Pattern Bars

The reason behind buying a ring saw is so that I can cut strips of glass. This involves the making of pattern bars. Here you can see some 4"x0.75" pieces laid up in between sheets of fibre paper. I thought I'd try some horizontally and some vertically. The one on the far left has lengths of stringer inside, for variety.

Here's the finished assembly in the kiln, with fire brick offcuts around the sides to hold it all in place. I took this up to 1500F, held it for 15 minutes, then annealed it for 2.5 hours (30 minutes per 1/8 thickness of glass).

This is how they looked on removal from the kiln. You can see that the top edges have pulled upwards against the fibre paper a little bit; they have sharp stringy edges that needed grinding off. Also, the vertical stacks seem to have worked better; their glass has retained a more uniform shape. The top layer on each of the horizontal stacks has sunk into the layer below. I guess I could put a sheet of clear glass on top to counter this if I do more horizontal ones, which I would probably do if I wanted to make real patterns in these bars.

You and I will both have to wait until I take delivery of a slicing blade and guide attachment for the ring saw, before I can slice these up and have a proper look at them. The parts are on order... Watch this space!