Gratitude – patience is a virtue
“Assumptions are dangerous.” “Times change.” Both are favorite sayings of a professor I once knew.
I just assumed the great glass shop down the road would still be there waiting to make glass for me. I printed out my plans and drove down. The shop was closed, and by the looks of the peeling paint had been for awhile. Best I can surmise, the owner retired. So… I drove around to a few other shops I knew of around here; closed, closed, closed.
The glass I want is custom cut, circular at the top, rounded bottom corners, and the piece for the door has beveled edges. See that nice 1 inch bevel? The store I used to frequent could do almost anything, and I assumed (there’s that word again) that other glass shops could also do the same sorts of work.
Like so many other businesses, the local shops are disappearing. OK, online it is. After all, I’m a web geek! Oughta be able to find what I want. Bzzzzzzzzzzt! Dozens and dozens of searches for custom cut glass, for beveled glass, for “glass & mirror” (not auto glass) resulted in 8 places that seemed feasible. The one with the most advertising money [their ads started immediately appearing on almost all web pages] had a simple 3 word answer “can’t do it.” Three others didn’t answer at all. The rest said things like:
- “Our bevel machine is down.” {and no, they don’t plan to fix it}.
- “We can only bevel straight edges.”
- “Can’t do the bevels.” but offered a bid on completely different sized pieces of glass.
Then it hit me. Go back to that clock collector forum I followed years ago. There I discovered that there are two makers of custom clock glass still working. Bingo! Ahem, don’t get too excited yet. One of those guys doesn’t answer and the other has moved.
I did manage to connect with one of them. He can make exactly what I want. BTW, he does all beveling by hand, and lo and behold, a beveling machine is just a big belt sander used by a skilled craftsman. I placed an order, and he responded with “Hope you don’t need it before Christmas.” He has a 2-3 month backlog.
… to be continued.
Other articles in this series…
- Regulator Clock – Done
- Regulator Clock – Woodworking completed
- Regulator Clock – Scratching the frames
- Regulator Clock – Door Hinged
- Regulator Clock – Case Dry Fitted
- Regulator Clock – Jelly Side Down
- Regulator Clock – Case Frames – 2
- Regulator Clock – Glass – 2
- Regulator Clock – Case Frames – 1
- Regulator Clock – The Works work
- Regulator Clock – Glass
- Regulator Clock – Tongue & Groove planes
- Regulator Clock – Completed Mouldings
- Regulator Clock – Stick Mouldings
- Regulator Clock – Plate Mouldings
- Regulator Clock – Egg and Dart Moulding
- Regulator Clock – Eat Dessert First
- Regulator Clock – original description
- Regulator Clock – Stock Prep
- Regulator Clock – Plans for Moldings
- Taming the Rabbet
I suppose “Hope you don’t need it before Christmas” is a better answer than, “can’t do it.”
Yep!
Thanks for stopping by Brian.
So… the quest continues!
Good luck!
Thanks Antonio.
I’m certain glass will arrive someday. Maybe in January?
Keep havin’ fun.