Page 1 of 1

another float glass Q

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2003 3:39 pm
by BobB
I read a book some time ago where the author said you could catagorize common window glass by the colour of the edge. If you look at sheet glass from Lowes or HD the colours are either blueish or green. I don't recall the colour she recommended using (I believe the green) as float for projects. This was an old book and the author didn't talk about COE numbers persay. Does anyone have any info on this? Does anyone know the COE of just run of the mill glass purchased from home improvement stores? Are the COE's for say the greenish colour around 90. She had some interesting work and some neat ideas. I'll get the book and post the title and author in the next day or so.

Re: another float glass Q

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 4:06 am
by Brian and Jenny Blanthorn
BobB wrote:I read a book some time ago where the author said you could catagorize common window glass by the colour of the edge. If you look at sheet glass from Lowes or HD the colours are either blueish or green. I don't recall the colour she recommended using (I believe the green) as float for projects. This was an old book and the author didn't talk about COE numbers persay. Does anyone have any info on this? Does anyone know the COE of just run of the mill glass purchased from home improvement stores? Are the COE's for say the greenish colour around 90. She had some interesting work and some neat ideas. I'll get the book and post the title and author in the next day or so.
If U get glass from 1 place the glass with the same colour will have more chance of being compatabble with its self

But testing with any glass is always wise

The colour hue can B very subtle

Make a test peice say 6" x 2" then stack em up look down them on2 a white wall

Float Questions

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 2:23 pm
by Jerry
As mentioned elsewhere a lot, not all float glass is created equal. You will find huge variations in all areas of your work as you use different glass from different companies, so Test, Test, Test and you will stay out of trouble.

Genereally speaking float glass COE is around 84-87. Some will work with Thompson's Enamels, some won't. Thompson's claimes to be COE 90 so that should tell the tale.

Also, float glass needs more heat that, say, Bullseye or Specturm and anneals at about 1100 degrees vs 960 for Spectrum. So there's a lot to think about when using float. I've been using it for about 10 years now and am used to the unusual trick float can play. I bought a pick up truck full of float from a surplus dealer that has characteristics I've NEVER seen before. Full fuse, annealing and devit are all things to work out. So, find a source for your float, test it out and stay with that source; you'll do just fine.

Jerry