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Making a Bottle Top Slide

Hey People. So I've learned how to make bottle top slides...successfully. It took a lot of time and a lot of failure, but with persistence I did find the best method for cutting glass. Rather than let the knowledge die with me, I'm going to share it with you—should you ever want to make your own.

My own reason for making my own slides is simple. I've been making CBGs for family and friends, and they just seem incomplete without a slide, so I had to find a way to make them inexpensively.

In the beginning I probably made every mistake possible. I broke more bottles than I cut. However, I didn't let it go. I was lucky and found two YouTube videos that brought the process home. I will share those videos below.

For me the first problem was finding a way to get a straight score around the bottle neck. I tried freehand but that just wasn't working. Nearly every attempt resulted with a score that didn't meet. What I learned from one YouTube video was to screw a piece of 2X4 to my workbench, and use it to keep the bottle steady while turning it. and use the workbench as a platform for resting my scoring blade. It worked! My score line was perfect.

Another error I made in the beginning was to score the same line more than once, riding over the first in an attempt to deepen the score. Apparently that's a mistake. I don't know why, but it seems that it creates more problems, so the trick is to score only once if you want success.

My first attempts of shocking the bottles involved a pan of boiling water and a pan of ice water. I would dip the bottle—top first—in the boiling water, then in the ice water, making certain the score line was submerged. With this method I made maybe one good slide out of four attempts. That just wasn't working. Then I ran into yet another video that had the answer: boil water in a tea kettle and slowly pour the water over the score line. The only cold water needed was that from the faucet. It worked!

Now I have about a 90% success rate. The process of scoring and shocking the bottle is relatively quick. After the top as been removed from the bottle, it's just a matter of a little sanding.

So I hope this gives you an understanding of how to make your own bottle top slides. It really is easy once you know how it's done.

https://youtu.be/zQxQqR70CVw

https://youtu.be/sFXngPx3w3M

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on February 19, 2016 at 6:40pm

;-)

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Permalink Reply by Frank Carr on February 19, 2016 at 7:07pm

I bought a Diamond Tech Crafts G2 Bottle Cutter to keep things aligned. I had seen the videos on making a jig to handle the cutting but needed something that was more flexible for use in other, non-slide, projects. It worked OK but I'll probably put together a jig to make it a bit easier.

So far as shocking, I used boiling water in a 2 gallon pot and ice water in a 1 gallon plastic pitcher. This worked OK, maybe about a 75% success rate. I think some of the bottles I was using were on the thin side and tended to crack rather easily. The thicker bottles did better.

One trick I'm still trying to figure out is getting smoother, rounded, edges around the cut edge. I guess I'll break out the Dremel for that. They're OK and quite usable with hand wet sanding but I'd like to get them a bit better looking.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Davis on February 19, 2016 at 7:41pm

I don't worry too much about the sanding--just so it's smooth enough not to cut a finger. I like the rough look/homemade look

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on February 20, 2016 at 9:53am

Yep, I've my best success with similar technique. The key is clean, straight score line. The hardest part is getting the inside edge smooth enough after parting. I end up with the dremmel and a grinding stone but OMG is that dangerous on every level and leaves me wondering if the risks are worth it. I do love having a bottle neck vs a mass produced one and also like to include one with each build. Someone in here posted a source for inexpensive pyrex type slides (can't find link) and tempted to take that road.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on February 21, 2016 at 6:00am

Or you can do it the old fashioned way, and scratch it on the concrete until its smoothish. I've found this works better and faster than emery paper, Dremel stone tips, and almost any other method. Dribbling a little water on relatively smooth concrete gives a pretty nice ground glass look for very very cheap. It just take elbow grease, a bit of patience, and not trying to force it to go too fast.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on February 21, 2016 at 8:10am

Sweetwater has Dunlop slides for less than $4... and they ship for free...

http://www.sweetwater.com/c937--Dunlop--Guitar_Slides

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on February 21, 2016 at 8:08am

I regularly cut wine necks into slides, and with the boiling water/ice water trick I typically get a 75% success rate.

My most recent attempt, I found that by timing the bottle in the boiling water improved my success rate. Apparently too much heat causes the piece to spiral fracture. 15 -20 second dips works for me, but it takes a couple of cycles to get that "pop" that lets me remove the top by hand.

I don't drink much anymore, so friends and family save wine bottles for me. I seem to have better luck with green bottles over clear. Many of those crack vertically.

To cleanup the edge, I use some 180 grit carbide wet-dry sand paper. I don't put my finger inside, just in case... to finish sand them, I have some 1/8" craft foam, and I lay sandpaper on that. the soft backing seems to help...

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Permalink Reply by JL on February 23, 2016 at 1:41am

Has anyone tired a propane torch instead of sandpaper to clean up the cut edge? I recall in high school chemistry class making glass stir rods and pipets with the bunson burner.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Davis on February 23, 2016 at 4:31am

When I first started trying to make bottle top slides, I did try using a torch. Not very good results. I think some 60 grit sandpaper does an adequate job. I suppose that if you want a perfect radius along the edge, you might try something else. Again, I like the crude look. In my mind, imperfection IS perfection.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on February 23, 2016 at 6:42pm

I tried once, but it shattered when cooling... I think you might have to put them through an annealing process to get the glass to relax a bit and release the tension... Hmm... Spa treatment for glass??