Antique Uranium Glass Usable?

[GlassFreak]

i found an old pitcher and jar made out of uranium glass. i was just wondering if it is possable to take pieces of it (if it were to break...) and use it with boro? like say the handle? would that just be a decent sized stick of uranium glass i could use right in pipes?

[davidwillisglass]

would you really want uranium in a pipe you hold, or put in your pocket, or...?

[larren]

I would think it all depends on the coe of the uranium glass. As have heard that it was made in several different coe's. But yeah do you really want radioactive glass?

[gn0me]

The radiation given off by uranium glass is both minuscule and not particularly harmful - alpha radiation cannot penetrate the skin, and is largely blocked by glass.

It is possible that you could use the glass again if it were to break, but you would need to do a test to make sure the COE's are compatible. Being an antique, the composition is probably soda-lime (soft) glass, and would be incompatible with boro. To see if this is the case, melt a piece of each glass together, side by side, and pull a long stringer out of it - DO NOT TWIST!! If it stays straight once cool, the glasses are compatible. If it curls to one side, the glass on the inside of the curve has a larger COE and they are incompatible.

I should add that abrasive grinding is not a good idea for this kind of glass, because the dust is more harmful than regular glass. Alpha radiation cannot penetrate the skin, but it's definitely not good to inhale particles that would emit inside your lungs.

[chayes]

there are collectors of such items you could sell em and buy boro u glass. I'm pretty sure what ya have is not boro.

[jr23]

Do you realize that uranium ore is all over the southwest and people pick it up all the time and don't know it.

Its not super common but its def not super rare.

When we were cold war happpy bomb makers. there was a urainum ore rush and our own government just took over the market by only buying contracts thus elemenating the prospector.

If you stand in front of your microwave or talk on a cell phone you are prob exposed to more danger than a pipe with a u-glass stringer on it.

[davidwillisglass]

i've always heard that the urainum glass is more or less, probably harmless. i've also heard a geiger counter reacts to it.

in terms of practicality, i doubt uranium will be a big selling point in any product these days, it definitely doesn't seem very "green"

all i know for sure is, for me, the less uranium or anything else radioactive in my life, the better

[GlassFreak]

um yea... http://www.glasspipes.org/Img38716_I...C04233.jpg.asp

the human body gives off more radiation than the amount of uranium that is put into the glass... uranium is basically just radioactive lead, when uranium bars use up all the radiation, theyre just bars of lead. glass from scratch is made with lime sand and a little bit of lead. so they just substituted the lead with uranium.

this stuff is mold pressed, and i think that is boro, but it is the old cookwear borosilicate... totaly different kind of glass than what we have today... so idk... i just thought that all uranium glass, even the stock they have that you can buy online in tube or rod... but im sure like was said, they probly made a few different COE types.

[murf]

if you use a cell phone , you are more at risk then having UV glass pressed between you lips. I can t back that up, but.....
if you doing both, then Good F--king Luck

I have consider doing the same thing, its pretty easy to find these older UV dinner ware pieces . finding out the COE wouldn't be hard, I just wonder if the saturation of the UV might have been place to it limits in production. the rod is great, not sure of dinner ware.

[JLF]

Different COE. Not Compatible.

Uranium glass rods and tubes that are compatible with boro were made for tungsten seals and other gradient glass to metal seals in scientific work. (Boro to Uranium to Tungsten) Their COE is closer to 40. There is now a substitute that has no uranium in it.

You can get uranium beads, marbles, etc. they are all soft glass. All the antique stuff is not what you are looking for, unless it is a Geissler tube.

[GlassFreak]

sweet JLF thanks alot, now i can just keep em whole instead of breaking one to figure it out the hard way... theyre cool as fuck either way... do you know where to find that substitute?

[Uriel]

i've always heard that the urainum glass is more or less, probably harmless. i've also heard a geiger counter reacts to it.

in terms of practicality, i doubt uranium will be a big selling point in any product these days, it definitely doesn't seem very "green"

all i know for sure is, for me, the less uranium or anything else radioactive in my life, the better

Better get that tin foil suit on then mate,
The whole of Europe was affected when Chernobil decided to meltdown so stay away from here, also stay away from mobile phones, microwaves, gps transponders,most modern cars & the sun!
A young friend of mine lives up in the hills locally, they were studying radiation in school and got the geiger counter out to 'play' with they pointed it at my mate and he has like 3 times the standard background! He was a toddler about the time Chernobil went melty and played outside LOTS, Im waiting for him to learn to fly or some other crazy shit!

Back on topic Ive got a lovley collection of antique Uranium Marbles that live in my fishtank!
Personally I'd look for a collector to buy your U glass and buy some New Uranium Boro rod or tube from Ebay!

[jr23]

Damn and I have some 4 mill tubes and was thinking of making glow in the dark straws for the neighbor kids.

[LFC]

People will pay good money for those mold pressed pieces if they are in good condition......So yeah keep them whole and due what chayes said and sell them.. I have seen some of the fancy objects go for like 300 to 500 bucks of more....

[GlassFreak]

^^^wow ill have to check into em.

[JLF]

Sorry, off hand I don't remember the substitute for U-glass. The substitute is NOT UV reactive at all. It looks clear.

[GlassFreak]

^^^^ well fuck that noise then, ill just take the shit that give you cancer!

[mindblowingglass]

I beleave the new glass they use is a 40 coe boro. I think there is one other element in there but could be wrong.

[Shatner]

I've got some old U-Glass boro tubes. 25x2 and 40x4. They look incredible when honeycombed. Also, the 25 makes a nice inner sleeve on linework when using translucent colors. As long as you don't stretch it too much,
it glows bright even in daylight with a blacklight.