DIY Tumbler from Beer Bottles

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John Beere

Deep Six Brewing Co.
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**Edit 8/14/10**

So here is my first attempt.. it still needs sanding, but pretty damn good, eh?

tumbler.jpg


**End Edit**

So.. how hard would this be to make?

http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Ruination-IPA-Tumbler

or would it just make more sense to pay their price for them?

They have a ton of these- most all Rogue and Stone's beer and way more styles than we can even get over here in GA.. but if it was simple enough, I could probably mail order several of each of these beers and convert them myself (along with the 'free' beer in the bottle).
 
Dunno, but with the tools they shouldn't be that hard to make.

1. Cut
2. Round off the lip
3. Drink!
 
Back in the 70's there was a norleco or some such kit that you could easily do it, it was a glass cutter on an arm that you set and the right hieght, you put the bottle on a little turner and scribed/cut it, then you sanded or filed the lip down. But it is still pretty easy to do, there;s a few instructables online here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/

Pretty easy
 
Back in the 70's there was a norleco or some such kit that you could easily do it, it was a glass cutter on an arm that you set and the right hieght, you put the bottle on a little turner and scribed/cut it, then you sanded or filed the lip down.

I feel so old. In the early 70's (I was about 12-14) I had one of these kits. I especially remembering making a set of juice glasses from Michelob bottles. Memories. :ban:
 
I saw a you tube video where a guy soaked a piece of string in acetone and lit in on fire then submerged it, dunno how ther results were but it was a neat video

 
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I feel so old. In the early 70's (I was about 12-14) I had one of these kits. I especially remembering making a set of juice glasses from Michelob bottles. Memories. :ban:

Yeah my big sister had one. I wish I could remember the name of it. I bet it is still readily available. Or at least Ebay available.
 
Oh, there's still versions of it on the market.

glass-bottle-cutter-01.jpg


Here's some info.

http://www.everything-stained-glass.com/glass-bottle-cutter.html

Here's some ordering info. http://www.alpineglass.com/shop/detail/898

Here's another version
JBCutter.jpg


http://www.e-pastimes.co.uk/acatalog/e_pastimes_Bottle_Cutting_145.html

But you could with some practice and some tape carefully wrapped around a bottle as a guide, just use a 3.95 hardware store glass cutter.

680-14-120.EPS.JPG


You could probably even rig up a jig of your own.

Then the next thing is emery or whatever you would ues to polish and smooth the lip of the glass.

Have fun.

:mug:
 
Guinness Draught bottles would be nice. shame I just used all of them for my Barleywine may have to get another 6 and try this.
 
I saw a you tube video where a guy soaked a piece of string in acetone and lit in on fire then submerged it, dunno how ther results were but it was a neat video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yViiVLlaQag

This is how I used to make ashtrays from champagne bottles. It usually works pretty well. Sometimes it doesn't. You'd have to sandblast the lip when you were done if you wanted to drink from it.

I used gasoline, btw.
 
There happens to be a "how to" article in Mens Health magazine this month on doing this exact thing....Using a lighter fluid soaked string to cut a beer bottle into a glass. Tried it a couple of times but was not successful yet.
 
Wonder if you could melt the rim rather than sand it...

Probably not. The glass will fracture as it is heated. I think this would have been mentioned in the video if it was doable. OTOH, it might be worth a try. Not much to lose really.
 
In college chemistry labs we would melt glass with Bunsen burner. You need a full flame and put the glass in the hottest white/blue flame.

Yeah, we did that too, but melting thin glass tubing is altogether different than trying to melt just the rim of of bottle. I think the glass is different for one thing and you would need to heat the entire tumbler evenly in order to avoid heat stress cracks.
 
I just tried this tonight. It went very well.

I bought a cheap class cutter ($3.50) at lowes. I made a simple fixture system for it and etched a standard 12oz bottle. I carefully poured boiling water on it and then shocked it under cold. I repeated this one more time and the top just fell right off. It was a pretty clean line it made, and the top was intact. I then took a half sheet of 180 grit set on a countertop, upended the bottom of the bottle onto it, and sanded in a circular motion until all of the irregularities had been smoothed to one perfectly flat surface (about 4-5 minutes). I then took a bit of emory cloth and took the edges off (1 minute). It has a smooth, flat top and no edges and works great.

The next task is to go out and find a bottle that would look awesome. Any thoughts?

Joshua
 
I have a Stone 14th anniversary bottle sitting on a shelf begging to become a drink glass. Now if I just had the other 13 or so bottles and I would have the most kick ass bachelor glass set ever!
 
I will put a photo up tonight when I get home. For anyone wanting to try in the mean time, though, it really was very easy.

Joshua
 
I think just about any stone or rogue bomber would be awesome. Hmmmm I have a bunch of those lying around that I haven't tried to remove the paint off of. Guess I'll be doing the same thing.

jfkriege, can you post a pic of the rig you made as well?
 
Perhaps I should have put the emphasis on simple and less on fixture.

I have a place where my countertops are about 6 inches different in height. I set the cutter on the top counter and stabilized it with a small shim of wood to keep it from rocking. I then set the bottle on the lower counter and spun it against the cutter while keeping it flat. I varied the height of the cut by using 1x10 boards on the lower counter to adjust the bottle height. Pretty low tech.

I also found a way to get a very crappy photo.
100811_beer_bottle_glass.jpg
 
I bought it off eBay.. It is the same one the guy used in the video Revvy posted above that is made of metal and has a stopper on one end and a carbide blade on the other. I paid a premium for it, but I figured i might as well do it right if I'm gonna do it..

I see a whole lot of tumblers and vases coming my family's way for presents this year! Heh
 
This is very cool. I definitely see a way of clearing out some of my bottle collection just sitting there doing nothing but taking up space in my bar. Just the to the Pint line, add 3/4" for good head, and cut away:) My wife will be thrilled about adding more glasses to the collection :rolleyes:
 
you could cut the bottoms off and use them as a light fixture. the pendants kind that hang down. not sure what the heat of the light bulb would do to the glass though.
 
I feel so old. In the early 70's (I was about 12-14) I had one of these kits. I especially remembering making a set of juice glasses from Michelob bottles. Memories. :ban:

Same here. That thing was cool. I wonder if they still make something like that.
 
Back in the 70's there was a norleco or some such kit that you could easily do it, it was a glass cutter on an arm that you set and the right hieght, you put the bottle on a little turner and scribed/cut it, then you sanded or filed the lip down. But it is still pretty easy to do, there;s a few instructables online here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/

Pretty easy

Damn Revvy, you're making me feel old. I had one of those way back when...
 
I didn't have a cutter but I tried to score a Stone bottle with my bandsaw. It broke with hot water like in that video but my scoring is sub par so I had stress fractures. I'll have tp get a cutter and have another go at it.
 
My dad did this back when I was a boy. I think he used an autotransformer connected to nichrome wire. Wrapped it around where he wanted the break and turned up the transformer. The wire would begin glowing and in a second - pop - the bottle would break perfectly at the wire point. It has been 30 years, so the wire may not have been nichrome. I think it was because otherwise it would have probably just popped the breaker or damaged the transformer. He did it on wine bottles.
 
I'd like to cut the bottlom off, flip the thing upside down, and glue a base of some sort to the neck. Nice tall goblet. Don't care too much about a tumbler.

You could make the base of the tumbler out of the base of the bottle that you just cut off.
 
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