Wood????

[e-jipt]

I saw this pic of tihs guy doing some work on a wood surface. Looks like he's making a dragon, he's a furnace worker so I take it that it's soft glass. Why would he work this on wood instead of graffite?? It's got flames coming up and everything. THanks

[harpentuan]

Wood won't absorb as much of the glass heat as graphite. (no shocking or cracking) You can also soak the wood in water before use.

[Greymatter Glass]

wood + fire = carbon

graphite = carbon

ultimately, they both work about the same once the wood is chared.

[prairieson]

When I use wood rather than steel or graphite in the hotshop it's for one reason... no chill marks. With graphite or steel I'd have to keep reheating the tool or they'll suck up heat and pucker the glass, especially with a flat surfaced tool like a tagliol or marvering surface. Wood doesn't conduct the heat away from the glass as quickly and I don't have to (p)reheat the tool.

Economy of motion, baby!

[eternalfrost]

woods used all the time, especially in the hot shop. usually though its already 'broken in' and has been water logged from sitting in water for weeks and the surface completly black from being charred and gunk from the water.

hardwood is usually used, just like cherry wood marble molds for the torch. usually dont see just a chunk of new 2X4 like in the pic though.

[mer]

i bet wood smells better than graphite when you use it......

[harpentuan]

You should smell the charred wet newspaper (used for shaping). It's a good and happy smell.

[beachglass]

^^ could you explain a bit more how you use wet newspaper?? ive never heard of that before....thanks

[harpentuan]

In a hot shop you can literally hand shape a molten gather, on a punty/blowtube, that's sitting horizontal on the bench with wet newspaper between your hand and the glass. Nice shape, nice smell, no burns.

As far as wood, use a hard wood with no saps or resin in it. ex: cherry wood over maple. Definitely DONT use a pressure treated wood (PT).

peace, I am not an expert on hot shops, I just know a little little.

[Fire on the mountain]

does anyone use a wet newspaper for boro??

[Meerkat]

good question, many times I have been looking at something I have been making with boro and thinking to myself, "man if I could just shape that with my hand, it would be so much easier". Wet newspapers might do the trick...

[mindblowingglass]

We don't make large enough pieces to justify using newspaper.
( as well our bench's are set up completely diff.)
In theory you could use wet newspaper on boro, but because of the scale we do, I would think it would mess it up more than it would help.
If anyone wants to try it. Take some newspaper fold it up till its about 7x7 - 9x9 and soak it in water for many hrs( till its completely soaked all the way through/ and ply able )

[QTS]

If you want to use your hands like you would with newspaper, but want something more durable, check out the Gott Steamers Hand Shaping Pads and other tools, found HERE (http://www.northernheat.ca/handshape.html)

[eternalfrost]

i dont think it would be fesable to use newspaper with a torch on boro.

theres just not enough heat mass unless your doing something real massive, in which case your arms would sizzle off from the heat trying to touch it with your hand. when used in hot shops you will usually have an asistant with a heat shield blocking your arms when you use it.

also it just wouldnt do much good at a torch without the bench like in furnace work. the bench allows you to spin with one hand and shape with the other in a very presice way. imagine trying to twirl your piece with one hand while rolling it in the other just up in the air at the torch. cant see it as being nearly as helpful

[Ubatuba]

On a side note with the newspaper, in the hot shop there is a great way to mess with whoever you are working with that day. Ask your buddy your working with if you could fold his/her newspaper (they will always say yes, unless anal). Fold the paper as normal, but put a piece of raw bacon in the center. Throughout the day that paper is gonna get hot and and the aroma of natures candy will eventually fill the air. "Why do i smell bacon?"

[mer]

bacon is kinda gross, how about some greenleaf?

[lucidvisions]

mmmm.... bacon. That's the best ever I laughed outloud at that one. It would make me buy the piece...come to think of it everything should just come with a side of bacon.

Side note: I got a friend in Cali that is a member of the bacon of the month club gets a T-shirt, a calander of bacon and all different types of bacon in the mail.

Man I love bacon

Josh

[prairieson]

If you want to use your hands like you would with newspaper, but want something more durable, check out the Gott Steamers Hand Shaping Pads and other tools, found HERE (http://www.northernheat.ca/handshape.html)

I tried using a Steamer and personally didn't really care for it, I didn't have the feel of the glass that I do with a paper pad. Get that bad boy carboned up and it fits like a well broken in baseball glove.

Well, that and I'm a cheap old bastard and it takes an awful lot of free newspapers to add up to the cost of a Steamer, heheh.

Interesting sidenote... most of the glassblowers I know prefer the Wall Street Journal. I've used the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Toledo Blade and a few others but nothing seems to work like the Journal. Go figure.

[Ubatuba]

Wall Street seems to not burn carbon flakes into the glass when it gets on the dry side. Something about the ink and paper pulp. Steamer pads are nice for heavy color applications that you dont want to reduce, it seems to suck a lot of heat out the glass , which can be good or bad, depending on the situation.

Oh, on the bacon or green leaf note... Definatly bacon that smell makes me hungry. What a tasty animal ~Alex

[jcherrellglass]

I love you Alex!!! That joke makes me happy!

Funny cuz I was just thinking how the clever the pig is to make its self taste so good that we'll make sure they never go extinct....

[ScurvySee]

Wall Street seems to not burn carbon flakes into the glass when it gets on the dry side. Something about the ink and paper pulp. Steamer pads are nice for heavy color applications that you dont want to reduce, it seems to suck a lot of heat out the glass , which can be good or bad, depending on the situation.

Oh, on the bacon or green leaf note... Definatly bacon that smell makes me hungry. What a tasty animal ~Alex

Exactly, ya beat me to it. The Wall Street Journal is definetly the best newspaper to use in the hot shop. It is a lot more durable and able to accept more water due to it's high pulp content. I think it would be impractical to use in boro, you would have to be working pretty big. It needs a large radiant heat source, because what you are doing is shaping the glass with a layer of steam that is inbetween the newspaper and the glass. As far as wood goes, the guy in that picture looks like he is running the risk of permanently burning some soot on his piece. Most hotshops use cherrywood due to it's high water content, which prevents it from burning and sticking to the piece. Often times the tools are kept wet ever since they are made and shipped in sacks of water. Not sure about paddles but I know blocks are shipped this way.

[christopher]

You should smell the charred wet newspaper (used for shaping). It's a good and happy smell.

Isn't it weird how smells like that (and I agree it's a good and happy smell) really can make you happy? I use wet newspaper as a steam pad for puffing out goblet bowls nice and round. . .

On a similar note, the smell of Kiss My Face brand Peaches and Cream moisturizer always reminds me of kauai. . .something about using it to cover the smell on a vacation/smuggling mission with my sister. . .

[BSD_Radiant_Glass]

If I'm not mistaken, that picture was taken at a Hot Glass Festival at Sunspots that I attended this last spring in Staunton, VA. The event is really cool with 30+ teams of hot shop workers coming in for the weekend and doing public demos with their sales booths set up in a different room. There are also a fair number of lamp workers who show their work and do demos as well.

I saw that dragon, or one very much like it being made. The reason he's using a 2x4 instead of some more appropriate wood is that we all showed up to work in their shop with none of our own tools. It would have been crazy if 30 teams had brought all of our own hand tools, so we just all worked with what was there. I'm sure he just asked for a bit of wood to work with and that's what the organizer came up with. The dragons are quite incredible and it was a treat to see them made. I'm a vessel maker (cups, vases, bowls and some weights) myself so it was really neat to see the glass I use every day used in a very different (sculptural) way. In fact, it's always neat to see how different people make such different stuff using the same basic techniques and skill sets.

Hi, by the way. I've been lurking for weeks and I'm learning a lot.

BSD
www.radiantglass.com

[Kalera]

On a side note with the newspaper, in the hot shop there is a great way to mess with whoever you are working with that day. Ask your buddy your working with if you could fold his/her newspaper (they will always say yes, unless anal). Fold the paper as normal, but put a piece of raw bacon in the center. Throughout the day that paper is gonna get hot and and the aroma of natures candy will eventually fill the air. "Why do i smell bacon?"


*Thrills* Nature's candy!

[Kalera]

Isn't it weird how smells like that (and I agree it's a good and happy smell) really can make you happy? I use wet newspaper as a steam pad for puffing out goblet bowls nice and round. . .

On a similar note, the smell of Kiss My Face brand Peaches and Cream moisturizer always reminds me of kauai. . .something about using it to cover the smell on a vacation/smuggling mission with my sister. . .

Thank god that says "smuggling". I saw "snuggling" at first.