Pulling Boro Stringer
 

Howdy, y'all! It's me again, your favorite n00b asking the obvious questions:

I've been doing some implosion work with boro lately, and I've been having a blast. There is an issue I've been having, though, and that is pulling thicker stringer with boro. I seem to have no trouble pulling thin stringer, but I can't seem to get an even pull of a meatier stringer. I have done a FAIRLY throrough search of the forums and haven't found anything explicit.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for such a thing?

Thanks for the help (in advance!). Go you.

Work further out in your flame, work under your flame or after heating the glob in the flame pull it out and let it cool for several seconds before pulling.

This all said not knowing which method of pulling stringer you use. Typically (for me) when pulling stringer I stay in the flame and do a controlled heat for the thickness I want.

when i let the gather cool too much (like when i want a fat stringer) i always seem to get devit.
a couple things that have helped me pull thick stringers from 33 is to start with WAY more glass then you think you need.
also i'll flash the gather/stringer in the flame as i very slowly pull. this seems to help get the devit out and keep an even heat base.

I do not gather glass to pull boro stringers at all. I heat a 3-4 inch section, and get it soft in the flame working it diagonally, then I pull it out keeping it "straight" and turning, after it starts to set up I pull gently, increasing force as it cools. this is the only method I learned (from a glass instructor at RIT who has a masters in glass work) that produces a completely even smooth stringer in the 2-3mm range.

OR

Take your color rod and tag a punty on one end then, rotating all the time, feed the color from one side while you pull on the punty. This is usually called a stream stretch.

The thickness of the stringer is determine by how fast you pull on the punty and how fast you're feeding the color into the side of the flame.

Thanks everyone, I'm going to try these suggestions when I next hop on the torch.

This is how I do it, to. Pulling boro stringer is not like pulling soft glass stringer.

I also use the stream-pull method to get the 12-20" 3mm ones I use to make seashells. Even though you get better with a little practice, they'll never look as perfect as purchased rod, but it gets the job done.