better ability of solder to flow or for the technical person its called wet ability. Lead also prevents the decomposition of tin into powder and it helps form bonds between the tin and your copper foil.

The ratio of tin to lead also determines the melting point and the strength of the solder; when you look at the ratio, the greater the amount of tin, the lower the melting point, and the stronger the solder.

With the choices of solder it can make a difference on the success of your stained glass project.
60/40 Solder: This is probably the most common and using the given information, It is made of 60% tin and 40% lead and melts around 374ºF. The low melting temperature makes it easy to work with and makes a nice bead on the foil.

50/50 Solder: This lead is common when used when working with lead came, but can also be used with copper foil. It has 50% tin and 50% lead and does not melt until it gets to around 421ºF, Because of the hotter temperature you need to move a little faster so you don’t melt the lead came or crack the glass. This is also a good lead to fill holes in copper foil first, so when you flip[ your piece use 60/40 on the other side and you wont have run through.

63/37 Solder: This solder has the lowest freezing point, meaning it melts at about 361ºF It’s best for decorative soldering, where you can create decorative effects by pulling, swiping, or tapping the iron to produce various designs or textures.

Lead-Free Solder: This solder leaves out the lead and replaces it with alloys of silver, copper or antimony. This solder is hard to get a consistent bead, and will take some practice to get used to.

Other things to think about are: If you’re a beginner 60/40 is probably the best choice. It melts quickly, easy and you’ll be making perfect seams in no time. If you’re working with lead came try 50/50 solder. It fills-in voids better, and spreads out flatter.

Why do I need to know about COE for fusing glass?
This is a very important issue when it comes to dealing with warm glass or fusing glass. Fusing glass comes in a variety of different types and you need to make sure that your glass is compatible or when you are done fusing you are going to have a project that is a mess, probably even cracked and broken up.

The thing to look at when you are purchasing a fusing glass is the COE or coefficient of expansion. If you pick one type for a project, all the glass needs to be of the same COE. In our shop we use 96 COE made by Spectrum or Uroboros and is called Spectrum System 96 glass. It is a thinner glass and is also tested compatible. The other glass is a 90 COE – This glass is commonly made by other companies. If you purchase both types of COE make sure that each type of glass is marked appropriately so you don’t mix them up.

Below are other types of glass used in fusing always making sure they are compatible:

Float glass: This type of glass can vary quite a bit. So make sure that when you do purchase this buy more than enough to do your project; again, don’t mix your glass. This glass is easily found and is inexpensive to purchase.

Dichroic – This glass is a very stunning glass and can be rather pricy, but for those special projects like jewelry it can make a world of difference. When the glass is made very thin layers of chromium, silicon, titanium, aluminum or zirconium are put on the glass in a vacuum chamber at high temperatures creating spectacular colors. This glass was actually invented by NASA and was used as a interface filter of some sort.

Iridescent - It has a surface treatment that gives it a rainbow like appearance.

Regular Stained Glass – This glass is not normally tested so compatibility is an issue. However, we did speak first hand with Spectrum Glass and we were told that all their glass is a 96 COE. The difference with their actual SYSTEM 96 glass is that glass is actually tested. All regular stained glass can be used for fusing, but you can’t mix glass that’s all. If you have the time and want to test compatibility you can try and fuse small items to see what happens. However, there is a high possibility that you won’t be able to use different colors to fuse together. You can slump this glass into molds, or use it for draping purposes.

I could go into the entire chemical and scientific reasons why, but after about 2 minutes of reading it you would fall asleep. So, suffice it to say DO NOT MIX COE’s pick one and stay with it for each project.

Hope this helps!

Have you ever put a panel together and had problems doing so because the glass pieces were not even or level with the others.  Simple solution, you know all that loose change you get in your laundry; use it.  Just place a penny under the shorter piece and it will bring it up to level with the others. You can use pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters depending upon how much height you need.  Talking about the power of money! Another thing you can use are washers.

I have been doing stained glass for well over 20 years now and there seems to be an on going debate on how to clean and maintain the tip of soldering irons. After doing some research on this process and talking with numerous people I’m sure that this debate will go on for years to come. With that in mind, over the past couple of weeks I have been in contact with several manufactures of soldering equipment to see what they recommend in the maintenance of their soldering irons. I was told everything from using a special paste that only this or that manufacture had, to using the age old tradition of the Sal-Ammoniac block. Through it all the one main theme that did seem to be a consistent item was that you should always be wiping the tip of your iron over a damp sponge after each use.

The big debate was what to do when the tip was now full of gunk that the sponge was no longer removing and the tip is not soldering well. How do you re-tin the tip? Most tips today are a copper core with a few microns of iron placed over the copper and then the tips are etched and a layer of tin placed over the iron and copper. That tined area is only the last portion of the entire tip, the last fractions of inches and what seems to be the most important part of the tip cleaning is just that “the tip” the working end of the iron.

Here is what we found and are doing with our tips and seem to be having relative good success with the process. Take your iron and heat it up to only about 300ºF, use your rheostat if needed, the object is not to get the iron real hot, just hot enough to melt solder. Once your iron is hot, dip only the tip into Nokorode paste flux or FS-100 from Hakko immediately wiped the tip on a damp sponge. Look at the tip and repeat if necessary. After you have done that process once or twice take some 60/40 solder and melt it on the newly cleaned tip, unplug and let it cool off.

It is important to note that this process is not something that you are doing each and every day, but rather something you are doing when the tip is no longer doing what it is suppose to do and the tip is filled with gunk.

We like this method better than the Sal-Ammoniac block for a couple of reasons. There seemed to be less smoke given off which is a bonus, the process was quicker and the tips seem to be cleaner. Again, these are just our opinions, but seem to be working rather well on all our irons, sixteen of them to be exact, everything from Weller, Hakko, Hexacon and others.