Cutting gallon bottles

[Belfrybat]

I have quite a few glass gallon jugs and would like to use them as cloches in the garden. I can't find a bottle cutter that will handle gallons jugs. Does anyone have any ideas how I might cut the bottoms off so I can reuse them? I called a glass company and they wanted $10.00 per bottle. No thanks.

[Patt]

I remember these from TV ads when I was a kid, would they work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/K-TEL-Bottle-Cut...item1e5c8459ca

[tinknal]

Maybe try cutting a hole in the bottom rather than cutting the bottom of the bottle off. I think the glass is thinner there.

[Prismseed]

Get one of those hand glass cutting tools, score/scour a line where you want to cut. Dip the bottle in boiling water for like a minute, then dip it in icewater. The glass should break loose along the scour mark. I saw it on a DIY show, but be sure to have eye protection just incase.

[Prismseed]

They used the trick to make wine bottle lighting covers, may want to search the DIY channel site.

[maddmatt]

YouTube

It's worth a try.

[ronbre]

make a jig, mount a glass cutting wheel so it will hit the side of the jugs at the bottom..use a stop of some kind for the other end and then rotate it over the cutter..a couple of times or at least one full turn (mark with crayon to make sure you go all the way around) ..and then do the hot / cold thing..

i think cloches from them is a wonderful idea..

you might get one of the smaller glass cutters and jerry rig it to take the larger bottles by making a jig to fit it too

[texican]

Do you have an unlimited supply of glass jugs? I find that finding any kind of glass container is getting very difficult... everythings going to plastic. I treasure my glass. I have an unlimited supply of plastic buckets... turn them over and you're done.

[Just Cliff]

I very much agree with texican. I would save my glass for consumables. If you are going to cut them, i have seen someone score a mark, dip a string in a flamable liquid, wrap it around the score mark, Light it then put cold water on it. It breaks on the score. I have never done this but there may be something on the net about it.
Good luck.
Cliff

[Belfrybat]

Thank you all for your ideas. I used to have a bottle cutter back in the '70s and made several sets of glasses from regular sized wine bottles -- still have a couple of them. But that one wouldn't cut a gallon sized bottle. I'll try some of the ideas suggested to see what works.

I don't know about having an unlimited supply. I drink a gallon bottle of wine every 4 - 6 weeks, and have been saving them. Now have about a dozen. The reason I thought of cloches is the plastic ones I've made from milk jugs always blow away regardless of how well I anchor them. Our early spring weather is very windy. I thought glass might stay in place better.

[GoldenCityMuse]

And the glass won't degrade and leave plastic pieces in your garden. Wind is a good reason for using glass.

[7thswan]

For cloches I use those big plastic bottles that water is delivered in. Absopure type, from office water coolers.

[suitcase_sally]

They charge about $7 for those.

[texican]

The 4 gallon buckets I get are free... it doesn't take long to get overwhelmed by buckets (I can't resist free). These are made out of something that will break down within a year, if subjected to sunlight. At one time, I was getting
~20 buckets a week. Most had grease/cooking oil in them.... found it stabilized my dirt road (4 years and it's still solids as asphalt). Buckets left out in the sun would crumble in your hands. Regular plastic buckets were still solid, but these will disintegrate... don't know if they're made with some of the plant based plastics or not.

I use a tractor for my gardening... 'plastic' buckets when accidentally crushed are a lot friendlier than glass when crushed... btdt. (Not cloches, but fruit jars).

Now if I had a source of ~20 gallon sized glass jugs each week, I'd be a happy camper, especially if they were wide mouthed.

[PhilJohnson]

Originally Posted by texican

Most had grease/cooking oil in them.... found it stabilized my dirt road (4 years and it's still solids as asphalt).

That's interesting Might come in handy for me in the future. Not to drift this thread too much but I am curious does the oil start to smell after a while?

[texican]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

That's interesting Might come in handy for me in the future. Not to drift this thread too much but I am curious does the oil start to smell after a while?

Not at all... some of the grease is 'mostly grease', but a lot of it will have sediment in it (hey, beggars can't be choosers)... cornmeal, burnt flour, etc. I've found if the ground is bone dry, the oil will soak in... key is to pour just enough to soak in without 'running off'... I come back later and pour more on, while it's still moist.

I've also shoveled SB-2 on my road (basically just where the tires touch the road) and then poured the oil/grease/gunk on the gravel... it ties it all together, and I don't have to worry about the gravel migrating to the ditches. If it sits a day or two, without rain, it'll set up hard, and shed water. I've probably got 30 to 40 gallons stored up, so when I get some more gravel to put in my low spots on the road, I can pour the oil on top. Now I haven't gotten on the ground to see if there's a smell... know there isn't one at head height. I do have to keep the dogs corralled for a day... otherwise they're up licking the road... reckon it tastes good, with all the smells... but rocks and gravel in dog guts isn't really good for them, never mind the oil...

[wogglebug]

Leather gloves, long sleeves, goggles, be prepared to waste a few (which will happen anyway any way you do it), and use a lapidiarist's slabbing saw.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

We got a $40 or so bottle cutting kit from one of the craft stores with that exact plan, we were going to cut the bottoms off a bunch of 1 gallon wine bottles we, uh, "found". I had a few successes but in general just made a bunch of broken glass. Found out the glass was too thin on the edges after cutting, as generally anything that thin would have a bit of a lip to strengthen the edges. If you look at the pictures of the old cloches they are certainly chunky, probably made that way to stand up to garden use. i would try "wall o' waters" and see how you like them... the bottle cutter went back to the store!

[JuliaAnn]

Man, if I could get a bunch of 1 gal. bottles, I'd make a bunch of 1 gal. batches of wine...

[Navotifarm]

Have you read any books by Rob Roy? He cuts bottles to use in his walls. He uses a tile cutter somewhat the way Ronbre suggests.