Any advice on cutting your own museum glass?

[Chester McCheeserton]

For glazing to be put in a frame...

I wouldn't have access to a wall mounted cutter like frame shops have but would just be using a cheap hand cutter from amazon and a straight edge.

Is there a learning curve? Do I need to sand the edges? (they will be covered by face of frame)

Will I wreck a few? (need to get 10 good ones) i think the glass comes in sheets of 18 x 24 and I need to make two cuts to make each piece exactly 17 x 22.

I've done scoring and snapping before with acrylic but never glass.

[Ron (Netherlands)]

sanding is always good; prevents cutting your fingers.

don't buy a cheap hand cutter, but a better one (for a few dollars more), preferably with a little oil reservoir so you get an oil fed wheel

tip: put the glass on a perfectly straight base when cutting

[Tin Can]

https://www.google.com/search?q=cutting+museum+glass&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS850US850&oq=cutting+museum+glass&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i390l2j69i60.8409j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Jim Jones]

A stroke or two across each sharp edge of glass with a fairly coarse whetstone is enough to make the glass safe to handle. A cheap whetstone seems to last forever in this use.

[Chuck Pere]

I'd practice on some cheap glass first. If you are talking about that expensive museum glass it might be better to just pay a frame shop to cut it for you. Messing up one large sheet will cost you. I've never gotten that good at cutting large pieces of glass so just get mine from the local frame shop.

[bob carnie]

I'd practice on some cheap glass first. If you are talking about that expensive museum glass it might be better to just pay a frame shop to cut it for you. Messing up one large sheet will cost you. I've never gotten that good at cutting large pieces of glass so just get mine from the local frame shop.

I agree with this, I have a wall mounted unit and with the price of good quality glass you may want to just ask a local framer to cut you a piece.. We use AR70 glass here for all shows and its a very good glass IMO>

[Vaughn]

Sanding 'strengthens' the glass -- actually just reduces the possibility of the glass breaking (I believe it is harder for cracks to form on a sanded edge vs. not-sanded.) And handling/storing sanded glass is much easier.

Cutting the 1" strip off of one side will give you some issues...especially as a first-timer. The two inch strip will be easier to snap off. I suggest cutting off the two-inch strip first to make the one-inch strip shorter.

I like the suggestion of practicing on some window glass -- especially cutting one inch strips. If it seems to be working for you, then hit the expensive stuff -- otherwise punt and head off to a framer.

[Drew Wiley]

Gotta know what kind of glass you're dealing with. Coated "museum glass" is a lot like tempered glass. You need an entirely different cutting wheel on your machine, and perhaps a different lubricant as well. You're not going to find that at your local hardware store. Simple "picture glass" is a different kind of product and basically just thin pre-cleaned ordinary "float glass", which can be cut by hand after some practice. But I do everything on a big wall mounted Fletcher dual-rail machine. Having the right variety sharp cutting wheels and cutting fluid on hand is crucial. A pair of true "glass pliers" is also highly advisable, especially for removing narrow sections; Fletcher plastic jaw ones are good. Remember safety glasses too.

Yes, you'll wreck a few in the learning curve, probably all of them. Might be better to pay a real glass shop to do it, or trade em a picture.

[Chester McCheeserton]

Thanks Everyone. I'm waiting to hear back on a quote from a local frame shop. But like Jay Z said, 'I may do it myself I'm so Brooklyn'.

Ron – i was thinking the lubricant ones but the ones I saw online were still around 20 bucks. Tin Can – I watched that video before posting my question. Vaughn - TY that's super helpful.
Drew it's Museum Glass, 2.5mm made by TruView, thanks for the glass plier tip.

[Drew Wiley]

You can buy little bottles of water-rinsable lube, or even make your own. DON'T use ordinary solvent-style lubes of any variety - they can mess with the coating on museum glass. And no need for a fancy cutter with a feed tube. Just a little drop on the cutter wheel itself will do. The correct scoring wheels have a more acute or pointing rim than the kind for ordinary window glass. You might have to go to an industrial supplier like McMaster Carr to find one. Their number for cutter : 4977N11 ($4.85), or better 3867A21 ($21.96); pliers 5628A71 ($27.26). Impressa 4 oz glass cutting fluid ($11.99 on Amazon).

It's tricky working with a handheld cutter for that kind of glass. Remember, you're just trying to consistently break the surface tension with a light even score, and not dig in deep with the cutter. It's not like scoring plastic. I was taught by the best, a former Nasa optical engineer who could take a sixteenth-inch strip off a 4 ft wide sheet of glass as a single piece, unbroken! That was via machine scoring, or course, but still... One of the secrets is a cutter which is not dull, and the use of fluid, and never too much pressure.

[Chester McCheeserton]

Thanks a lot Drew – appreciate the links.

[Steve Goldstein]

Drew, can the cutter for borosilicate glass be used successfully on window glass? Or does one need two cutters on hand?

[Tin Can]

I use McMaster Carr

https://www.mcmaster.com/cutters/easy-cut-glass-cutters/

[Drew Wiley]

Steve - I don't recommend the same cutter being used for ordinary window glass or common uncoated "picture glass". The thickness and acuteness of angle of the cutter wheels are different. But I do recommend practicing on ordinary cheap glass with its own kind of cutter before messing with expensive coated glass. One needs to become familiar with the correct smooth sound for a cutter stroke, rather than any grating or chattering sound. Correct plier technique also needs to be practiced.

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Ron – i was thinking the lubricant ones but the ones I saw online were still around 20 bucks. Tin Can – I watched that video before posting my question. Vaughn - TY that's super helpful.


Well... for 20 you have a 'Mercedes', but like others here pointed out, you can get one without an oil reservoir for about 5 usd;
as said, I would spend 'a few dollars more' when working on expensive glass

[Willie]

Before you start cutting inspect the glass very carefully for imperfections, bubbles, etc. Museum glass does have some at times and if you see it before cutting you might avoid a final piece with an odd mark over the print/artwork.

[Paul Ron]

here is what a manufacturer recomends for handeling museum glass....

https://tru-vue.com/solution/museum-glass/

you dont need any fancy cutters. get a carbide fletcher, used by professionals

https://www.amazon.com/Fletcher-Pattern-Cutting-Stained-Carbide/dp/B001G0TKU4/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=glass+cutter+fletcher&qid=1659305570&sr=8-3

there are tons of video instructions on the net. practice cutting some scrap glass before doing the museum glass.

[Mark Sampson]

I've long used acrylic for glazing, for the obvious reasons; the weight and fragility of glass. There are several museum-quality, UV-protectant types.

[Chester McCheeserton]

I've long used acrylic for glazing, for the obvious reasons; the weight and fragility of glass. There are several museum-quality, UV-protectant types.

same here, but recently I unwrapped a bunch of older framed works and was able to really look critically, side by side, at the differences in reflection distraction between regular OP-3 Plex, Optium, and Museum glass, and I'm going to try using glass for this project at least and see how it goes.

The works are not being shipped, there is less distracting reflection, (even than optium) and it's significantly less expensive. I'm looking at something called "Artglass" which looks to be slightly cheaper than TrueView's 'Museum Glass'.

If one breaks in the frame or there are other issues, I will go back to acrylic, but am going to try it....

[John Layton]

A few years back I spent six months working in a framing shop...and I'll never forget the day that my boss indicated to me that I'd finally gotten the chops to "graduate" to cutting museum glass - which meant hefting huge pieces of this onto a vertical (Fletcher?) glass cutter. Had to be really careful if I did this before the coffee wore off!

[Drew Wiley]

Optically coated acrylic is the ideal choice, but it's ridiculously expensive for routine use. I don't use any kind of tinted allegedly UV-protective plastics. For one reason, their pinkish or yellowish tint spoils certain hues, especially blue and cyan Second, from my own testing, it seems they offer only a very minor amount of UV protection which is hardly a substitute for proper lighting devoid of UV to begin with, or at least low in UV. Back when I tested em with Cibachrome, there was only about a 5% improvement in the rate of dye fading.

[Tin Can]

Get it cut to YOUR standard size by a Pro

I buy plate glass to my exact size by the 100's

https://www.howardglass.com/

[domaz]

Get it cut to YOUR standard size by a Pro

I buy plate glass to my exact size by the 100's

https://www.howardglass.com/

That's great if your buying 100s of pieces.. but anywhere that says Request a Quote is not going be economical for small batch runs. Cutting glass yourself isn't hard, neither is taking it to the framing shop and paying for the cuts.

[maltfalc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD7C0LfbOhk