48-Hour Home Hacks, 07/27/16

48-Hour Home Hacks brings you DIY projects to fit in your weekend schedule. Start your week with a boost as you complete those projects you’ve been putting on hold for months.

Oh, Cutting Glass? That’s Nothing

Some of you have expressed the need for a better glass cutting tool. Yet, what if it’s not about the tool, but about the process? What if the process needs fixing? Cutting glass is no easy feat. It requires you to be patient and meticulous. You need to give yourself the time to cut glass like a pro to actually cut glass like a pro. You can’t expect to be done within two seconds and have a perfectly clean cut. So, when you collect all of the patience you can find, it’s time to learn the proper process for cutting glass panels.

Materials

• Glass cutter
• Glass break pliers
• Straightedge or T-square
• Dry erase marker or grease pencil
• Safety goggles
• Gloves

Finding The Perfect Cutter For The Job

Of course, the tool is still important. You need a high-quality glass cutter to get the cleanest cuts possible. The best glass cutters are made of diamond or carbide tips. DK Hardware provides both a diamond tip glass cutter and a carbide tip glass cutter.

Although you always hear that diamond tips are the best, our carbide tip glass cutter is a favorite among industry professionals, so you don’t need to spend more when you can have an equally high-quality glass cutter.

Preparing The Glass For Cutting

You must prepare your glass before cutting. You need to work on a flat, clean surface. Sand, grit, and dust can cause the glass to crack or break when being cut. Make sure you clean both the surface and the glass before doing anything else.

Then, you will need a straightedge with small rubber clamps or a T-square to guide your cutting, and a dry erase marker or a grease pencil to mark your cutting lines on the glass. These tools will help with the precision of your cuts.

Last but never least, get your safety goggles and gloves. Safety first, right?

Now, Actually Cutting The Glass

It seems that you need to do a lot before actually cutting the glass. However, any proper process needs preparation, if not you’re just starting on the wrong foot.

You don’t need the gloves to cut the glass but do wear your safety goggles. Apply constant firm pressure while cutting the glass. Then, when you’ve cut the glass, grab your gloves to break it. For small glass panels, hold the glass in one hand and use pliers to twist the opposite side of the cut. The glass will break cleanly from the cut line. DK Hardware provides an excellent selection of glass break pliers. For large glass panels, hang the glass over the edge of your work table and push it downward in a quick and firm motion. The glass will break cleanly from the cut line again.

So, your glass has been cut! Wasn’t that an easy process to follow? If not, let us know how the process went for you in a comment below.