Grozer’s Corner
[Grozer's Corner Home]

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.