Solving devit with cold working?

[GrinderGuy]

So, my wife and I were discussing a recent slumped item that came out of our kiln with some devit on it... Using white Bullseye glass (sorry, not certain which "color" of white), accented with a green coarse frit. There appeared to be no relationship between the green frit and the devit; The devit was on clearly associated with the white glass. Problem was, this was a poor time to cover the item with clear frit and refire the piece, because we'd lose the slump we had already achieved...

I theorized that by using a drill and a round felt polishing wheel with cerium oxide, as well as some patience, it should be possible to polish away the devit. My assumption is that the polishing process "wears away" glass in minute amounts, and would eventually succeed in removing the (nearly always unwanted) devit.

Any "real life experience" in using such a cold working process to clear up a devit problem, or it this a new "Jeff's folly"?

Thanks an advance for any shared experiences offered!

Jeff Dolby

[Brock]

You can do it, but it's a lot of work. It may be easier to sandblast and fire polish in the mold.

[Morganica]

Sandblast. You may find you like it just as-is, with only a sealer against fingerprints. Otherwise, as Brock said, you can give it a light fire-polish, in the mold, to bring up the shine. You will probably soften the hard edges a bit, but it'll remove the devit.

And yup, you're removing the devit layer and getting back down to glass, which is really the only way to resolve devit short of remelting the whole thing in the furnace and starting over. If you cover it with additional glass, the devit is still there, it's just covered.

Coldworking around tack-fused green frit will definitely work, and if you're interested in doing that, get yourself a dremel or foredom flex-shaft, check out tiny grinder and polisher bits at HIS Glasswork or somewhere similar, and be prepared for a bunch of tedium. You'll have trouble getting close enough to the joints between frit and white glass, so there will likely be devit "halos" around the frit particles. (You're limited by the size of the bit and very small bits tend to be harder to find and sometimes wear faster because there's simply less grit there to begin with).

If you do it, fill in tiny holes and joints first by rubbing a bar of soap across them and pushing the soap in firmly. Grinding tends to product a lot of swarf (used grit and ground glass) that gets into the holes and is really difficult to remove. The soap cushions the swarf and dissolves out of the holes when you apply water, taking swarf with it.

But yeah...sandblast is a lot easier.

[GrinderGuy]

Thanks,all! I appreciate the input and your shared experience!

Jeff

[Barb R]

fill in tiny holes and joints first by rubbing a bar of soap across them and pushing the soap in firmly.

What a great idea! I never would have thought of this.

Barb

[KaCe]

That soap idea is new to me. Love the suggestion. I'm glad when I read all the posts. I always get some nugget of value.