asian 50 x 9 ?

[nicko0]

ive used asian glass in sizes from 12x2.2? to 50x5; im familiar with its shittyness.

most of the time i can keep it from exploding

i want to use 50 x 9 asian but im afraid that it will be nearly impossible to work due to stress in the tube from the manufacturer.

the price is slightly higher per lb., so i was thinking it might be made to a higher quality to make a useable product.

so whats your take on 50 x 9 asian?

[Dan Kooper]

I have a tube I ordered to try. It's thick and heavy as hell as you know. I've made a vase out of it. Wasn't any worse than the other Asian tubing. Just heavy and thick as funk. I made a clear spoon out of it too. Just to try and make a stoopid thick piece.

[aREa541]

If you break it down then anneal it, the glass will be way more docile - I have been told they don't anneal it at the factory. I never do that with chinese, but if I was doing some 50x9 I might consider it.

[nicko0]

i havent found annealing asian reduces the shockyness much with asian

working directly from the kiln definitely helps.

ill probly just work from one end of the tube garaging the end im working from before i go to remove a section from the tube. ill have to set up more rollers to handle 4 ft of tube.

^^good to know it is useable. thx

[Firekist]

we've used 10-15 cases of the 50x9 or 60x9 in our shop.. the batch we got isn't good for clear only work, as it gets some weird lines in it once worked. (we got it for cheaper than regular because of that.. i assume any x9 tube is more expensive because any little section of loss is so heavy.. but.. i dunno. maybe they just mark it up because the "good" glass makers actually have to treat it differently when making it.. who knows)

however, we put color over it, then pull that down for tubing, or for cores for vac stacks. it's worked just fine in our opinions.

no, don't put any tubing that has 9mm wall thickness directly into a hot flame.. that's just asking for problems. heat it up slowly, and there shouldn't be a problem. i dont think we've ever blown up a chunk of the 50x9 or the 60x9. after we pull a point of it (yes, we've pulled points off these.. double points even), or put a handle on it and rip a section off, it goes into the kiln.
i suggest preparing an entire tube at once, because if it ring cracks (which is likely) that sucks. prep it all, and kiln it all... no ring cracks that way.

rollers are a good idea, a lathe is a better idea. these tubes are just waiting to give you carpal tunnel :)

---seth

[OracleGlassArts]

do you buy another brand of clear 75mm for 50x9 core of a vac stac or is there a place to get bigger Asian clear sizes...biggest I've seen is 60x5 and I love using that and 50x7