Almost done setting up shop. Few questions to make my life easier.

[Biggumz]

FIRST OF ALL I want to thank some higher power for the existence of THP, without you guys it would be impossible for a guy like me who dosent know anyone who works glass to get a start. About a year and a half ago I started reading about lampwork and decided that it was a path that I wanted to follow. After crazy amounts of thread lurking, reading, time and money I've finally put together my shop(almost). My setup consists of a gtt cheetah, aim99ls kiln, and a bunch of tools and such. I have a few questions however before I go lighting up my torch for the first time to avoid killing myself.
1. For ventilation, I have 2 8'inch duct fans that are 1590 cfm each. They are routed straight outside with about 8 inches of duct straight through my hardibacker back board. I have no hood at the moment. Will I die?
2. What are a few tips you could give someone who's never worked glass before to not burn the crap out of themselves doing something stupid. I'm looking for things that are such common knowledge to people who work glass that they wouldn't be mentioned often (I know it's vague, but I'm just trying to play it safe lol.)
3. My ultimate goal in this is to be able to supplement my income by making spoons and whatnot. A very good friend of mine owns a few head shops and he'll buy whatever decent product I can offer him. I realize I'm a far ways away from this granted that I've never been behind a torch before, but I'm wondering once I get down the basics of making clear spoons, where should I start with color? Wrap and rakes? Frit? Fuming is one of the most beautiful styles of coloring glass I've seen, is it too much to jump straight into that?
4. I bought my kiln NEW NEVER USED IN ORIGINAL PACKAGING at a garage sale for $350. Crazy deal the woman's mother decided she wanted to take up glass blowing, she never got around too it, and passed away. So the daughter, had a bunch of glass stuff she didn't know what to do with so she threw most of it away besides the kiln, and this bucket of color rod I bought off of her for 50$. It's a 5 gallon bucket pretty full probably like 7 or 8 lbs. What if it's soft glass D: how can I tell?
5. Where do you guys get the best pricing of clear? I've been going through mountain glass arts.
6. If I have flash back arrestors do I have to put my Propane tank outside? Does my oxygen like need a flash back arrestor? (the welding shop is the last thing I have to do for shop setup)
7. I know this is kind of a stupid question because it varys alot but still, for making spoons, what's your favorite diameter tubing and how long are your blanks before you shape them?
Any and all pointers are appreciated. This is my first post by the way. If you guys don't have the time to answer everything, just respond to a couple. Thanks for everything guys.

[dustyg]

Hi and welcome.

1. Maybe, but probably not. Get a vent hood soon. Do those fans scream? They look small to move that much air.
2. Don't do stupid stuff. Especially don't put your hand in the flame.
4. That's soft glass.
5. Wherever you buy clear, buy quantity. Shipping kills.
6. Propane must go outside. Oxygen tanks need FBA's.

[blueburnsorange]

1. GOod job with the high CFM fans - you can probably only need to use one of them with the lynx but too much is better than not enough! My 8" fan is only 900CFM, maybe you can run both of these at less than full blast for less noise?

2. you will burn and cut yourself.... a lot, we all do. Get bandaids and burn gel (in bulk).

3. I don't make spoons much so others should answer. I was taught wrap & rake and fuming together on my first spoons.

4. Great deal on the kiln too - is it digital or analog? Figure out how to get it to 1050F.... that looks like a bucket of soft glass to me. Boro rods are usually much longer.

5. Mountain is awesome. If you don't know sizes of clear you need yet, get one of the clear sample packs to experiment and then order the sizes you need in bulk. Plan ahead so you don't get screwed on shipping.

6. You absolutely need flashback arrestors on oxy AND propane. The order is TORCH --> HOSE --> ARRESTOR --> REGULATOR --> TANK

6. You absolutely need to keep the propane tank outside, it is illegal to store it indoors. It is also illegal to run the hoses through exterior walls. You can either install permanent piping that meets code (like this http://lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125930) or you can disconnect the hoses and reel them in after use (which is what I do).

7. I was shown spoons on 19mm extra heavy tubing but folks will use smaller or larger based on preferences.

[monte]

So I've only been behind the torch for 2 months so take this with a grain of salt. These are all typical questions and their is tons of info on here that cover all your questions.
1. Your ventilation seems adequate but also depends on the size of your bench area. http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showt...entilation-101

2. It's inevitable you will burn yourself but you can prevent some of it by keeping a clean work space and always keep hot ends of glass away from you when laying them down.

3. I would personally do a bunch of clear till you get shaping down then move to fuming. Color is expensive save it.
4. Personally don't know how to tell the difference but looks like you got a killer deal on your kiln.
5. I went with Schott artistic from ust glass. Super helpful and great deals on cases.
6. Propane absolutely outside and be sure to chain your oxygen.
7. I use 26x4 for basic spoons and chillums larger like 38mm for ISO spoons. There are some great threads on here about glass sizes.

Def use the search button and just scroll and read. Also don't forget I'm also new so take this with a grain of salt. Good luck on your journey!

[BORO]

38mm x heavy simax tube for spoons. Size will vary .

Look at the "nasty bench " thread for hood ideas . I built my hood from sheet rock. Cut holes to mount lights, and put a pine board 6" lip to catch the fumes... This let me run my fan on a dimmer , much slower but still safe vs. no hood at all.

To tell what type of glass you have you need to look up "compatibility test" or "stringer test "

[menty666]

All that the others said, plus...

You'll want to get or make a rod rest (I didn't see one in the nice little stash of tools). Cheap version? Get a 9" lag bolt and a Nut for the end, easy peasy.

Tough to tell from just looking, but that's probably soft glass; there are too many pastels to make me think it's boro.

Like the others said, put together a first aid kit, heavy on gauze, tape, band-aids, burn cream, and a decent pair of tweezers for removing glass splinters.

Don't forget a fire extinguisher

Oh, and we all die eventually

[Kalorlo]

Definitely looks like a bucket of soft glass. That pink and yellow next to each other? Probably Effetre opal yellow and dark pink (or a pinker batch of EDP). You've got a misty blue, sea green and yellow in there that look like opalinos. If it's not 104 coe and mostly Effetre/Vetrofond I'd be amazed.

[Biggumz]

Thanks for all the responses guys I really appreciate it . I kind of figured the glass in the bucket was soft glass. I bought some Northstar color and the bucket glass rod for rod feels almost "lighter". Oh well I'll figure out something to do with it. My kiln is digital and my fans are actually very quiet for their size and cfm. With both on high you can still speak without having to raise your voice, however I do have them on a shelf outside. Even outside they're still quieter then an A/C unit. http://m.harborfreight.com/8-inch-po...tor-97762.html
I found the Link on a thread on here and used one of those 20% off coupons you can get online and just picked them up at my local store. Pretty good bang for the buck so far. There's a welding class where I go to school so I'm going to try to persuade one of the guys to make me a hood out of sheet metal. For the Propane tank I think I'll just make a groove in the door of my shed and keep the tank outside and then just disassemble after I'm done. You did get me thinking about being up to code though. I'm going to have to do some research and make sure I'm legit. Tomorrow I go to the welding shop to pick up my regulators and tank and then I'll be set. I should melt my first glass tomorrow (: Again, thank you to this whole board, without you guys and your rambling I couldn't have achieved this hobby.

[lunamoonshadow]

That's soft glass. (104 coe) EDP is easy to pick out, as well as coral 420. I'd be happy to buy the bucket from you for a reasonable price...it looks like a soft glass starter pack.

[lunamoonshadow]

Oh, and for tips? You will get cut, you will get burned, you will learn to ignore both to "save the piece". Hardware stores, yard sales, flea markets can be great places to find unusual things to use for tools (and wow, stunned you scored big time at one!!!), and WEAR GOOD EYE PROTECTION!!

[Shaper]

You can use that soft color rod to make beads with, it will help you learn about melting glass even though it's not Boro. Instead of buying bead mandrels just pick up some ER308L or ER316L stainless welding rod, either 3/16 or 1/8 inch diameter. You will also need some bead release to coat your rods, pretty cheap stuff you can get from Mountain glass.
One thing that will keep you from being burned badly is don't try to catch anything that drops, step back and let it fall. A rod rest is an excellent idea. When you put something hot down on the bench, tools, glass, etc., point the hot end away from you, and don't put a hot tool next to the next piece of glass your going to pick up.
Your exhaust should be fine with the CFM stated. We use the same style setup with good exhaust no problems. Once you set up your torch turn it on and do a smoke test to see how your vents work.
As said above flash backs on everything. Code in most areas demands hard piping through exterior walls, no flexible hose. Putting a notch in your door is not a good idea, to much chance of hose damage.
Experience is the best teacher, the cautions I mentioned come from multiple blisters and cuts which you will also experience hopefully not bad ones.

Good Luck and have fun.

[the-thought-police]

1. LOL

2. Develop good habits early on. What they're saying is true, and I kind of make a joke out of it when I give lessons. I tell students they will get cut, and they will get burned. That's lesson one and lesson two, in no particular order. However, I also try to work with my students to have them always keep the hot end of whatever they were just using facing towards the wall. Setting something down in the wrong direction and then picking it back up again is one way to get burned, over and over again. Keep an eye out for the jagged edges of pulled points to avoid those painful lip cuts. Also staying organized is important, which can be difficult I know when you're trying new things, and concentrating on everything at once, and you're just all over the place, but if you know where things are, you're less likely to burn or cut yourself in a mad scramble to find something. I am as hypocritical as it gets on this one, my desk is shamefully messy, I haven't cleaned it in months, but...., I know where everything is, I keep my tools all right where I know how to get to them without even thinking about it. My desk just has a stupid amount of scraps and waste glass on it. Also frit jars freaking everywhere, I really have to do something about that.

3. Lessons for me start with doing prep first and foremost. I teach people from the ground up starting with scoring and breaking, pulling points, pulling color into stringers, and coating color. From there it's a simple spoon with just silver fuming and the bowl dipped in frit. Then it's a similar bowl with color trailed on the bowl and a maria. After that, I'll have them make a piece with a wrap and rake on the bowl, a maria, that is then bent into a sherlock shape. Then it's back to spoons again with a fully worked rap and rake all the way down to the mouth piece. I'll begin to encourage some slight twisting of the glass as the shaft is melted down. After that, to get them more accustomed to working with the glass, and learning about what it will do if you do this, that, and the other thing, I'll teach a doughnut, a fish, and a mushroom shaped pipe. From there, the student should have enough experience to start in on some of the more advanced things, and I let them chose which direction they want to go. Inside outs, welding and bubbler making, reversals, sculpting, etc... I would recommend following a similar order. Each thing always building off of the last, until you know so many things, you can't compile them all in one piece any more, at which point, you've got a product line. Good luck.

4. I can't tell if that's boro or soft glass. From what I've seen, boro rods are shorter, soft glass rods longer, but that's not an absolute rule. I know that soft glass will slump a lot at the temperature boro anneals at, so if it survives 1100 in the kiln, for say 10 minutes or so, and doesn't melt together and stuff, it's probably boro. If it melts together, you've just wasted some soft glass. It's all I can think of, perhaps someone else already left better advice.

5. Can't help you here, I just go to Glasscraft because I frequently find myself in that neighborhood anyways. I do very little shopping around.

6. Yeah, that's a discussion for technical talkers. I'm not gonna touch it. I will say this though, been at it 14 years, 13 of those full time, and I have no idea what that even is. I'm still alive, knock on wood.

7. I use a lot of different sizes. From most used to least used, throughout the years, considering spoons above all other things, I'd say 25mm, 19mm, 31mm, and then the occasional 15mm in the very beginning for lollies and stuff. I don't even teach those anymore though. You're gonna need some 8mm and 3mm rods just to get started.