fire polishing haze

Susan Robinson · Post by **Susan Robinson** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:44 pm

Hi,

I fire polished some cabs that I had shaped with my ringsaw, and while they came out nice and smooth, there is a whitish scummy haze around the edges where I made cuts. How can I get rid of this?

thanks,
Susan

Susan Moore · Post by **Susan Moore** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 4:09 pm

Susan,

It sounds like devit. You can grind it off and fire polish again. Did you clean the glass after using the saw? I have a trim saw and I don't have any problems with devit on the edge of the cut but I clean the glass in water after cutting.

Susan

lohman · Post by **lohman** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 8:17 pm

I find the ring saw doesn't cut clean enough to go straight to fire polish.
I grind all cuts and refine my shapes before firepolishing.

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 8:34 am

Most likely you didn't get the cut edge clean enough. I wouldn't say it's devit, it's just scum from the cutting. You need to make sure you clean your pieces really well after cutting them. Some people toss the cut pieces in a bucket of water right after cutting them. Then they go to the sink with a tooth brush and scrub all the pieces.

As for getting rid of the scum that is on the pieces that you have now, well you could try sandblasting the scum off and re-firing.

Good luck,
Amy

KellyG · Post by **KellyG** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 1:33 pm

Susan, I've used Klyr Fire to "seal" the edges on these types of cuts. That's helped, but I think the most important thing is to get them well cleaned.

...Kelly

Susan Robinson · Post by **Susan Robinson** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:18 pm

thanks for the tips!
I just did another round, but brushed them in water with a toothbrush first and they came out clean (I think I had just wiped the others with a damp cloth). Some still have slight lines, though, so I'll try finer grinding in the future as well.

-Susan

Judy Schnabel · Post by **Judy Schnabel** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:17 pm

Susan,

Next time put a little Super Spray on the ground edges after you've cleaned them.

I put Super Spray on all edges I've cut with my ring saw or tile saw after they are washed and dried.

Judy

Nancy Juhasz · Post by **Nancy Juhasz** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:48 pm

Susan, Another thing to do to the edges of ground glass or glass cut with a saw is to scrub the edges with wet fine sandpaper under water. I use a plastic dish pan filled with water and thourghly sand the edges under water then rinse them well. You can't rush this step. I have never tried super spray on the edges but will soon. If you want the grit on the sandpaper let me know and I will go down and look. I think it is what they call extra fine and it is black. You can get it at Lowe's or that kind of place.