This was posted on another forum to remember Tony Banfield from 2005. I thought I would share it here.
When I had my lamp sweatshop in the early 80's , I had a dozen employees,turning out high-quality copperfoil lamps and panels (mostly for export to Germany)...and we didn't have a grinder between us in the three years until I sold the company. Accurate cutting and good grozing will suffice...nowadays I find a grinder IS a nice extra , but should only be used occasionally IMO..certainly not as a ritual stage on every piece. The foil covers the edge of the glass anyway, so PERFECTION is NOT necessary, as long as there are no "chips" in the edge to spread into cracks
> Do many of you cut accurately enough to skip
> grinding?
Just as you aren't cutting THROUGH the glass when you score it, so you shouldn't be HACKING your way through the glass when you groze.Get some GOOD grozers (Silberschnitt for preference) with a spring-loaded "return-action" when you release the pressure. Let the jaws (curved side down IMO) just bite into the TOP edge of the glass and then crush the rest of the thickness into powder which will fall through the throat of those re-opening jaws. Gently, gently.
But here's the REAL secret of good grozing technique...it's worth my describing this in some fine detail....get some grozers and a small piece of glass right now and do this in real detail.....
1) The hand (normally the right) holding the grozers is only used for opening and closing the jaws..DON'T manoevre it around...think of it as a power-press fixed in one position.Keep your right elbow IN and mentally gaffer-taped to your ribs...don't waggle it round in mid-air!
Have your pliers with one handle above the other, curved-jaw downwards.
Tuck the UPPER handle into the palm of your hand,lay your thumb along the top of the handle (tip downwards on the flat bit just behind the circular hinge) and curl your forefinger under that handle to trap it against the heel of your palm> That's FIXED.
Curl your remaining three fingers UNDER the BOTTOM handle.
Now open and close the jaws (curved side down) ONLY by squeezing the three fingers and bottom handle=top-jaw...DON'T let the top handle=bottom jaw move at all!
Got that action going?
2) THE REAL SECRET #1.......now hold out your glass-hand (the left?) palm-up and stick out your longest/middle finger, tip upwards .Rest the bottom jaw of the grozers FIRMLY on that upturned finger-tipand KEEP IT THERE, like a cobbler's anvil/last. Then you have contact and control over your grozing.
Got THAT action OK?
3) NOW, grip the glass between left-thumb and left fore-finger..see how you can offer the glass into those opening-and-closing fixed-down jaws?
4) THE REAL SECRET #2.... don't manoevre the pliers around...MOVE THE GLASS!!!!!!
You can rock it up and down, swivel it round on the pivot of that finger-jaw "anvil" by moving your LEFT elbow around in mid-air...in other words, you MOVE the left hand around, feeding the glass in and out of those opening-and-closing jaws ,but under total control!
5) And use ONLY the NEAREST CORNER of the jaws to eat into the glass, not the whole flat-on face of the jaws.
Just TRY this technique NOW,and I promise your grozing will become smooth and controlled. And much better.
THE GLASS MOVES....THE GROZERS DON'T.
Excuse the shouting capitals ;-)
http://www.msu.edu/~bran/stainedglass/grozers.jpg
