BS!!!! help!!!! condensation drips from blowtube keeps murdering my nice work!!!!

^do all of this with your piece in the kiln, but blowtube hanging out As normal. Hot air plus the suction gets rid of the moisture FAST!

I had this issue when beginning to use frit. Instead of opening the end of a point like one would for inside out work, if I was making straight frit pieces I would just pour the frit down my point handle. Of course even after just making the point and evening out the walls on the end, I would have moisture and it would trap some of the frit in the handle. I was more worried about it falling back into my mouth than the moisture hitting my mouthpiece, but all I ever had to do was use a soft flame start at the mouthpiece and just kinda chase the moisture up the handle with my flame. Presto no moisture. I already had a punty up to the opposite side for melting shit down and what not so no extra step there. Of course now you have a hot handle, but they tend to cool off really fast and I only have ever have them bust apart if it was a super janky thin ass point handle (and I usually knew I was risking it) or sometimes when the moisture gets to the very end and a small little section of the end pops off.

I have been using my kiln more like the tool it is lately and garaging lots of my pieces between steps. I almost never make a spoon for instance all in one go anymore, I usually have several in the kiln waiting for me so I don't tend to loose any time in the wait for the handle to cool since I will start another step on another piece while the handle gets back to touching temp. Of course simply just sticking it in the kiln usually gets most of the moisture out anyway just from sitting in the dry heat, but of course the Eush vacuum tip seems to be dead on, and very little to no wait time. I personally don't have a vacuum though and don't plan to go out and buy one yet, because I don't seem to have any issues at this point with moisture dripping down unless im lazy as shit. If I had just spent a few days making the prep and sections of a heady piece though, it would seem like straight up worthy investment. I just don't make anything nice enough yet to justify it. And using the flame to work out the moisture like you would air if you were melting something down seems to work for me 95% or more of the time.

interesting how different people solve the same problem, that's why I like this forum :)

Usually the moisture will gather near the open end while working hot. Just wick the moisture out with ur shirt before continuing. if you keep from getting a lot of moisture it will not drip. Also if you don't want to garage the piece you can heat the handle just past the piece with a mini hand torch to stop any moisture.

Just saw Jason Lee post a tip about this the other day. Put a rolled up piece of napkin in the end of the tube while it is in the kiln and it acts as a wick.

This has never happened to me… am I the only one who uses a blow hose?

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Originally Posted by Mr. Wonka

This has never happened to me… am I the only one who uses a blow hose?

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I use a blow hose, but it doesn't matter. Personally, I'm talking about condensation, not saliva.

I get condensation forming as soon as I start putting the glass near the flame.

Gun cleaning stick gun cleaning no lint patch, cheap and instant.

It's called a spit collector. Somewhat similar to the photo shown above, but smaller and simpler. I haven't used a blowhose for years but i'll check to see if I can find my old one and post a photo if I can. If not, I'll draw one up and post.

good buddy gave me an old book on glassblowing in the lab, they went on in detail how to make spit collectors, used to be very common i guess.

Yup, when I was doing scientific glass in the 80's everyone I knew used one.

I took a look for my old spit collector and, as I suspected, it is long gone since I haven't done any tubing work for years. But here's a very simple drawing of one. It goes on your blowhose to catch anything you might drool into it and keep it from traveling into your piece. It's basically a small, light glass ball with a tube in the outlet that acts as a trap for moisture. You can make the outlet tube straight, or bend it a little as shown below, so it's not directly in line with the inlet. Shake drool out as necessary.

Attachment 62994

A small hole and cork in the bubble will help you to blow it out easier too

I always just popped off the inlet hose and gave it a couple of quick shakes upside down. Worked fine. I'm not quite sure how the cork and hole would work better, although maybe I'm just being a little dense because it's not what I'm used to. I guess it would allow you to clear it without removing the hose, which could come in handy while you're working on a piece. Might be a good suggestion. Thanks.

Anyway, while taking a quick look around the web to see if I could find a better illustration than my shitty drawing, I stumbled across something that could be of interest to some people here, a downloadable book on scientific glassblowing. This would probably be an interesting book for those doing tubing work, since it give instructions in making a number of different seals, among many other things. Doing a search of the website will turn up a bunch of other cool stuff that's available for download as well. Enjoy!

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Originally Posted by OVglass

Step one shop vac or other vacuum.
Step two put vacuum hose up to blow tube.
Step three suck the condensation out of blowtube.
This takes a about 1 to 2 seconds
Big ups to Eush for dropping this simple trick. Enjoy

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I saw this done as well but they turned the vac on after they placed the piece in the kiln so it totally dried the blowtube in a matter of seconds with hot kiln air.

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Originally Posted by brads

I always just popped off the inlet hose and gave it a couple of quick shakes upside down. Worked fine. I'm not quite sure how the cork and hole would work better, although maybe I'm just being a little dense because it's not what I'm used to. I guess it would allow you to clear it without removing the hose, which could come in handy while you're working on a piece. Might be a good suggestion. Thanks.

Anyway, while taking a quick look around the web to see if I could find a better illustration than my shitty drawing, I stumbled across something that could be of interest to some people here, a downloadable book on scientific glassblowing. This would probably be an interesting book for those doing tubing work, since it give instructions in making a number of different seals, among many other things. Doing a search of the website will turn up a bunch of other cool stuff that's available for download as well. Enjoy!

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thanks for the book! :D