Question: making glass bongs

Nugachino

Well-Known Member
Not a glass blower. But, I do enjoy building more complex pieces than the average gatorade sucker.

This piece is a salvaged Agung neck. With a Crystal Head Vodka bottle ground down to fit it. Called it Head Shot... Ironically. The shot placement makes it a bit more difficult to use of you've got smaller hands.
 

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WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
I've welded broken glass with a jewelers oxy- acetylene micro torch. It wasn't fun. Lots of preheating and then you need to control the cool down. I broke some stuff trying to figure it out, luckily (?) I had a lot of broken pieces to play with. A kiln woulda made things so much easier.

If you just want to drill glass, get a flex shaft for a drill or Dremel. Get diamond bits. Drill under running water. If you can find diamond core drills in the dia. you want they work awesome on glass, but they are more expensive.

Make sure you know what glass you have. Some of the cheap glass isn't borosilicate/Pyrex and is really difficult to cold work without breaking.
 

sparkygeek

Well-Known Member
I know a glassblower and seen him working... It is mind-blowingly awesome to watch! It's not for the un-dedicated because it takes so long to learn. Even when you learn, making even the simpleist things take a lot of time. (That's why functional art is so expensive. You need to invest in torches, tanks and a kiln if you're going to do it on your own. (Probably a couple grand.) If you are really interested you can probably take a lesson with a local glassblower to find out if it's something you want to do. Best of luck!
 

Zero_OS

Well-Known Member
I've drilled flat glass, not a bottle, but I would drill with Dremel and water with ceramic/Aluminum Oxide/diamond bits. You have to go very slow toward as the bit just break through the back, or it will cut chipped and jagged. Better to start with a small diameter bit and work your way up.

Heat the bottle to 850-900F in a kiln.Then use use a hand torch to very lightly fire polish the jagged edges of drill hole while it is in the kiln, then anneal.

If you don't have the kiln or torch, wrap a small diameter dowel with silicon carbide paper, and under water, gently polish the hole. Maybe 320/400/600 grit.
 
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