Help/ideas needed for antique glass use in cabinet

[craigo]

About 20 years ago, I was given about 20 pieces of "bulls eyes" glass panels (8.5" x 8.5"). The previous owner had wrapped them in newspaper and stored them in a box.  As best I can determine, they may be 200 plus years old.  They are orange, and have a bulls eye in the center where the blob of glass was attached to a pipe during the creation process.  They have bubbles, and unfortunately, they are not flat.  Some of the edges are bowed, as much as 3/8", so a dado to hold them might have to be 1/2" or so, or else be hand cut to fit the bend.  (These panes are not mine, I found them on the internet. )

Using these panes would be a challenge, not just to find the method of mounting the glass, but even figuring exactly what to put them in.  They are unique, and need to be displayed in some fashion that will show off their characteristics.  I live in Florida, and the modern southern style won't allow the antique look.  However, I do have a cabin in PA, which has a 70's home look.  So I think that's where we want to use the glass. I've decided to build a cabinet with 4 doors about 1 foot wide, each with 3 vertical panes, and an interior light to show off the glass.

I have at least 2 problems.  I'm a newbie woodworker, so most problems are monumental.  I decided I wanted the panes to sit in a frame with rounded interior corners. (See photo example).

I can't figure how to cut the rounded corners.  It appears that you have to cut the styles and rails a little wide, then use a template and pattern bit to do the corners. Does that sound right?  Is there a better way?

The other problem is the curvy glass edges.  Edges are 1/8" thick, but about as straight as wet spaghetti. I made 1" triangular "cars" with a dado that would hold the glass.  Having only 2 points of support would keep the curves of the glass from requiring a wider dado in a 3/4" frame. However, I haven't figured out how to mount (or replace) the glass.  Also, having a wide dado (even to hold the 1/2" cars) would make rounding over the interior with a router a tricky operation, at least to my skill level.

Any advice that anyone can offer would be most welcome.  I really need to get these pieces out of the box and into the light of day.

Thank you.

 

[Tom King]

Simplest to bed them in some caulking, and use points to hold them in place.

A Dado is not the shape you want.  That's a slot across grain.  A Rabbet is the shape where a corner is cut away in an inverse shape of the square edge.

They are Crown glass, where a blob of molten glass is spun by rolling the metal shaft that the glob was picked up with.  It's not "blown" glass, but spun.  The center part was usually discarded, or used for lower cost projects than windows for buildings.  The outer part of the spun disk was cut up into panes.

Crown glass was used from the Roman times, and earlier.  Only in the 18th Century did they come up with another method to make window panes.  That process was called "Cylinder glass".

The would blow a big bubble of molten glass, rolling the blowing tube along a handrail.  After it cooled, the ends were cut off, it was laid on a hot ceramic plate, a lengthwise cut was made along the top of the cylinder, and it melted down into a fairly flat plate.  They did this for a couple of centuries, until someone decided that they didn't need to blow the cylinders, but could dip an iron ring in the molten glass, and pull up a cylinder.

They did that for close to a hundred years, and then a real genius came along.  He thought that they didn't need to pull up a cylinder, and then lay it on the hot ceramic plate, but could merely use a straight iron rod, and pull up a flat curtain to cut.

[craigo]

Thanks for the input, and info on the glass making process.  I had read that elsewhere, but now I think I understand it better.

I am going to try using caulk.  I understand the difference between the dado and the rabbet, but for some reason only looked at the dado.  

[craigo]

Hi Tom,

I finished my oak cabinet (finally!) and so far I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Prior to this, I only did a few small boxes and picture frames, none of which were anything to write home about.  This is one of the first times I actually finished something, albeit a long time coming.

I opted to forego the caulk, and found some screw-in glass holders, which seem to be doing the trick.

I also added some slick touch-sensitive lighting (which required I learn to do some soldering).  I added two pictures to this post, because I'm a little proud.

By the way, I am holding back a few pieces of glass for potential replacements, but I still have about 7 or 8 more.  Any ideas what I can do with them?

Thanks again for your helpful comments.

[Tom King]

Looks great.   I would save the extra panes because it will otherwise be almost impossible to ever replace a broken one.

[Ronn W]

YOu should be proud of the piece.  Nicely done.

[Coop]

On 4/30/2023 at 3:19 PM, Ronn W said:

You should be proud of the piece.

I agree! Great job.

[wtnhighlander]

That really is cool. If you have an abundance of extra glass, those panes could make a very unique light fixture or lamp shade.

[craigo]

On 4/29/2023 at 5:47 PM, Tom King said:

Looks great.   I would save the extra panes because it will otherwise be almost impossible to ever replace a broken one.

Thank you.  There are a few "forgivable" sins in its construction, but I am nonetheless pretty proud of it.  There are 2 pieces in the back of the upper cabinet, about 24" square, that were cut from 1" planks (as was the rest of the hutch). I resawed them with my table saw to about 1/4", planed and jointed them. Never thought I'd be able to do that.  By the time I did the lower half, I found oak plywood at Home Depot. So that was a small cheat.

Also, originally, the legs on the upper cabinets were supposed to have a panel cut with a scroll saw showing some pine trees and a few bears (the cabinet is for our cabin in the woods). However, the wood was too frail and one of the bears' heads snapped off, so I didn't install the panels.  I think it looked pretty good though, so I might try the panels again.

I'm 71 now, no grandkids running around so the odds are good that most of the glass will survive me.

I was able to find someone in CT who still makes that glass for restorations.  About $100 a pane, I think.  Of course, newer methods reduce the bubbles and inclusions, and color matching would not be exact.

[Mark J]

If you have a surplus of spares, I like the idea of a light fixture, or a table top candle holder.

[craigo]

Another worthy concept.  Thanks