Slumping Tempered Glass

[Greg Rawls]

I want to make some round bowls with sandblasted images. I'm too lazy to cut and finish the edges on 1/2" float glass, so I found a distributor for 12" tempered glass table tops that will work. My stupid question (because I think I know the answer): if I slump the glass at 1175 before sandblasting, will it take the tempering out so I can sandblast without the glass shattering?

Thanks!

[Tony Smith]

1175 with a good anneal on the way down will remove the tempering. That said, you can sandblast tempered glass without it blowing up. A light etch will work just fine.

Tony

[Buttercup]

If you really want a thrill try carving tempered glass. Once I was supplied with glass that was not supposed to be tempered but was. It didn't have any logos to indicate it had been tempered so I spent hours laying out very intricate artwork then took it into the booth and started carving.
It went off like a blast out of a shotgun! On top of that I had to redo artwork on three new panels.

[Buttercup]

Greg, just a thought. Could you not simply order the glass as you want it, without having to reprocess it? I've done that for years. Jen

[The Hobbyist]

Sure, you can order exactly what you want/need but there are so many glass table tops floating around at great prices, new and used. Many of these are tempered and some are not. The savings are worth the effort if you can work with that glass.

I just trashed a 5' = 60" diam x 3/4" glass top that I tried unsuccessfully to give away. I had bought a dining room table and four chairs and only wanted the table base. The chairs were easy to gift but not the top. I got it at an auction for nearly nothing.

Jim "The Hobbyist"

[Ed Cantarella]

Greg - I looked at online prices. . . very good deals for a cut and beveled piece of that thickness. Since you are slumping them the fact that they are tempered means you can get 2-5 times as clumsy without breaking them - until slumped of course. I really like this idea