100 bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around … and then take out your bottle cutting kit and show all your friends how they can make a nifty container for candle-making or other crafts in a way that’s both safe and magical. That was a mouthful, but the point is that bottle cutting doesn’t need to be difficult or overly-hazardous. You just need the right tools and the right technique and voila! 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer …
Tools
A beer bottle — or any beer-ish bottle will do.
G2 Bottle cutter kit
Safety goggles — not really necessary, but better safe than sorry.
Kitchen utility gloves — the kind you wash dishes with
A kettle with boiling hot water.
Horse-brand electro-coated water proof abrasive paper (P120 and P60)
And a friend helps a lot.
Step 1
Follow the G2 bottle cutter assembly instructions.
Once assembled, let the scoring commence!
Step 2 (Scoring)
Technique is everything here, and you may go through a few bottles before you nail it (but no worries; there’s 99 left).
Here’s the trick: FIRM (but not too firm) and EVEN pressure. We shall explain.
FIRM: This is like Goldilocks and the three bears. You’re looking for “just right.” Don’t score too deep (or hard) and don’t score too lightly. Be just firm enough that you
A. have good control of the bottle and scoring jig
B. can see the score (it can be a very light line) as you rotate the bottle
and C. maybe hear (very faintly) the sound of the glass being scored.
EVEN: As you turn the bottle, keep the same pressure. There is a tendency to let up a little bit every time you reposition your hand to rotate the bottle a little further. Avoid doing this. Go slow and just be as steady and even pressured as possible.
Also, do not score where a score has already been scored. Once you reach the exact point where you started, stop. Resist the urge to over-score!
Step 3 (“Cutting”)
There is actually no cutting or sawing or blow-torch action involved here. Instead, there is magic.
All you need is some boiling water and some cool tap water.
First, pour the hot water slowly over the score of the bottle while rotating the bottle, heating up the whole area. Do this for about 30 seconds or so. This is where the gloves and a friend are handy, by the way.
Then, immediately place the bottle under cold, running tap water. A small stream of water will do — just above a drip.
If the two halves of the bottle don’t separate, repeat the process — hot then cold.
If the two halves do separate but the break isn’t clean or the bottle cracks, then this could mean one of two things. Just an unlucky bottle. OR you need to work on the scoring technique. 98 bottles of beer on the wall …
If you get a clean break — good on you! It’s time to sand.
Step 4 (Sanding)
A special type of sandpaper is called for. Namely, Horse-brand electro-coated water proof abrasive paper. You need both the P120 (finer grit for finishing) and P60 (course grit for sanding rough edges).
We use a baking pan and fill it with enough water to cover the sand paper. Starting with the 60 weight paper, using a circular motion, sand away all those rough edges. Then, move to the 120 to get a completely smooth finish. This can be a bit time consuming, so you and your friend may want to get down another beer.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again–there’s still 97 bottles left. We’d love to hear how the project worked for you.
In Kindness,
JnK
