Setting up a bench that doesn't fight you
Most of the frustration in a first year of glass is environmental. The light is wrong, the bench is too low, there is nowhere to put the offcut you are holding. None of it is about skill, and all of it is fixable in an afternoon.
You will need
- A table you are allowed to scratch
- A cutting surface: homasote, Celotex or a sheet of MDF
- A daylight-balanced lamp
- A bin you can sweep glass into without lifting it
Height, before anything else
Scoring glass wants your shoulder over the cutter and your weight coming down through it. That puts the surface at roughly hip height: about 36 inches (90 cm) for most people, which is kitchen counter height rather than table height. A dining table at 29 inches (74 cm) makes you lean, and leaning makes your score pressure vary down the line.
If you cannot change the table, raise the work: a 4 inch (100 mm) block under the cutting board is not elegant and completely solves it.
Two kinds of light, and you need both
Light falling on the glass is how you cut it: you need to see the line and the score. Light coming through the glass is how you choose it, and how you check a fit. A bench with only the first is why people find out on hanging day that two greens they picked are the same green.
- Overhead or angled daylight lamp for cutting, grinding and soldering.
- Something backlit for selecting and checking: a window you can hold a sheet against, or a cheap A3 LED tracing pad, which doubles as a surface for laying up small panels.
- If the panel is destined for a north-facing window, judge it against north light. Glass flatters itself in direct sun.
Somewhere for the waste to go
A cutting session produces a surprising volume of slivers, and the moment they migrate onto the floor or into the carpet is the moment glass stops being a hobby the rest of the household tolerates.
- 1Bin at bench edgePosition it so you can sweep straight off the edge with a brush rather than pick anything up. A lidded tub is better than an open bag: bags get punctured and then tip.
- 2Brush, not handA bench brush kept on the bench. The fine slivers from breaking are the ones that find you, and they are too small to see before they are in your palm.
- 3Keep offcuts separatelyAnything bigger than about 2 inches (50 mm) square goes in a scrap box sorted by color family, not in the bin. It pays for itself the first time you need one more piece of a color you have run out of.
Lead, flux and the truth about both
The health advice around stained glass is often either hand-waved or delivered as a scare. The accurate version is narrower and easier to act on.
Solder melts around 190°C and lead does not meaningfully vaporise until far hotter, so you are not breathing lead fumes at the bench. What you are breathing is the flux burning off, and that is a genuine respiratory irritant. Ventilate for the flux: a window open and a small fan moving air across the bench and away from your face is enough for hobby-scale work.
Lead exposure in this craft is by ingestion, not inhalation. It comes from handling came and solder and then touching your face, your food or your phone.
- Safety glasses for cutting, breaking and grinding. Grinders throw a fine wet grit that you will not notice until it is in your eye.
- Closed shoes. This is not a suggestion after the first dropped sheet.
- Long hair tied back near the iron, which is at 370°C and does not care.