Thread: It's that time of year again..... Home made gift season

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Originally Posted by 34_40

You left out one key element - emptying that bottle!

Yeah, the problem is that if emptying the bottle immediately precedes the build process the rate of breaking bottles while trying to cut the bottoms off cleanly increases dramatically.

Originally Posted by rspears

Yeah, the problem is that if emptying the bottle immediately precedes the build process the rate of breaking bottles while trying to cut the bottoms off cleanly increases dramatically.

A wee trick for cutting the bottoms off bottles cleanly: an inch of oil in the bottom of the bottle, heat a steel rebar, dip it into the oil, repeat until the oil gets hot. Eventually it will break cleanly at the top level of the oil.

Perfect for making glass fuel bowls for obsolete machinery.

(How did I learn this trick? Don't ask! )

Originally Posted by johnboy

A wee trick for cutting the bottoms off bottles cleanly: an inch of oil in the bottom of the bottle, heat a steel rebar, dip it into the oil, repeat until the oil gets hot. Eventually it will break cleanly at the top level of the oil. Perfect for making glass fuel bowls for obsolete machinery. (How did I learn this trick? Don't ask! )

An interesting approach, but a wine bottle has a sharply indented bottom (the Punt) that raises 1.5" to 2" at the peak, and the desired cut line is as close to the bottom as is possible. I've developed a good working technique, but enjoying a full bottle of wine before attempting a cut is a recipe for a broken bottle.... I would expect that the repeated heating of a piece of rebar and attempting to feed it down through the neck of a bottle into a pool of oil would also be a bit dicey in that condition, too, even if the punt were not an issue.

Sounds like a possible experiment for a flat bottomed jar or bottle, done where spilling a half cup of hot oil is not a problem....

Originally Posted by rspears

An interesting approach, but a wine bottle has a sharply indented bottom (the Punt) that raises 1.5" to 2" at the peak, and the desired cut line is as close to the bottom as is possible.

Sounds like a possible experiment for a flat bottomed jar or bottle, done where spilling a half cup of hot oil is not a problem....

Oops!
I knew that.
But it had temporarily slipped my mind.
Must be an age thing.

Time for pics! The first is the bench for the boys. I still need to find a toy vice to mount to it, paint the peg board back and install it, and finish painting the bench.

Next is the reclaimed wood bed. This is the foot board. The white boards came from a large dairy barn in Northern Iowa. I just purchased them off of CL because all the barn wood I have isn't strong enough for a bed. We still have the head board to do. There will be barn tin in the centers. The posts are actually from poles of the barn my brother and I tore down. Hopefully I can get the foot board done this week. Notching those posts is kind of a challenge for a non wood working pro. Haha

The last pic is Izzy's kitchen. The bottom piece of plywood is the stove. The black door is for the refigerator. My wife painted it with paint that allows chalk to be written and erased off it. I got the sink hole cut out this weekend. We have to make a stove top for it and finish painting it.

Please ignore the mess. There seems to be a hold on any vehicle progress, unless it generates money, until after Christmas projects are done.