Spend wisely
Stained glass can be an expensive hobby so it is especially important that you NOT waste your money on useless equipment. Below is a list
of equipment that you should never buy, and why.
EQUIPMENT
WHY YOU DON'T NEED IT
Band saws and Ring saws
This is listed first because it is the most expensive, and most useless piece of equipment that beginners, unsure of their score/break technique,
are too often tempted to buy. In professional stained glass studios, they are left to gather dust under a bench and forgotten, for a number of
convinving reasons.
The first one being that if a piece cannot be scored and broken, it's because its shape is not stable and will crack over time, if not
the very moment it is soldered in. The patterns used by professional wisely do not contain pieces that require a saw.
Secondly, they are extremely noisy
(you need ear protection), maddeningly slow, and highly unpleasant to use. They splash a lot of water which makes your pen marks disappear, so
people resort to protecting their piece marking with vaseline and other silly contrivances.
Thirdly, they are expensive to run. Blades are very
costly and break easily. Sawing glass with a blade is not only noisy, but painstainkingly slow; with a ring saw, you must constantly swing your
glass back and forth because you must always saw at a 45º angle to the blade. You also have to contend with plastic grommets that channel the blade
and keep it in place while you push against it with your glass. All this to cut a shape of glass that is structurally weak. Sometimes you may need
to fashion notches in a piece of glass; this is much better accomplished by grinding with a 1/4" bit, or even sharper notches with a 1/8" bit. Intricate
shapes are best accomplished with grinding bits.
There is only ONE reason to use a saw: to cut drapery glass. In theory, drapery glass can be cut with a glass cutter. In practice, it
absolutely cannot.
Running pliers
Granted, you won't be wasting a large sum of money if you buy this totally superfluous item. Running pliers only serve to break long straight scores.
It takes time and skill to line them up properly, and the glass is increasingly liable to break off the score as the break moves away from the pliers.
It may work with easy-as-butter cathedral glass, but with more tempermental art glass, you risk much tears and money. When having to break a long
straight score, best and fastest is to use the table edge break method. There's always a table edge available right where you're working, it's very reliable,
easy as pie, all will amaze your audience with your cool mastery of glass. If you're trying to break a piece of precious art glass and you must not
miss, knock behind the score with the ball of the glass cutter in 3-4 places along the score line, minding that you see a bit of a crack propagating
where you've knocked, before breaking against the table.
For the consumate minimalist
Some of us like simplicity in their tool kit, in trying to be green, for limiting clutter, or the numbner of objects
one has to take care of in life. There are many gadgets that you can live without:
(1) pattern shears (regular scissors)
(2) table foilers (leave rolls on table)
(3) foil fid (use side of small scissors)
EQUIPMENT
WHY YOU MIGHT NEED IT
Zinc Came Bender
Zinc came benders are a bit esoteric in the sense that few beginners are introduced to them. The need to properly frame your work cannot be
over-emphasized for reasons of durability and aesthetics; If you make an oval, circular or semi-circular project, you still need a zinc frame. However,
zinc came comes in straight strips, and a zinc came bender is needed to make it rounded. A zinc came bender is not cheap will set you back about $100,
which isn't outrageous, but if you only plan on making a few circular panels, you might be able to talk your local supplier to let you use theirs, or maybe
pay them to bend it to the right dimensions for you. Note that a circular zinc frame must be done BEFORE you begin assembly and soldering! The
frame will be fit to the pattern, not the finished project.
Pattern software
A lot of people swear by this product, but one can often immediately tell a pattern from GlassEye from a hand-drawn one. Oftentimes people
get caught up in a tracing frenzy, and don't learn the essentials of making perfectly horizontal/vertical lines, ensuring that all sides of their frames
have the same width, that their circular frames are made up of two perfect circles, the smaller one nested in the exact center of the larger one, that the
rays cutting into the circle originate in the theoretical center of the project, etc, resulting in hot messes that would have been entirely avoided
with the use of rulers, compasses, and carpenter's squares. The feature that allows you to color pieces with glass swatches has dull colors that in no way
ressemble actual glass, this is a best marginally useful, artistically speaking, beyond the bare practical fact that pieces are roughly identified by color.
For enlarging and printing to size, you can use MS Paint, which costs nothing if you have Windows (it's in "accessories"). Details are found on
Stained-Glass-Patterns.org.
I have made thousands of patterns and I have never used such software beyond trial versions. I consider them a waste of money, even for producing
digital patterns. Use one of the many PhotoShop clones out there that can handle "layers."
Light box
You can make your own with wood, plexiglass and neon lights - or buy from the numerous manufacturers. Best is to look up "lightbox" with Google Images, you will see many. Light boxes serve
many purposes when working with stained glass. You can use it while tracing and drawing up your pattern, while choosing glass on tracing your pieces on
glass. Light boxes become essential if you are to progress into glass painting. If you don't mind working vertically, you can use your windows and the daylight...
so unless you are painting glass, light boxes are a luxury, albeit a very sweet one.
Cutter's Mate
This system is invaluable if you are working on a large geometric project. You can make series of perfectly reproduced, precision straight
scores and breaks, suitable for the most exacting lead came project without any grinding whatsoever. This little marvel of gadgetry will set you back $150/180, which is
money well spent if you have projects that call for it. If you are doing the occasional, small project with straight lines, concentrating on following the line
perfectly with your glass cutter is all you need.
EQUIPMENT
ESSENTIALS
Miter Hack Saw
Too many beginners make panels thinking that beading around the perimeter is good enough. It is not! Chances are the hooks that the panel
is suspended on will pull the foil out from the weight. Follow the framing tutorial on this website. Making a proper frame is cheap and easy, and you'll
be immensely pleased with how much more professional your panels will look, with minimal effort. All you need is a cheap miter hack saw for $10-15 with
a plastic miter box. This is money well spent.
Grinder
A nice grinder is worth investing in. Don't buy the cheapest, low-torque model that will jam and stop when you push the glass against the grinder bit
(aka Inland's Wizling). The weak motor doesn't like to jam, and will die quickly after this happens a few times too many.
Glass Cutter
There are many different cutters available on the market that allow person with arthritis to score comfortably etc. To save yourself the agnoy of choice,
know that the standard cutter is the $35 Toyo
carbide-wheel, oil pencil grip. Pistol grips aren't so useful for detailed, precision scoring, they are best used for long straight scores against a
T-square.
T-square
A big T-square can cost about $50, but you NEED this tool IF you're going to score long straight lines on huge sheets.
Soldering iron
A 100W Weller will keep you happy a long time. After some years of use, you may notice that the tip doesn't heat up quite so well. Buy a new tip: but as
you'll be more experienced by then, buy a 800ºF or 900ºF tip which will be hotter than the 700ºF tip that your iron originally came with.
Carpenter's square
Essential for insuring your zinc frames are soldered with 90º corners.