sanding/polishing glass

i got an idea today, but hit a snag when i realized i dont really know much about glass.
i have unfinished, circular edged, unfinished glass that i would like to be polished and smooth enough to eat/drink off of.
does anyone have any ideas how i can obtain an edge like this?
thanks!

Post edited by: carolyn, at: 2008/03/01 00:18

Hello Carolyn, welcome to the forum

There are special glass polisher kits available in the market that you might want to try. I cannot recommend any of them because I have never tried anyone nor do I want to advertise - but they are fairly common so wouldn't constitute a problem obtaining

thanks.
i think i found something. a chemical called cerium will do the trick after repeated sandings in lower and lower grits. a glass polishing wheel would work without chemicals but i didn't want to have to invest in something like that for just a fluke idea.

thanks again!

Thank you for updating me, I never would have thought of Cerium I hope it will do the job and appreciate it if you would let me know

can you smooth a chipped glass or crystal edge with a dremel tool? If so, is a lubricant required? Has anyone done this without serious professional tools? I've just paid too much, in my opinion, to have a glass bowl edge smoothed. I have several of my grandmother’s crystal goblets which have chips in the top edge and I would like to repair them myself.
Any advise? Anyone? Anyone?
Thanks, everyone!

If you try smoothing it with a dremel tool, you must make sure the the area you are smoothing is wet, and stays wet while you are working on it. The glass will get too hot if it isn't wet, and there's a good possibility it will break.

A diamond embedded sanding disk would be the best attachment to use (if dremel has one). Diamonds are harder than glass and do a much quicker and smoother job than the grit on the regular dremel sanding attachments (which will not do a very good job).

Also, using the Dremel tool will leave a frosted appearance to the area that you smooth. I don't know if that's the way your professionally repaired pieces look, but, if it isn't, I'd spend the money on having it done right.

I assume those crystal goblets are worth some money. Doing a less then perfect repair on them will decrease their value by quite a bit.

Sue
http://www.freepatternsforstainedglass.com