Drinking Glasses from Wine Bottles

Step 2 Cutting the Bottle (part 1)

OK, safety first:

Wear gloves and eye protection!

There are many tools and methods you can use to cut a bottle, I chose to use a bottle cutter called BC QUICK which I found online. It is all metal and I like it better than some of the plastic-framed models sold at craft shops. However, any jig that allows you to make a consistent scoring line around the bottle should be good enough.

This tool uses the scoring method which "cuts" a line around the bottle. Glass of course has a crystal structure to it and can't really be cut at room temp but rather broken in a controlled manner.

Once you score the line at a predetermined size you then move on to the next step.

Comments

[JohnRyancrouse]

a much better way of breaking the glass in a "controled manner is to score a line around the bottle only once and then to slowly pour hot water then cold water then hot water then cold water and then pop viola its in 2 nice pieces..... way better then breaking and using a candle

[jmarusoi]

Easier method using thermal shock, any flammable liquid would do, see this video:
www.break.com/index/how-to-cut-a-bottle-with-a-string.html
 

[bigmark]

But does it work on wine bottle's???

[fstedie]

The string method is very crude imo and will not work well on wine bottles.

[Tkdwn]

Tnx :)

[athompson21]

thats amazing.

[HighFlyingA380]

Can I just take a Dremel with a basic cutting stone and hand cut the bottle?

[birdunks]

If you want to build your own jig you can check out this instructable by asdterror: www.instructables.com/id/Convex-Glass-Tile-from-Bottles/
I have not tried it yet but it seems simple enough

[asmithwnc]

the ephrem's bottle cutter is an alternative to the bc quick.  all metal construction.  i've cut hundreds of bottles using this cutter.

[[ jack the young idiot ]]

is there an easy simple way to control the break of the glass or actually cut it?
like a stone or something to go round the edges
i dont know im just a kid lol

[ricogato]

I can't find the BC Quick bottle cutter anywhere on the internet even after 2 hours of looking.  Can anyone help me by telling me where I can buy this product or getting instructions for making one?  Thanks BH

[{tauney}]

I'm trying to find this bottle cutter of yours...all I'm finding is the crappier, weaker plastic versions. Which I suppose works, but yours looks so much more hard-core...

[fstedie]

I couldn't find the BC cutter anymore either but really, any cutter that can make a straight scoring line across the bottle would work. 

[bluelily17]

 I couldn't get the string method to work on any of the wine bottles I tried.  I'm going to attempt scoring it first.  Better charge my dremel too...

[blaineak]

i would like to se an instructable on how to make one of those bc quick radial glass bottle cutters, though i might be able to figure it out just by looking

[jackOrip]

Yeah, the only thing I would have trouble getting would be the cutting head and nylon rollers. Everything else i have in the toolshed. doesn't look to bad to build.

[nweiss81]

 I totally agree. It looks like basic hardware. Maybe we could figure it out...i am putting it on my to-do list and if i make any headway, i will let you know...

[qwertyboy]

if you need the nylon rollers, try McMaster Carr

[hulma]

dude why the cuttin thing jus soak cotton string in kerosene and burn it around the bottle full of cold water it'll crack right off

[hishealer]

Punctuation is our friend.

[bennylope]

Sounds good, but glass, unlike metal, does not actually have a crystalline structure. All ceramic materials, including common glass, are "glassy", meaning non-crystalline. 'Tis why it can be transparent.

[polyparadigm]

Not quite so. I make transparent, crystalline ceramics for a living. The crystals have to be either extremely tiny (a few tens of nanometers, say) or have very symmetrical optical properties. The polyester in a plastic soda bottle actually has some crystal structure to it, and the crystals will grow to the point they begin scattering light if the bottle is heated a bit (over, say, a far-away lighter flame...) Most pottery (minus the glaze), as well as the advanced ceramics in piezo speakers and body armor, is crystalline through-and-through. Glass-ceramics such as Corningware and vaseline glass have microscopic crystals embedded in glass. You're right in saying that most transparent materials aren't crystalline. It's a good general rule, with a few exceptions.

[squares]

The molecular structure of crystalline motifs are generally orders of magnitude smaller than a nanometre. In some crystals with particular structures and space groups light will pass in straight lines along the planes which exist through the internal polyhedra. I hear the transparency of PET and glass wine bottles is also fairly dependent on one or more of various oxides being present.