Punty help

[OGMMJ]

just recently started with soft glass on a hothead, tried a few pendants yesterday but only have thin pyrex tubing that i got from a friend to use as a punty for now, what are some tips and tricks to help me make a clean seal and be able to get it off cleanly? what do you all use as punties for soft glass pendants?

THANKS OGMMJ

[istandalone24/7]

with soft glass and being a beginner, i'd use either a stainless steel mandrel (same idea as a glass punty, but instead of a surface seal the metal rod is embedded in a sacrificial glob of glass) or buy some 5 or 6mm boro rod.

[OGMMJ]

okay thanks i will order some boro rod right now and try that insead of the boro tubing i have, how do you go about sealing the mandrel? hot or cold seal?

THANKS!

[menty666]

okay thanks i will order some boro rod right now and try that insead of the boro tubing i have, how do you go about sealing the mandrel? hot or cold seal?

THANKS!

It depends on what you're doing. If you're just doing a final polish on something or a quick tug, a cold seal will suffice. If you need to hold something a little longer or might knock it for some reason, you'd want a warm seal.

[IDoesGlass]

Mixing glass COE's is generally never a good idea. If you are working in boro use only boro. If you are working in morettie use only morettie.

[Glasherz]

I am using soft glass each day. When I do pendants, I create the pendant itself first. Then I add the hook on top. And then I've got this crocodile clip fixed on a small rod which I use to grab the hook with it. Afterwards I can melt away the rod on the pendant and polish it in the flame for final touches.

A pyrex punti could work too, but it might break off while you're still working on the piece. Also I don't like having several COEs on my desk at the same time. You tend to mix them up.

[OGMMJ]

Thanks for all the replies, going to order some 5-6mm soft glass rods from delphiglass or mountain glass not sure which yet and going to try another pendant tomorrow with the boro tubing that i still have a huge amount of from a friend, i was heating it enough to where i could kind of flatten the end and then i was making a hot seal (weld) so i will try shaping the tubing into a full pencil shape and try a cold seal and hopefully it works better this time! if not ill wait to try another pendant until the soft glass rods arrive to use as a punty

THANKS!

[istandalone24/7]

Mixing glass COE's is generally never a good idea. If you are working in boro use only boro. If you are working in morettie use only morettie.

this is not quite accurate. lots of soft glass users use boro punties. lots.

no boro users use soft glass punties.

[OGMMJ]

Should i continue trying to work with the super thin boro tubing i have as a start to learn the art of punties, or should i start trying it with clear soft glass rods?

[istandalone24/7]

soft glass rods can be used as a decent punty..just need to keep flashing it so it doesn't thermal shock. you'll get the feel for when it needs heat (or not) pretty quick. but keeping the "cold" seal & tip of the rod hot isn't so much an issue with boro punties.

[OGMMJ]

Only thing is i don't have boro rods i only have very small diameter maybe 3-5mm tubing, i was able to use it how a punty should work other then being able to cleanly get it off the piece i made :(

[LarryC]

if you use Boro punties be absolutely sure that no Boro is left on the piece when you remove the punty. It will be disastrous. I never mix Coe. never.

[oG Glocc Coma]

Why not punty with your soft glass rods? I guess i don't understand because i never worked soft glass but if I need a punty and absolutely don't have a rod for in i'll do anything from melt a used point to using a full color rod. Its only gonna use the tip if any glass gets stuck not like the whole rod becomes unusable

[oG Glocc Coma]

Only thing is i don't have boro rods i only have very small diameter maybe 3-5mm tubing, i was able to use it how a punty should work other then being able to cleanly get it off the piece i made :(

Melt that tubing into rod man!

[OGMMJ]

how should i go about that

[JBob]

how should i go about that

Close the end of 2 tubes, melt one of those ends into a large solid mass, use other closed end tube as a punty attach and pull at a consistent pace and keep as straight as possible, boom rod

[istandalone24/7]

not very easy on a hothead (i think you said hothead?) it doesn't really get hot enough to gather boro and pull tubing into thin rod.
but if your tubing is 3 to 5mm....do just like your doing gather the end of the tube to solid, marver down to a nice cone and use that for a punty. probably your best bet until you get some boro punties.

now that i think of it...i should have thrown a few into the box w/the book.....i just thought of it and it's already in the post :(

[oG Glocc Coma]

yea, just make the tip a solid rod if you don't have enough heat! His tip is spot on just marver down a cone of boro you melted

[OGMMJ]

Sounds good i will give that a shot tonight, fired my first bead in my kiln last night for about a half hour had to open up my kiln door about every 8 minutes to keep the temps down since i don't have my input controller hooked up :/ so i didn't get any slumping, but it worked well, and yes just a hot head for now already went threw 5 tanks of mapp so needless to say i can't wait for a lynx/mid range/mega minor/ anything to get off the hothead i already was lucky enough to have 3 decent sized oxy tanks floating around only one is filled but i also have numerous propane tanks as well, just need regs hoses and a TORCH!! can't wait :)

[istandalone24/7]

i used a midrange with a premix topfire for two years (well technically hothead, to mega minor, to the midrange all within a couple months) and it's a very versatile and oxygen efficient torch. you can usually find them used in the $300 range but new is maybe $425. it's also a great torch to use on oxycons, if that is what you'll end up using.

btw will you use tanked oxy, or generated?

[OGMMJ]

i will be using tanked o2 until i can afford a generator/concentrator seeing as i have 2 or 3 tanks lying around already and airgas is very close to me.

[OGMMJ]

And i would love to start out with a used lynx (wouldn't anyone) but currently don't have the funds until this weekend

[talonst]

As a beginner, I would suggest you follow the advice of those who have said to stick with one type of glass. Steel punties and boro rods can be used but bring their own issues. Steel needs to be kept hot to keep the seal to the glass. Same with boro but the issue there is that the connection needs to be hot enough so that the different expansion rates don't come into play and cause them to crack apart. Steel can deposit crap in the class and any boro left behind will cause the finished soft glass piece to crack and craze. As your experience grows you'll inevitably try these things out, but for small pendants there's really no need to use anything outside of glass you're working with. There's plenty to learn and extra variables cause extra headaches and as others have pointed out glasses get mixed up on the bench easily.

When I make pendants (let's say it's an rod implosion) I'll back the pendant body then use that color rod to punty to center of the back so I can remove the Maria rod. After shaping the face I punty onto what will be the bottom of the pendant with a clear rod and burn off the punty on the back. By allowing the front of the pendant to cool some and then putting heat into the back I can put the pendant on my marver (back down) and use my tweezers to press on the face of the pendant to flatten out the punty mark on the back or you could tweeze it away. After fire polishing the back I add the loop and grab the pendant with warmed tweezers at the loop or around the body with a clothes pin wrapped with lathe tape and then burn off the bottom punty. As you get your sequence down and become faster and more confident with your heat then you can do it all with cold seals.

[OGMMJ]

how come when i use my stainless tools on hot glass either trying to pull away excess or trying to help shape the loop it damn near welds together on me and my tweezers are stuck closed...

[itssteve]

You are getting the metal too hot

[JBob]

Put a jar of water on your bench and dip it in when it sticks to ur metal tools like tweezers or steel punties

[OGMMJ]

okay thanks and can anyone give me some tips on how to easily get a nice looking loop?

[menty666]

Why not punty with your soft glass rods? I guess i don't understand because i never worked soft glass but if I need a punty and absolutely don't have a rod for in i'll do anything from melt a used point to using a full color rod. Its only gonna use the tip if any glass gets stuck not like the whole rod becomes unusable

The soft glass pops easier if you're unlucky, it just gets hot and floppy easier if slightly less unlucky. It works, but it's like the recommondation to use a dark color to hold silver and gold since it's stiffer.


okay thanks and can anyone give me some tips on how to easily get a nice looking loop?

Practice. Lots of practice. There's plenty of suggestions in other threads on this one; look for "loops" or "bails"