I want to make a windchime out of some wine bottles, but I need to cut the bottoms off of them. How do I do that?
a fine blade on a coping saw or hack saw would most likely work. I would reccommed against a band saw, as the spinning blade may shatter glass and/or send bits of glass around the shop/garage.
My stepdad explained how to do it.
Soak a string in kerosene and tie it around the bottle. Light it, let it burn, and then plunge it into cold water. This should crack the bottle. If it does not break you then take an object, insert into the bottle and tap it apart.
It should seperate. If/when it does, sand the edges so you don’t get cut.
It seems to me that I tried this on a Mountain Dew bottle (back in the olden days when they were glass) and it worked. But good God I can’t swear to it.
Obviously all the warnings about safety glasses, gloves, dangerous crap that could cause you grievous injury, and my not being liabel for your mis-adventure all apply.
Good luck.
Oh yeah, if it DID work, the cut was uneven and the string may have to be taped or somehow made to lie straight around the circumference.
Have you ever done the pebbles-in-the-Snapple-bottle trick? You take a few pebbles, maybe the size of half a pea and drop them in a Snapple (or similar) bottle. The rocks should be somewhat rough and not water-smoothed like from a streambed. Look at the side of the street next to the curb. Anyway, vigorously turn the bottle in such a way that the pebbles spin along the bottom of the bottle. After about 30 seconds, if you tap the bottom of the bottle, the floor simply drops out.
Maybe this would work if you spin the rocks longer.
Sounds like a good excuse to buy a Dremel rotary tool. Everyone needs one!
I have TWO! But I don’t know any bit for it that would smoothly cut thick glass…
A simple method of cutting bottles is to scribe a single line in the bottle using a triangular file or glass cutter. The score does not need to be too deep, but it does need to be continuous and uniform. Then heat the bottle evenly along the score mark, then cool quickly. the method mentioned byt the surb sounds promising. I always used a candle or lighter and the results were mixed. To cool it, an ice cube works very well.
The trickiest part for me was getting the score to come out evenly. If it doesn’t meet up exactly, then you end up with an uneven cut or a jagged edge.
PS - Disclaimer - Be sure to wear applicable personal safety equipment, including leather gloves, safety glasses, earplugs, hardhat, respirator, shin guards, flak jacket, cuirass, and any other items you deem appropriate
In your opinion, what is the best alternative to leather gloves?
For this I’d use cut resistant gloves, but I don’t know what kind of brick and mortar you can buy them from. I know that auto parts stores like Checker, Autozone, or Pep Boys carry synthetic mechanic’s gloves that should give adequate protection.
(hijack)
My God! Opal! You exist!!!
(newbie)
looks down, pats self a few times
Yup! I do!
Hey Lazlo, thanks for the link! I just may have to get some of those gloves… I don’t have ANY type of protective glove at the moment, and have had bad luck with canvas/rubber type gloves in the past… but for ethical reasons I refuse to buy or wear leather.
I was trying to do this a while back, cutting the bottoms off tabasco bottles to make glass candle holders with the same external diameter as tealights.
I tried:
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Boy Scout method - fill to where you want the break to be, and sit in the ashes of a fire. Supposedly, thermal stresses should break the glass at the fill line. Instead, I was left with a little tabaso bottle full of merrily boiling water.
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Grinding disc. Not a dremel, but a larger set-up with a vice and a 1.5mm thick spinning blade. I was delicate as possible, but I still cracked it - frictional heating produced a red-hot spot. If you try a dremel, use it at lowest speed, go slow, and practice on something you don’t care about.
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Hi Opal!
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Burning string and plunge! This actually worked, although the result wasn’t as clean and neat as I’d hoped.
I’d suggest going the glasscutter route, either with a purpose-made kit, or improvised with a conventional glasscutter. I doubt a saw would work for a whole bottle, although I have used a small hacksaw to notch pyrex tube before snapping it to length.
Given the sharp-edge issue and also the fact that the particular wine bottles I’m considering have a pleasantly flared bottom, which shape would be lost if the bottom were removed, I’m considering instead trying to drill out a hole in the bottom of the bottle. The main thing is, I can’t just leave the bottles intact, because they’d fill up with water and dirt and bugs and stuff.
So given the new plan… how would you drill a hole in the bottom of a wine bottle? What kind of drill bit would cut glass? Or is there a better method than a drill?
Carbide bits are used for drilling items like ceramic tile and should work on glass. Regarding gloves, check out a craft place which sells woodcarving supplies. They should have knit gloves which incorporate Kevlar (used in police officer vests) which will afford your hands good protection.
Would you recommend a slow or a fast drill setting for going through glass?
Slow is preferable, as heat leads to dulling of the bit. Check the power tool section of Home Despot or Lowe’s for glass drilling bits, or just use carbide tipped bits designed for drilling in masonry.
You can get chainmail gloves at food service supply stores. They’re intended for use with meat-slicers, but I imagine they’d also work well for this.
Meanwhile, if the only reason to open the bottoms is to prevent them filling up, why not just hang them upside-down?
I have GOT to try this!
Opal,
I myself would not use knit gloves to work with cutting glass. Kevlar or not, I think there’s a good chance that small chips could easily work their way through the knit to the inside of the glove. That might be worse than having no gloves at all.
I’d look for some knit gloves with a rubber or Nitrile coating that the small chips couldn’t penetrate. The rubber would also provide a better grip on the glass.