Why You Should Grind Your Stained Glass Project Pieces

Obviously, one of the main reasons why you should grind your stained glass project pieces is to create a perfect fit.

Most new artisans working with stained glass go through a learning curve before they become comfortable with their skills.

Cutting glass accurately from a pattern template takes practice.

Not everyone who first picks up a glass cutter can apply the correct pressure and speed to accurately guide the cutting head well enough to make perfect cuts. It takes time and practice.

Many other stained glass artisans fall into the perfectionist category and are incredibly precise about how their stained glass project pieces fit together.

Another reason to grind your stained glass project pieces is to remove the sharp edges that remain after cutting your pieces out with a glass cutter.

Many artisans will lightly run the sharp glass edges across the grinder head to give the glass a lightly blunted edge.

The rough blunted edge is believed to improve the adhesion of the copper foil and the look of the finished product.

Make sure you remove any glass powder residue and thoroughly clean and dry all the glass pieces before you start foiling.    Otherwise, the glass dust will prevent the foil from properly sticking to the glass.

Special grinding heads such as the ones below are specifically designed for edge grinding and are used primarily in making Tiffany style lamp shades.

Grinding also smooths out jagged or irregular edges from bad cuts and could save you from getting some cut up fingers.

I'm sure you there are other reasons why you should grind your stained glass project pieces before assembling then into a finished project but in any event, a stained glass grinder is one of the most useful accessories you can have in your work shop.