Greetings!
I am a
complete newbie with zero experience.
Last week I bought a MAPP gas torch. Yesterday, I found out I needed a Hot Head torch to work with glass. That's as far as I've gotten.
However--since I'm impatient--and since I know exactly what I want to start working on and exactly what I'm trying to achieve for now, I'm hoping that with the answers to some very specific questions, I'll have all the information I'll need to get started.
What I want to start doing is cutting open discarded beer, liquor, or wine bottles, putting (non flammable) stuff inside them, sealing up the cut, and then sealing off the neck of the bottle by heating it until it melts, or until it's soft enough to squeeze shut.
The questions I think I need answered are:
- What safety gear do I need to buy?
- Since I live in NYC and don't think I'll be using oxy-acetylene any time soon, I assumed Mapp gas was my best bet. Is there another system I'm missing that's safe, easy, and not too expensive?
- Can I use the Mapp gas torch itself to cut the bottles? If so, do I need a special narrow-gauge tip to make the cut? If not, should I buy or make a bottle-cutting device, or set strings on fire, or use electrified wires to cut the bottles? (There's a lot of writing about bottle cutting to be found on-line but there doesn't seem to be a consensus on the best method.)
- Do different bottles melt at different temperatures? Is there a way to tell which bottles won't, for example, melt with Mapp gas and a Hot Head torch? Does color matter?
- Finally, to reseal the cut, is it just a matter of heating both sides and pressing back together, or do I need to buy sticks of glass that melt at a lower temperatures and use it to weld the two pieces back together?
- Oh, and finally, finally, could anyone offer some recommendations on where I can buy my supplies at a good price? Is it likely that a second-hand Hot Head torch might be broken, or are there so few moving parts that they're pretty much indestructible?
That's all I can think of for now. Thanks in advance to anyone who volunteers to share their knowledge with me. It will be greatly appreciated. Also, I promise to keep you all updated on my progress if you're at all interested.
Thanks again,
