Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1910-04-01
GLASS AID CUT GLASS
Pressed Ware at Times De-
ceNes Even Experts.
A GUIDE FOR TIE UNWARY.

The Seeker After Cut Glass Is Safe In
Purchasing CLOSED In" Articles, as
They Cannot Be Duplicated In Press
ed Ciass--Art Of the Cutter.
Rivers fut large houses are some
times deceived when buying cut glass
and iud they have bought what Is
commercially known AS pressed glass
instead 1T the genuine article
YET there are few simple rules
thar will safeguard the ordinary buyer
Al retail The chief one Is To PICK OUT
pulv what the manufactures calls
closed In articles BY this he means
vases, jugs. pitchers. bottles and the
ike
These cannot be duplicated In press
ed glassware. which Is first nodded In
pltterns aud the edges ground. This
process gives il so close resemblance
TO real cut glass that even experts
NAV be deceived
But in the CLOSED In" articles some
way is vet to be devised by which the
the opposite side when put on the
wheel to be cut, as the pressed part
interfprps with the workman seeing
through the glass. which he has to do
in order 10 follow the lines of the de
sign on the cutter.
The kind of cut glass that Is coun'
forfeited is called open work, such as
plates. nappies or any tat article
through which the workman can read
lily see when finishing 1t.
Another help in selecting cut glass
is it's weight The genuine Is made
from pure lead glass, made chiefly In
| America. especially for cutting. This
lead glass is very heavy.
The first step toward cutting is to
mark on the "blank" is, the dish
! in the clear glass--in red or other paint
! the design that has been selected for
| it,
The most common designs are dia
mond shapes. stars of various points,
crosses and squares aud other geomet'
rical patterns.
The design must be marked on the
glass exactly to stand the test OF com
pass and rule. When all lines are IN
perfect accordance with the pattern
and also tit the blank the ''roughing'
begins This is cutting the heavy work,
such as the necks of vases and bottles
aud the heavy lines Oh the stars.
This is done on a maChine called the
mill" a big wooden framed affair. on
top Of which is a hopper holding about
| half a ton of BERKSHIRE hills sand
This sand is the only kind In this
country that has proved satisfactory
for this work.
The sand runs down through the
hopper. is mOiSteued with water and
comes out of large steel disk, the
edge of which is sharp This disk Is
turned by power at a very high speed
The wet sand of the disk gives 1t a
tooth" which when the glass Is held
against the edge of the disk cuts very
rapidly.
All the coarse and heavy cutting Il
done on this mill"
The cutting In Of the finer work be
gins on mill with stone disk re
sembing an old fashioned grindstone
but much narrower aud with a beveleC
edge. These stones come chiefly from
Italy or Scotland They are very hare
and carry a keen edge long time
They are used for the tine cutting al
together.
There is a stone found in Nova SEQ
tia much softer that cuts quicker ant
is used for tiuting Oh water bottles
and compotes where heavy cuts arr
desired. Very often as many as fifteeI
or twenty different stones of yaryin.
degrees of hardness are used for tn,
cutting of one article.
After the design has been all Gu
comes one of the most difficult part
of the work, the polishing.
This is done on the outside of tn,
work with very high speeded brusl
wheel covered with moisteDed pumic,
stone powdered. This stone is Law,
thrown off by volcano
Large wooden disks made to fit tn
cuts and fed with pumice and waite
are used for polishing the fine work IL
aud around the delicate tracery of tn
pattern.
The hand of the glass cutting exper
must be steady, strong and accurate
for the least mistake spells a who'll
pattern. In the case of fourteen
inch punch bowl this means the loss o
500.
Another Kind of glass cutting I.
known as stone engraving. 1t Ia don,
with little stone wheels and cope
tools entirely by hand The design.
are chiefly vines and flowers. They
are not cut deep and are often mis-
taken for pressed glass. In realit,
they are the most expensive kind O
cut glass. the price for a single piec,
Of large size and ornate decorat ior
reaching four figures
Glass cutting is not only trade, bu
an art. and any one after seeing tn,
method employed will readily under
stand why genuine cut glass com
mandS high prices.-Boston GIoha