Pulling stringer disaster!

[Hillarycampfield]

So up until now I've been buying stringer. Over the last few days I've started to try to pull my own. I got some awesome clear glass that is supposed to work with my hh but the rods are huge. When I pull them they are always Too thin to be usable. Are there any tips or tricks you use or could suggest to help me pull some of these rods out. The clear rods are almost the diameter of a dime. Help please!!

[Eileen]

When you have your glass melted, don't pull right away, let some of the heat go out of the glass. The hotter it is, and the faster you pull, the thinner the stringer. Try counting to say, a slow 3, 4 or 5 and see what happens, then adjust from there. Pull slowly at first, then as the glass cools you can speed up & pull a little harder.

[2xMI]

I haven't tried pulling down rods the size you're describing, but I've found that varying the size of what I'm pulling with gives me better control of the diameter of the stringer. For example, for hair-thin stringer, I don't heat much of the tip of the glass to be pulled and I use sharp pointed tweezers. The larger the diameter I want, the more glass I heat and the larger the implement I use to pull the stringer, from larger tweezers to a disc punty. If your stringers are too thin, try waiting longer before you start pulling the glass. Hope this helps!

Mimi

[LaurieBSmith]

Try practice pulling with white glass..you can see the heat leaving white glass as the translucence disappears...and this will give an idea how long to wait.

AND too thin stringer can be gathered up and reheated ....just consider it another chance to practice!

[EchoTantuli]

It also helps to use something like a thicker diameter mandrel to pull with, like 1/8 works really well. It gives your initial pull a nice footprint to follow, of course also let it cool just a bit too before you pull it all the way out. The slower you go the thicker the stringer. Then just quench the mandrel after you are finished breaking off your stringer to get the left over glass off the mandrel. I have some mandrels of different sizes and a set of chopsticks I leave in my water bucket just for stinger and cane.

[KJohn]

the more soupy the glass, the thinner it may pull, (and the harder it is to control in a larger mass!)

Let it cool a bit, count to 4 or 5 and have a large enough gather so that there is enough to pull out. Pull slower. HTH

[Eileen]

LOL, we all said pretty much the same thing, hopefully it helps!