Cutting glass covers

[Andy Stockton]

I had some time this weekend to cut some covers for the sixth plate dags I hope to produce eventually and it turned out to be much harder than I imagined. I blogged the experience briefly here. What I am hoping to get from the forum are any hints users have about cutting the small pieces of glass required. Do you have a special tool? A technique? Or do you just buy the pieces pre-cut somewhere? Anything you want to mention on the issue will be helpful.

[jdanforth]

I have my gallery cut the glass for me using their fancy schmancy museum-clear glass.

[Andy Stockton]

Alas, at this point in my career my gallery has never heard of me. Do they charge for this service?

Either way I will chalk this up as another vote for water-white glass. Any other votes? Standard "green-glass" or water-white glass? Any tips on cutting?

[jdanforth]

Oh, I buy the glass from the gallery. I wish they’d give it to me. That stuff is expensive!

I think that the "museum" glass is synonymous with water-white.

Jerry taught me a glass-cleaning method that you can use on regular glass but I wouldn’t use this on coated glass like the water-white.

1. carefully file the corners to round off a smidge (this prevents the tape from getting cut)
2. rinse under warm water
3. scrub with a towel and some Soft-Scrub
4. rinse thoroughly
5. dry one side immediately with a blow dryer (just like a daguerreotype plate). THIS is the side that faces the work.
6. towel-dry the other side

I’ve never cut glass. My gallery does tell me that they HATE cutting glass for me if that helps. I pay them handsomely for that silica so they better just DEAL with it.
Usually the gallery can get away with some rounded edges or quirks because the frame rabbet hides them. Not so with the d-types!

[Andy Stockton]

Thanks for the info and tips Jonathan. The mirroring kit I bought but haven’t used yet includes Cerium Oxide for the recommended final cleaning step.

I didn’t know museum glass was coated. Is that how the non-glare effect is achieved?

[CasedImage]

"Water white" glass low in iron. With normal framing glass it has a green tint easily visible on the glass edge. This is because of the Iron oxides present in the glass, to remove these arsenic is added to the production process making it not so environmentally friendly and more expensive. Locally the only source of water low iron glass comes in a minimum thickness of 4 mm, which is a little much for a cover glass. Not uncommon in vintage dags though, the heavier cover glass lending a nice weight to the feel of the cased image.
The "museum glass" I have seen has a coating which I didn’t like the look of in natural light and since I reverse paint my cover glasses for passe partout I don’t want anything to interfere with the paint layer.
You can get Pyrex glass in sheet form I have a contact for that from a conservator so will get it and post it here.

www.CasedImage.com

[Andy Stockton]

Do you have an opinion on the relative merits of water-white and pyrex? I had seen information on both and wasn’t quite sure what the difference was.

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