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Here I am doing basic glass cutting on a scrap piece of glass, actually it’s a mirror. For much more videos about basic glass cutting, etc. see the playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4A57AB2EFB9566F9&feature=plcp

Do not attempt to cut (pre) Tempered Glass, it cannot be cut and is designed to shatter to small pieces for safty purposes. You can cut (flat) Plate Glass.

The “glass cutter” does not actually cut through the glass, it just scratches or “scores” it, so it should be called either a “glass scratcher/scorer” or a “tool of glass cutting”.

The score is then used when you actually break or snap the glass along this “weakened” line (or even curves are possible). Technically, you try to “bend” both sides along the score downward to “open” (not compress) the crack up to the back side of the glass. In the vid. I show holding the piece of glass with my hands as a lot of people seem to do – especially with small pieces, but it’s safer to put the glass on a firm surface first and/or wear gloves.

To remove the sharp parts after cutting the glass, I used some sandstone I found down by the river. Just about any stone or cement will do, just dont use something too hard like smooth quartz since it tends to just “glide” over the glass. Use both straight and circular motion with the stone at about a 45 degree angle to the glass to bevel it to a non-sharp/thin semi-round surface. It is good though to have an electric grinder or rotary tool like a Dremel incase the break leaves some sizeable bumps of glass areas that would be difficult to grind by hand. If you dont have that, perhaps a larger piece of smooth cement might work ok.

Be sure to sweep up and vacuum any glass shards.

Note you can use a flat rule made of metal, wood, or plastic to guide the glass cutter, but be sure its not too thin since you do not want to damage the “cutting wheel” (the part that scores the glass) if it came in contact with metal.

About the tool I made; the ruler-straightedge with the rubber attached to the back. The rubber (or nylon) was cut from a bicycle inner-tube, and was attached with contact cement which is very sticky and somewhat flexible. This glue is sometimes called “rubber cement”. I got a tube for about $1. I also lightly scratched both surfaces of the rubber for better adhesion of the glue and for better “holding” ability on the glass. I guess you could also use some flat erasor type material too instead of the inner tube material. Silicone rubber or a thin coat or beads of dried caulking might be ok. Some tape can possibly be used to secure the straightrule, but you might have to clean up any residue left from the tape unless you put the tape right on the rule itself. When you cut the bicycle tube, avoid breathing the powder (usually talc or talcum), so rinse the tube segment with hot soapy water and let it dry.

Keep the “scoring wheel” oiled. I just keep/store that end in a glass with some clear oil in it. I use cheap “mineral oil” from the dollar/drug store.

Find some flat glass pieces and practice a bit on them so that you are prepared to cut glass when you need to.

Here is a good website about glass cutters, care and use:

http://www.freepatternsforstainedglass.com/your-glass-cutter.html

Ideally one would want to dawn rubber gloves and wear those throughout the process shown. Although I took the voltage high here at 59 volts at one point I don’t really recommend going that high. I would instead suggest staying under 30 volts. This not only keeps arcing at a minimum but its easier to get uniform color spread with voltages starting at 12 volts upwards to 28 volts for a nice blue color. Dipping in a tank is preferred but otherwise this works for anodizing if you have a power source but are not set up with much. You could in fact get a nice sudued dirty brown or olive drab color with a 12 volt car battery doing this same thing.. It is however always a risk and proper safey measures such as gloves and safety glasses and even a rubber mat by rubbermaid like what I sit on in this video are all good ideas.

I should have noted in the video also that instead of using a Scotchbrite pad to take any surface oxidation off the metal parts, Smoky Mt. Knife Works sells a little item called, “The RUST Eraser” that every knife nut should have. You can slice these blocks or erasers any thickness you like so these also work to clean up the back spring or other metal areas one has to take surface oxidation off of after you color the liners. These are handy for cleaning out the insides of old folders also. These erasers can fit once you slice one so that it only requires a good swipe once or twice covering the entire area of the back spring width all in one neat sweep. This way you don’t drift into the liners scratching the color off in places as you clean the other parts. If you do anodize this way you will tarnish the metal parts some and if you leave the alligator clip in one place too long it will spark off on you. I don’t recommend doing this if the folder you are going to be coloring liners on has carbon blades and/or backsprings or other parts that can be oxidized to form rust patches. Even stainless can corrode this way so again, it is just for example taking into account that I have done this many times in the past.

On a lot of the open build type folders being offered today in the industry such as, Benchmade and Emerson liner locks (some Emerson years had one side cheesy cheap stainless liner instead of the titanium but the lock side is titanium) this works great to anodize the liners without even having to take the knife apart. Of course it does nothing to change them inside or on the sides. So if you were to want to color the entire liner inside and out then you’d have to then disassemble the knife. Remember to seal the stainless steel detent ball in the lock and the non lock side on Emerson liners with a dab of nail polish and then remove it after dipping to color anodize. Failing to remember this step could result in a gritty feeling action due to oxidation on your stainless balls from anodizing.. You can also use duct tape if you don’t dip too long and it works just fine in most all cases.