Glazing my "new" greenhouse I've been a little short of glass. The guy I bought the greenhouse from said there was only one pane missing. Not sure why I had to buy 18 on Tuesday then...
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| Essential kit for cutting glass: straight edge, tape, gloves, goggles, glass cutter |
It worked out much cheaper to buy standard sizes from a wholesaler than to get it cut locally. So on Tuesday the girls and I made a trip over to Evesham, a stones throw from where we use to live, to a garden wholesalers, BHGS, that's open to the public. Instead of paying £6.40 a pane from the local glass merchants it worked out at just over £3.
The trouble was I then had to cut the angled panes of glass and four narrower panes that I couldn't buy off the shelf.
Years ago I brought a glass cutter from a car boot sale just in case, so I dusted it off and got to work. On it was engraved "Made in West Germany" so it might have a little age to it.
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| Mark the glass with a pen, then hold the straight edge on the line and run the cutter a few times down the glass firmly. Then tap the cut all over, hold the glass on the edge of the table and carefully lever it down. |
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| And SNAP! It all goes wrong. Lucky I brought a few extra panes to have a go with. |
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| In the end I was getting pretty good! |
I managed to glaze the remaining parts of the greenhouse last night so now it's just a case of getting it full of tomatoes and peppers! Cutting the glass like this saved me money and in some small way it's also a part of the whole self reliance of being on a smallholding/homestead.
Anyone else cut glass lately?
