Keep a thing for 26 years...

[JoceAndChris]

I'm so, so happy that when the previous owner dismantled the glazed front doors and windows he kept all the diamond shaped panes safely. I have around 100 of them and 8 are being glazed into the broken inner doors after the burglary this week. They're lovely- bubbled, wobbly, slightly blue, and 2 mm thick.

The joiner said that old glass is so brittle it's likely he'll break a lot in the process. Let's hope not. He also said architectural glass is readily available, so not to worry. Would it be the same as this old glass, which I think is Georgian?

 

[robgil]

if your joiner says he might break some then how did they do it in the olden days? considering glass was far more expensive back then than it is now.

 

[JoceAndChris]

He said it's gone brittle with the years, and so is hard to work with. Nevertheless I'm making him use the original materials.

 

[Flyfisher]

He also said architectural glass is readily available, so not to worry. Would it be the same as this old glass, which I think is Georgian?

I've heard of 'horticultural' glass being 2mm and wobbly - the sort of thing that used to be fitted in greenhouses.

Architectural glass sounds a bit more specialist (probably with a 'specialised' price tag). Biff would probably know.

 

[d49xc]

Glass does go brittle with age.
It is a lot easier to clean cut new glass than try and cut an old piece to size.
From a strict technical/chemical analysis point of view glass is actually a liquid rather than a solid, and over many many many years will actually flow down to the bottom of the pane slightly.

 

[MdB]

Glass does go brittle with age.
It is a lot easier to clean cut new glass than try and cut an old piece to size.

That is my understanding too.

From a strict technical/chemical analysis point of view glass is actually a liquid rather than a solid, and over many many many years will actually flow down to the bottom of the pane slightly.

Urban legend - sorry.
http://dwb4.unl.edu/Chem/CHEM869A/CHEM869ALinks/www.ualberta.ca/~bderksen/florin.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Behavior_of_antique_glass

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks for the extra information.

He's all finished now, he did a lovely job with the putty and didn't break any as far as I'm aware. I liked him so much I'm having him back to rehang a door.

I wish I could post pics of the porch as I'm well on with the decoration of it. It's grey and white, like collared doves.

 

[Penners]

From a strict technical/chemical analysis point of view glass is actually a liquid rather than a solid

Urban legend - sorry.

Yup - load of old doo-dah. Sorry.

 

[philpjuk100]

From a strict technical/chemical analysis point of view glass is actually a liquid rather than a solid

Urban legend - sorry.

Yup - load of old doo-dah. Sorry.

Funny how things you are told stick with you, talks were given to the local branch of the vintage motorcycle club by various artisans,one had worked on stained glass windows (mainly churches)for many years and told us that the windows "flowed" and the lead had to be repaired because of this,it seemed improbable at the time but he belived it and convinced me,he must have given his talk to many hundreds of folks who also belived him.

 

[philpjuk100]

We were told glass was a fluid by "the cube"parker our science master,but then again he often got things wrong!He said that the little fountain that came out of bunsen burners and put his match out was condensation in the gas mains but we knew that it was the water that we put there with a bit of rubber hose between the water and gas taps!phil.

 

[Flyfisher]

When we talk about solids, liquids and gases, we tend to omit the clarification "at standard temperature and pressure" (STP), which (IIRC) means 20 deg C and 1 atmosphere. Change either of these and a material may change state. We're all familiar with liquid, solid and gaseous states of water but we call it a liquid because that's what it is at STP.

But I didn't know about the 'definition' of a liquid, according to that ASTM link above (though this test is at 38 degC):

9.1. A material that flows a total of 2 in (50 mm) or less within 3 min is considered a solid. Otherwise it is considered a liquid.

 

[MdB]

Solids, liquids and gases are what you get taught in skool... As always, this is a great simplification. To this you also need to add plasmas, super fluids, super critical fluids, Bose–Einstein condensates (which are really weird) and probably a load of other phases of matter that I don't know about. Glass is counted as an amorphous solid (at STP) and isn't a liquid unless heated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_%28matter%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_of_glass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_solid

9.1. A material that flows a total of 2 in (50 mm) or less within 3 min is considered a solid. Otherwise it is considered a liquid.

That certainly isn't the scientific definition. The use of inches indicates that it was probably thought up by an American....

 

[FamilyWiggs]

9.1. A material that flows a total of 2 in (50 mm) or less within 3 min is considered a solid. Otherwise it is considered a liquid.

That certainly isn't the scientific definition. The use of inches indicates that it was probably thought up by an American....

You can also tell it is American from their cavalier attitude to accuracy - as you'll all know from the other thread, 2 inches is most certainly not 50mm :roll: It is 50.8mm - an error rate of 1.6% there. Good job they didn't miss the moon by 1.6%... :shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

You can also tell it is American from their cavalier attitude to accuracy -

Well, ASTM is the American Society for Testing and Materials, so that's also a clue. :wink: