Cheap Glass

[Jorbinky]

Are seconds and or damaged glass packs worth buying?
Usable?

[Jeffs Pieces]

All glass melts!

[Conchis]

Cheap glass can have drawbacks, but it's supplier dependent in some ways. The terms seconds and odds don't have a specific meaning from maker to maker. Some makers will sell seconds that are off their COE. This makes using it with some glass other than itself just not work out. Some call seconds glass that's full of rocks or some other problems that you could work around and the COE is still correct. Odds just mean that the pull is off. The rods can be too thick or too thin to be standard. I use these all of the time and save a little bit, but if you're doing stick-stack work, odds probably won't work for you. I stay away from seconds, use lots of odds, but ymmv.

[Shatner]

Like mentioned, odds are just out of round, taper, or have a bend in them.

Seconds may have COE issues, stones, problems striking, color variances.

I don't see any benefit to using seconds, as it's a gamble. But I will use a lot of odds if I'm on a budget.

[bildo]

I use seconds. They are a gamble. If you are a beginner or doing prodo they have been great. I have used ga, momkas and trautman. Traytman has all seconds labeled with what there prob is. Glass alchemy mixes their seconds and odds and I had good results. If u are just starting you prob wont be able to strike 1sts how you want anyways and I have had few incompatability issues. I do have rods that are extremely hard to use. Buy at you own risk 20 bucks a lb beats the hell out of 40-90.

[somberbear]

i have had really good luck with shorts ... i think sunray put some up for sale... for learning its the best deal i know of. the stuff i get is normally 1sts but only 6 inches of it. on the down side its not labeled.

[Shatner]

I will second somberbear by saying shorts are a great deal. The only problem is that if you like a certain color, you probably won't know what it is.