WarmGlass.com

Hi, I've just bought a diamond pad to grind some glass edges before fire polishing (and to learn how to use it - just bought Paul Tarlow's book to help, excellent book) but I was wondering what the best way of disposing the waste glass is. I thought I would do the grinding in water, let it settle then drain of what water I could and throw the rest in a plastic bag and wrap up for throwing away in my normal waste.

What do other people do when coldworking? I live in the UK so I'm not sure if there are any rules about this (may have to do a bit of research on that). Also I like to be as ecofriendly as possible when disposing of waste craft products.

I,personally do not consider ground glass as a hazard to anything but plumbing. I treat it as I would diatomaceous earth and spread it around plants in the garden.

Ditto. Pour it on the plants.

Dana W.

Thank you!

Just run it down the largest drain in the house - probably the toilet. Seriously - you've probably washed larger grains of sand off vegetables from the store.

DON'T put it down the toilet if you have a worm-powered sewage system. It'll tear their little guts out!

Don't put it down ANY drain.

Marty wrote:Don't put it down ANY drain.

OP is only talking a little powder - what's the harm? Glass is sand(roughly), sand is glass. We all habitually wash dirty clothing with embedded sand down the drain and same for dirty vegetables,dogs, etc. And we eat a fair amount which comes out . . . https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellne ... t-year.htm

But I would fully agree that one shouldn't dump grinder sludge down a drain - the particles are much too large to be carried away and could start to accumulate in the trap (u-shaped piece on the drain pipe).

Any thoughts on washing very small brushes out in the bath room sink --- Brad's and Barry K's "paints"

Terry,
The politically sensitive answer is to not do so.
I did it all the time. Our paints contain very little (relatively) solids and those are ultra fine.
However, I have now installed a Gleko Trap since I do a lot (and I mean a lot) of painting and washing. After the first year, I cleaned out the trap and it was amazing how little solids there was.

Barry

I have a Gleco trap on my utility sink. I wash anything glass related in that sink (glass itself, brushes, etc). If the piece is small enough, I'll coldwork with handpads in that sink. The grinder sludge, I scrape out and dispose of. Other coldworking water usually ends up in the yard (the water bucket for the lap grinder & saw).

The utility sink is also great for washing dirty vegetables .

Dana