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Cutting glass isn’t hard to do and can be done with little or no experience as long as you know a couple basic tips. We had a large piece of glass, about 5 1/2 feet by 3 feet, that we wanted to put on top of a small piece of furniture. Of course we needed to cut the glass so it would fit our 29 inch by 17 1/2 inch table top. Materials:

  • Glass scoring tool
  • Towel
  • Straight edge

That’s it! Lowe’s and Home Depot both sell the glass scoring tool, which is a handle with a sharpened wheel on one end. It is best to have the glass your are cutting on a soft surface, we used a towel. As for the straight edge, this may be the tricky one to find. Your straight edge needs to be as long as your glass is and it needs to be sturdy enough so it doesn’t bow when you are scoring your line. Since our glass was so wide we needed a large straight edge. We ended up using the casing that holds blinds when you buy the new.

When you are scoring your line there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One is to hold your


scoring tool perpendicular to the glass. You want to keep from holding it at any odd angles. You also must use firm pressure when you score the glass. It is important to score the glass with one motion. You will know you did it right if you hear a consistent tearing sound. Kind of like ripping a piece of paper slowly.

Now that the line is scored you can break the glass into two pieces. This can be done a couple of ways depending on the size of your glass. For a small piece, hold the glass on one end with a hand on either side of the score and break the glass. Kind of like snapping a stick in two. For large pieces, flip the glass over and put pressure near the score line. Make sure you are still using your towel under the glass. If that doesn’t do the trick you can have someone lift up on the glass while you keep pressure near the score line.

Finishing the edges is important. After a fresh cut the edges of the glass will be sharp and jagged. You will want to smooth the edges out with a whetstone. We ended up using sand paper because we had it laying around. We are pleased with the results of our first glass cutting experience.