Coldworking with Loose Grit

There are many options for finishing glasswork once it has come out of the kiln. You can use expensive machines to cut, carve, grind, and polish work. Or you can achieve these results simply, effectively, and inexpensively by coldworking with loose grit. (Loose grit is composed of particles of abrasive media, in this case silicon carbide, the same material typically found on wet/dry sandpaper.) In this lesson you will learn the advantages of working with loose grit over fixed-abrasive machinery, how to set up a grinding station, how to grind glass with loose grit, and different finishes you can achieve. videos.bullseyeglass.com/vide...
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[@laforza8]

Great tutorial...you covered everything I needed to know...really going to take my glass to a new more polished level....

[@glynesmewton7033]

Instead of sheet glass could I use marble?

[@BullseyeGlass]

Glynes, I don't think that marble would be a good choice as a work surface for loose grit lapping. It's extremely soft compared to the glass or the grit. Broadly speaking, marble (calcite) is around 3 on the Mohs scale while glass (quartzite) is more like 7 and silicon carbide grit is in the 9-10 range. The marble would wear down and 'dish' pretty quickly. Plus it's a lot more expensive than a piece of plain float glass.

[@glynesmewton7033]

@@BullseyeGlass thank you so much for the advice very much appreciated xxxx