Stained Glass Cutting Tools, Tips & Tricks 

This video dropped my jaw...the glass cutting instructions answered so many questions I've had for years. Thank you!!

Wonderful information and instructions. I learned so much! Can't wait to give it a try.

Thanks for all the positive feedback!!

I'm so glad I found you on RU-vid! I used to shop with you in Rio Grande and was so sad that you moved. This video is just wonderful.

Thanks, Bonnie. This was really helpful

more videos more often PLEASE!!

I love Anything in Stained Glass, shopping with them for 30 years!

Wow that was really great thanks

I always love getting a notification that you’ve posted another video! This is so informative and well done! Thanks to you and Paula for sharing your knowledge with us.

Thanks Bonnie and Paula !!! This was so helpful!!! Can’t wait to see you !!!

GREAT video - thanks Paula.

Very helpful!! Wish I had saw this when I first started… but live and learn! I won’t be afraid of this inside curves…

Some great cutting tips! Thank you!

Very I formative. Thank you for sharing.

Amazing straight to the point packed with information video! great!

Super helpful! Thank you so much for explaining this so well.

Extremely informative for a newbie like me....thanks!!

Really excellent information! The details of the "why" really help you to remember the importance of each of the tips.

Absolutely useful! Great information.

Thank you for this video, great information ❤❤❤

Thank you so much . I learnt a lot.

Very informative thanks

Thank you!!!

Love this! Best video I've seen for my learning experience

Such a awesome helpful info I can’t thank you enough for such clear informative info I had no idea before! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! 😘

Whoah! Thanks so much.

THANK YOU!

Learned a lot

This is a really great video, really well explained. Thank you

Thank you for this! Excellent to remind me of the basics - oh and I highly endorse your store.

Very useful and helpful to know the why...thank you

Thank you very much, this is the most comprehensive video about the cutting of class that I have seen. I have a question about a small screw at the top of a pistol-grip cutter. Should it be very tight for a straight cut? I have noticed then this screw not being fully tightened makes the entire metal part quiver which is not what I need for cutting straight. Please advise if it should be fully tightened for straight cuts. I understand when I'm cutting a wave-like shape it should not be fully tightened to make the tip flow, am I right?

There are a few of us from New Windsor, MD. & We are very interested!

Hi, I enjoyed your glass cutting video. I have a question. I noticed that besides the fact that your glass cutters have a reservoir for oil, you are manually oiling the cutter tip from a jar of oil. Why is that? Thanks! Chris

Do you offer a day or weekend glass cutting class?

I loved it!!!! Very informative!! Thanks

WHERE can one buy a pistol-grip glass cutter like the one you are using, having interchangeable heads, too?

Best! Didn't know any of this! No wonder scoring wasn't fun.

Oil is also available in lots of places other than Wal-Mart. Let's not suggest the Evil Empire. Fascinating video! Thank you so much.

when I practice scoring on plain hobby glass I hear the scoring sound but when I am scoring the stained glass I don't hear that cutting sound or hear it very lightly and its throwing me off. Does different types of glass sound different or am I doing something wrong?

I have been doing art glass for almost 35 years, I was schooled by masters in the craft. I am a juried glass artist that has had art displayed in museums. I have been researching and developing techniques for a very, very long time, what I am going to write isn't spiteful response, its scientific gospel. Please take it in the spirit it is offered, to dispel rumor and myth and pass on the actual skills and knowledge for this craft that is being lost . Here is the physics of glass and glass scoring: Glass is a FLUID in a SOLID form, like ice. It behaves like a fluid (not a liquid-its easy to confuse these) and a solid at the same time. We use oil while scoring glass because the action of drawing that carbide wheel over the glass at those speeds creates friction, and therefore heat. The 'fibers' you think you see are cracks caused by heat. Press harder, more heat (try it while rubbing your hands together; -press harder, they heat up faster, right?). The oil is a liquid that reduces the friction, therefore the heat, therefore the cracking. This is one way that glass acts as a fluid in a solid state. We also use a liquid when cutting (as opposed to scoring) glass on a diamond saw to reduce friction, that would be water. ___________________________________________________ The angle of the cutter does not matter, as long as it is fully engaged and under steady pressure. This is the reason bottom of the head is angled. In fact, using a small angle allows for a smoother score, especially when 'push' scoring. _______________________________________________________ The Thomas Grip cutter is designed to go between your thumb and forefinger, just like the Thomas Soft Grip does, not between your fingers. But if you can cut comfortably with it between your fingers, go for it! ___________________________________________________ The large head IS for straight lines SPECIFICALLY against a straight edge. It also has more mass. This creates a 'heat sink' effect which helps draw more heat from the scoring wheel that a pattern head does. Why? Because we push down harder, and score faster along a straight edge than we do freehand. Therefore more heat. The increased mass helps dissipate that extra heat. Wiping oil down the path of the score helps with this too (like wiping the sheet down with oil, it has it's place) _____________________________________________________ Lamp oil does not 'fall into the grooves to keep them open' This is under the category of oil to reduce friction while scoring. If your scoring tool is flowing oil well, this is not needed in any way. This was an old fashioned way to score a lot of small pieces with scoring wheels that had no internal oil reserve. Legend has it that the method was developed in the Lamp Shop of Tiffany Studios in Queens NY. Some sheet glass workers still use the 'swab on a stick' method when scoring large sheets of float glass. One reason is that their scoring speed is probably 2 - 10 times the speed we use on art glass, and they rarely use oil reserve scoring tools. ________________________________________________________ Running pliers leverage a 'fault' that is created in the glass by the scoring wheel. If you looked at this fault (score) under the microscope, it would look like a scratch in the surface, which is essentially what a score is (this is why diamonds have been used-lots of scratches without wear). Your running pliers leverage this fault to break the glass. If you point your pliers on an angle, the glass will chip on that angle, it may not even run straight, though glass does tend to break in 'straight-ish' lines when left to it's own. Curves are more difficult due to the fact that glass breaks in the 'path of opportunity' or 'least resistance'. Scoring too hard sets up more cracking and fracturing along the score (due to heat) and gives the break opportunities to 'deviate' from that score at those cracks (junctures). Scoring too light does not set up a clear enough 'path of opportunity' for the score to break along it's path reliably. _____________________________________________________________ Pro hint on running glass; If you gently 'pulse' your hand, the pliers actually sets up a 'wave' in the glass that 'gentles' the breaking. The science is that the pulsing allows for progressive pressure to be applied, and not OVER applied. You do it naturally too. Just 'squeezing' creates a perfect opportunity to 'over squeeze' the pliers and the break goes wrong (straighter). Also, use the breakers on the beginning or end of score to avoid that little 'under-spald' of the glass near the center. In the end, a breaker and a runner do the same thing, convince the glass the break along the score. Would you begin with a running pliers in the middle of the score? ___________________________________________________________ Love to see you keeping the supplies available to the crafters!!

Glass is not liquid, it does not flow. Your explanation for the purpose of oil makes no sense. Are you saying that without the oil, the glass will fuse back together or something?