Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

Last week I penned an entry about the similarity between dovetails and glass cutting (click here to read it). I wrote about confidence being a large part of success. One comment listed cooking in that mix, too. The writer also added that you have to learn the skills before the confidence kicks in to play a part. That’s true for dovetails and I can only assume for cooking. However, I don’t believe that glass cutting fits into that category. Simply pick up a cutter, etch the line and snap. There’s not much else to learn about the basics.

This week I’d like to share a few simple ideas to get glass cut for your projects. Keep in mind these are not tips from a seasoned cutter, but from an ordinary Joe just scratching the surface. (Get it?)

It all starts with the right tool. For years I tried to cut glass with the regular cutters you find at  hardware stores. The task was iffy at best. Frustrated, I visited a stained-glass store where the clerk recommended a Fletcher Designer II Pencil Grip Oil Cutter. This tool costs nearly seven times what the hardware-store cutter cost. Did they see me coming when I walked through the door? Looking for an answer (or at least being a pushover when it comes to purchases), I bought the cutter and went straight for the shop. I was amazed by how well it worked. So yes – the price of a quality glass-cutting tool is worth it.

To fit glass, you have to begin with a straight edge. Position a straightedge tool onto the glass and roll the cutter from end to end, then snap the glass at the etched line. This is where confidence pays off. If the glass doesn’t snap like a good bakery cookie, tap the cut on the underside with the ball end of the cutter. You’ll see the crack start. Then use a framing square, one that’s really square, to make a second cut resulting in a 90º corner.

Don’t try to fit a piece of glass too tight. Measure the opening and transfer the layout to the glass with a Sharpie Permanent Marker (the best marker I’ve found to write on glass). I leave about an 1/8" of gap when fitting panes into a cupboard door. That’s a 1/16" per side. Line up the square and etch the line. Have confidence and snap the glass (sometimes you’ll have to tap with the ball end). Continue until the pane is sized.

Tombstone panes (seen in the door from the previous blog entry) present a problem. I paid someone to cut the first pane. The glass vendor had a sander that he used to get the sharp corner detail. It got the job done, but I wasn’t impressed. After that I tried it myself – got my confidence up.

The secret is no sharp corners. In the Authentic Shaker Clock article, August 2007, I rounded the corner of the rabbet to make the glass fit more easily. Another method is to round the cut of the glass.

Here’s what I do. Cut the pane to fit the opening by cutting the width and the height at the apex of the arched or tombstone top. Position the pane into the opening and draw the tombstone onto the glass with the marker. Freehand the cut making sure to round the corner of the tombstone. The cut starts at the side and terminates at the middle of the arch. Two waste pieces are removed to make the profile.

Once the lines are etched, tap the cut line from the bottom and watch the crack begin. Apply a small amount of outward and downward pressure with pliers as you tap. When the break happens the waste will be in your pliers. Don’t forget to wear your safety glasses.

For the four panes of the door on the corner cupboard shown in the previous entry, I made five attempts. One piece of glass was lost. I must have been thinking about something else and my confidence dipped.

– Glen D. Huey

Last week a long-time reader called to ask me about a bullnose plane I had reviewed favorably a few years back.

“What” he asked, “is this thing good for?”

I walked him through some of its uses, such as cleaning up stopped rabbets and leveling up dividers in assembled casework. Then he asked if I used the plane for those operations.

“Not much,” I replied. “I use a shoulder plane.”

After that, I could hear an edge of frustration in his voice. He had bought a tool on my recommendation that he didn’t really need (he had a couple shoulder planes). He only had so many dollars to spend on woodworking, and he wanted to spend them wisely so he could squeeze the maximum functions out of the fewest of tools.

And now he had a tool he didn’t need.

That conversation bummed me out for the whole weekend. There is a ton of equipment out there that is well-made and useful but that is unnecessary for certain types of woodworkers or people who already have such-and-such a tool. I try to add caveats to my reviews, but sometimes those aren’t as obvious as they should be in the text. Or sometimes, I hear from a reader who buys a tool after reading a review without any further research about the tool and its historical uses.

Now, I don’t have the space in the magazine to fully explain every gizmo that passes through our shop, but I can offer two suggestions:

1. If you are unfamiliar with a tool and its uses, do some legwork before you click “Buy It Now.” You might already have a tool that does the same task faster and more accurately.

2. Download and check out my personal tool inventory (two links are below). This is a list I compiled this weekend of the machines, power hand tools and hand tools that I use for about 90 percent of my work. I have a lot more tools than are listed here (as my kids are fond of reminding me), but these are the tools that are within arm’s reach, are always in tune and never put into storage. My woodworking might be different than your woodworking, but this list reflects a good blend of hand and power operations.

I’m sure I’ll update this list in the coming months. Meanwhile, take a look at the tools I have in my shop and see how this core set compares to yours.

Microsoft Word document:
Workshop_Inventory.doc (50 KB)

Same document in html format:
Workshop_Inventory.htm (11.3 KB)

— Christopher Schwarz