That will be a fun tool, and I love your idea for storing the little pieces, that will be beautiful!

Hazie

Have you ever tried one ? I don't know how to say this - I hate to be the one to say this - But I just want you to be prepared . They make it look so easy with so many simple projects to do -- everyone I know of that had one was disappointed with it. I had one too. It was so hard and tedious to use - the bottles never broke easily and many times they just broke off with sharp corners. ( Back then I never had a grinder - that might have saved a few) I sure hope you have better luck than us. Maybe with some luck - they changed the design to make it easier to use... I didn't want to take away your enthusiam - but I just thought you should know what alot of us went through trying to use it. Hopefully - you'll be so much better at it !!!! Keep us informed !

I ordered an Ephrem's bottle cutter from Delphi. I sure hope I'm not disappointed - sounds like it will be quite an effort to use! And I don't have a grinder (sounds like another tool I must have). I will update you guys after I try it out.

Y'all are gonna laugh at this but waaaaaay back in my youth there was a "recipe" for cutting bottles - never used it but always wanted to try it. They recommended wrapping a sturdy string around the bottle, setting the string on fire till it burned off (don't remember if they used anything to make the string burn), then plunging the bottle in cold water. Then, I guess, if it didn't break, you could just tap it off. Suppose you could take your nippers at that point and trim, then maybe that carbon...something stone and grind it. Have any of you tried scoring one w/your glass cutter and tapping it off???

I checked out the one you ordered and it works different then mine did . This one looks like it'll make a far better score line than my old cutter did. Maybe this one will be perfect !!!

The way my bottle cutter worked - you score the outside while the bottle was standing up -- then reach this long wire stick thing and gently tap all around the score to make it break. They also say you can hold the score line over a candle to make it crack . I never did the flame thing but the tapping took forever. I have a feeling you'll have alot better luck with this one !

I have a bottle cutter that I bought at a ys but haven't gotten to THAT project yet!!! That one is waaaay down the list! LOL!

I plucked a wine bottle out of our recycle bin this week to practice a mosaic on it. This is a timely post. Let us know how the bottle cutter works. I found a link on Google on the various methods of cutting bottles including the one that SLOW mentionsed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bottle Cutting, Drilling & Slumping

Has anyone tried using the wet saw???

I was thinkin' that too Slow!
Sunny: What a great link!!!

Silva...I found this old thread...how did your bottle cutter work? I want to cut the bottom off to make windchimes but can't find a cutter to do that.Do you think the taurus would do that? Thanks Annie

CRACK: Since the throat on my Taurus is so small, how w/you manage that. I can't get anything that large under my blade.

Thanks Slow I haven't really seen a Taurus yet just wondering..I was given a winebottle windchime that is so cool but the bottle was cut off at the bottom and no one can figure how to do it????????????????Annie I tried my wet saw broke bottle and trieded heat but that didn't work either has to be something that will cut it?

There are some fancy bottle cutters out there - just have to search for the right one. When you say you tried the heat, do you mean you used the burning string and ice water trick? That's the method I've heard since my youth that really works. Then I suppose one w/have to grind the rough edges.

Hi all! My computer has been on the fritz for five weeks! (Thanks, Hewlett Packard!) Finally got it fixed and checked this forum and lo and behold, one of my old posts was at the top. Well, sorry to report, my bottle cutter didn't work out. This is the problem. The wine bottles I was trying to cut, they have a seam, and when the bottle cutter encounters a seam, well it kinda skips, and then the bottle might break at a crazy angle. I'll tell you what did work, though, after scoring the bottle, you are supposed to subject it to hot, then cold, and the instructions suggested a candle and an ice cube, but after trying that, I didn't like it, so what I did was score the bottle, then dip it in boiling water, then ice water. Anyway, as toomuch warned, it didn't work out very well, phooey!! any suggestions, I'm open . . . . .

SILVA: Sorry to hear nothing worked. SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad to see you back. I think of you often and wonder where you are. Hope you'll stay w/us now that your computer is repaired. Missed you a LOT.

Well at least you gave it the ol' college try! Guess my bottle cutter can stay packed away! Your idea of clear bottles lined up with colored glass sounds truly dreamy to me!!!! I've been thinking along the same lines for some beach glass that I found on the beaches of mexico, ya know, like memories in a bottle!!!

I had bought the kind toomuch described. Never got around to using it and after reading all the poor reviews I returned it. I've seen those glass bottle wind chimes and wanted to make them too.

Well, darn, I was wanting to buy a glass cutter and now don't know what to do. I tried scoring a bottle but I broke the whole bottle trying to tap off the bottom.

Lyndalu, if you're in this discussion, what do you do with the bottles/vases, when you use them for the mushrooms stems? I want to cut the bottoms off the bottles I have so I can insert the rod for the mushroom. Then break the bottle when the concrete is dry. How do you do it?

Hi Debbie - on the vases that I use for the mushroom stems....I just put a light coating of concrete over the vase - then just placed the mushroom "cap" on top of it. Are you wanting the rod for stability? Mine are heavy enough so they are very stable, and don't tip over. Well, what I mean is a heavy wind doesn't blow them over - if you knocked into it, it would fall over. :)

oh, BTW...over on the Garden Junk Forum, there's a thread titled "how do I 'glue' cut wine bottles together", and a post by "vicki lv nv" said she just ordered a bottle cutter, and would follow up with how it works (just posted on 6/13/07)...so you guys might want to follow up over on that side....here's the link she gave - of what she ordered.

Here is a link that might be useful: bottle cutter

I, too, bought a stand-up type bottle cutter at Michaels and had no success and ended up throwing it away in disgust! I had to buy a tile saw when I was redoing my bathroom and figured that I had nothing to lose so gave it a try with beer bottles with a good deal of success. You have to go pretty slow and I practiced quite a bit on the beer bottles but have graduated to wine bottles and am happy with the results. I have cut the bottoms off for candle holders and have cut 1" circles for windchimes... I have not tried anything that has thinner glass so can't vouch for that. Hope this helps.

Jane

What i did was to score with glass cutter and use candle than cold it did not break after i tapped it.The wet saw just broke it uneven so I'm at a loss?????May just forget it for now.

Wow! I'm so glad that I found this forum just in the nick of time. I was 10 seconds from placing a bottle cutter order with Delphi and decided to do a google search on cutting bottles. Found this forum and now I can save my money for my long list of OTHER things!

Thanks, Lyndalu. I wasn't sure how you were doing your mushroom stems. I've got other projects on the burner so haven't been able to do anymore mushrooms. You know how the list grows and grows.
I'm disappointed to hear that nobody has found a successful bottle cutter.

Hi....earlier in this thread I mentioned a post from the garden junk side by "vicki lv nv" - where she mentioned that she was ordering a bottle cutter and would report back on it....well....she reported back....and it's another bad experience - the bottles keep breaking...the subject of the post she reported back on is "Bottle wind charm".

In the same thread, "painterchic98" posted a picture of bottles she sucessfully cut with a westsaw.... OUR annie asked her about how she did it...but she hasn't posted back yet.

I bought a bottle cutter...certainly haven't perfected that yet! It's not the cutting that's so much the problem it's getting a smooth edge once the piece has been cut. Haven't had a lot of time to spend on it yet. Maybe I'll figure it out soon.

RH