The Framers Forum

Does anyone do it?

Pretty sure it's in the GCF guidelines...not something I've ever done though!

Hi,
I do as much for my own protection as much as others

Only do it if we are cutting a piece of glass for the customer to take away! Otherwise a bit time consuming with little benefit as far as I can see.

I use a basic 3" x 21" belt sander with silicon carbide belts clamped to the table when it is needed. I hold the glass with Kevlar safety gloves.

The only reason I'm curious is that a few of the guys we support seem to have taken to nicking their fingers on glass at least once a shift (not bad going for a 2.5 hour shift!)

So I'm thinking, gloves on to cut glass then smooth down the edges with gloves on - then once the gloves are off the glass should be less likely to cut fingers. Probably a good health and safety point for glass which is sat on work surfaces to have the edges filed down.

If I was on my own it would definitely be too much of a faff but with so many people going about the workshop it's maybe a helpful faff.

I've done this for most of the time that I have been framing and use one of the pink diamond coated pads from Lion. My thinking is that it saves time and problems. It only takes seconds to do, but it stops the sharp edge on the glass from shaving anything of the inside of the frame which may become debris inside the frame behind the glass. I do not think that most framers bother taking the edges of glass at all.

kartoffelngeist wrote:Pretty sure it's in the GCF guidelines...not something I've ever done though!

I haven't got the latest study guide that has just been released, but in the one I have it isn't mentioned in the 5 levels of framing and I've had a quick double check through various other parts of the study guide and I cannot see it mentioned anywhere else either.

We do hone the edges at times - especially if handing just a piece of glass over to a customer - and as NYAF does we use a diamond coated pad from Lion. We don't do it as a general rule though. Having said that, if it saves cuts and nicks on fingers and you are happier doing it then no reason not to on standard glass.

I have also recently taken to running the Lion pad along the edges it just makes the glass a bit more pleasant to handle and knocks of any stray shards that could cause problems during final assembly. It doesn't really take much time at all I just do it now with out thinking thirty seconds on average done

Since setting up my recent and second framing venture (I took early retirement from my framing/gallery a few years ago) I've suffered more cuts from paper than glass and don't they sting so, I've got into the habit of wearing those cheap cotton gloves for protection being white they act as an early warning system if I start bleeding ....and they look the bis'

Peter.

I hardly ever cut my hands these days, but if I do, there's a good chance it will be a paper cut. I'm guessing, but I suspect that after a while the way that you handle things becomes automatic and without thinking about it, you just do everything right. It's just the mental conditioning that comes from doing the same things day in day out for many years.

I Baught a small electric machine from China a few years backtotal cost was £700 inclusive of FOB and import duty it paid for itself within 2 months as you can offer your customers polished edge bespoke mirrors,

I only ever smooth glass edges if it's a really rough break, which sometimes happens when taking off a couple of mms. I nearly always wear gloves, leather finger tips and palms (gardening) gloves - used only for handling glass - mainly because it cuts down on finger marks, they give a great grip too. If a customer was buying just a sheet of glass I would wrap it in paper and advise them to wear gloves too.

Mixed reviews then! I don't know if I've ever cut myself on glass - definitely more likely to be a paper cut for me.

One person in particular though has managed to cut his fingers every shift for the past month or so. Once fairly badly. Retraining hasn't really helped so I'm hoping this will.

As a mental health service we probably have a higher duty of care than most workshops, so I reckon it's not a bad idea.

Got one of the pink things from lion, seems to do the job nicely. Only ever used it for clip frames before now.

Thanks.

Tudor Rose wrote:
I haven't got the latest study guide that has just been released, but in the one I have it isn't mentioned in the 5 levels of framing and I've had a quick double check through various other parts of the study guide and I cannot see it mentioned anywhere else either.

We do hone the edges at times - especially if handing just a piece of glass over to a customer - and as NYAF does we use a diamond coated pad from Lion. We don't do it as a general rule though. Having said that, if it saves cuts and nicks on fingers and you are happier doing it then no reason not to on standard glass.

Maybe I made that up! I've made it through most of my life by making things up and saying them confidently - can't win all the time though :p

EDIT: Just had a quick nosey...doesn't say you should.
Just mentions that is the edges are filed down then it can avoid it chipping little bits of wood from the moulding.
Knew it was in there somewhere!

So it does, finally found the bit you mean, so not an essential, more of an advisory. I'd say as it says "ideally" and in the circumstances that you are dealing with, with multiple people having issues, it wouldn't hurt to make the change to smoothing the edges to see if that helps. Having said that - and I have cut myself on glass quite a few times over the years - I would say my main nemesis is foamboard