Friday, June 14, 2013

How To Cut Circles From Thick Glass

Learning how to cut circles from thick glass is slightly different from cutting circles out of thinner types of stained glass or art glass.

The thickness of the glass matters however, with care and a few tips you can cut circles from thick glass without too much extra effort.

The first tool you need to acquire for your workbench is a good circle cutter.

Both the Silberschnitt Pro Circle Cutter or the Toyo Circle Cutter are top of the line cutters that with proper care, will last you a lifetime.

The only other tool you need to cut circles from thick glass is a fiber or plastic ball peen hammer to start the "run" in the scoreline that you created with the circle cutter.

These are inexpensive and can be found in most hardware stores.

Except for the fact that you can't use standard running pliers on glass that is 1/2 inch thick or more, the instructions for Cutting A Perfect Circle Out Of Stained Glass are generally the same.

It takes a fiber ball peen hammer and a delicate touch to start and continue running the scoreline.

The video below shows how one miss-step can ruin your project if you don't have that "delicate touch".


Although learning how to cut circles from thick glass doesn't really have much to do with making stained glass suncatchers, we do feel that knowing how to do it is of value.


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