Cracked Glass Jar

Why not fuse the glass itself back together? Even though I'm no glass blower myself, I have managed to "weld" glass to glass.

Thanks a lot, I will try this . I am not sure if it will not deform.I was thinking ther might be a glue or chemical special for glass welding. Anyways, thanks again.

The last time I did this was with an oxyacetylene torch. This is ordinarily too hot, but one can "dial it down" low enough to work. MAPP gas might be a better choice, but look around first; there is probably a lot of good advice on the Web. Good luck!

Thanks ..

Anything short of fusing (remelting) the glass will leave you with a crack in your glass, which will continue to propagate unless you stop drill the crack at both ends.

It's always cheaper to just hand dry glassware, oppose to using a micro-wave oven for drying And, I think that if you looked at the small print in the micro-wave oven operation manual, it will say, Do not use the oven without some kind of liquid in a container to absorb the micro-wave energy.

It was too late when I realized that there is no liquid in the jar..it was fraction of a second.. ! Anyways, thanks a lot for your response..

Forget it. Throw the glass away, now. You will never repair it successfully.

Anyone with enough knowledge and skill to effect a glass repair such as this would never have tried to dry glass in a microwave in the first place.

Maybe try one of those windshield repair kits.

Thanks.Will try.

you might try this glass glue...

http://www.drillspot.com/products/562522/super_glue_gr-48_uv_cure_adhesive_glass_glass_adhesive?s=1

Look into windshield crack repair compounds. The professional ones are cured with UV light.

Don't use your microwave to dry expensive jars. A paper towel, hair dryer or air drying will work better. Glass doesn't like a quick transition from cold to hot.

When I suggested windsheild repair, I was half kidding. If this is ornamental glass give the glue a try.

If it is some type of glass that holds a liquid that a person might consume, throw it away.

I only drink from cans or plastic. Even our wine glasses are acrylic. No one gets hurt.

Safety first!

I'm still waiting for the Nerf furniture line to come out. It's a no brainer for the safety conscious family.

Wouldn't last around here. The dog would just eat it.

You must be kidding!

Plastics, no matter how durable, will leach into liquids. Glass is much safer and your wine will taste better.

I know it sounds wrong, but trust me..................glass is not safer around here.

Plastic bounces.

Besides, it takes ages for PCB to leach out of polycarbonate Well ages compared to the beverage 'evaporation rate'.

There is probably a time factor involved in plastics leaching into liquids...

What bothers me is that this is an expensive colorless glass jar. This glass is expensive for some reason and you broke it. Any repair will change this piece of glass from what it's supposed to be. If this is a piece of Steuben glass, well you better order a replacement quickly before they're gone. If this is a piece of Lenox crystal, somebody will be able to see this repair. If this glass jar is some special piece of chemical glass ware well even if you're able to fuse this glass there can be stresses in the glass that might make it dangerous for somebody else to use.

Ball Mason jars have become collector items and can sell for hundreds on ebay...Here's a link to one bidding is currently at $250.00 with nearly 3 hrs to go...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320789213859

I knew that there would be some combination to explain why a glass jar could be expensive that I did not propose. Your proposal though is still just speculation about why the OP's jar is expensive. None the less, the high value of your proposed particular antique Ball Mason jar on e-bay is that this jar has not been repaired but has survived to this era unscathed.

While I sympathize and empathize with the OP about trying to repair the result of misplaced good intentions, there are times that it is better to just accept the consequences. How many times have we seen in politics and other other faux pas that the cover up was worse than the crime.

Well, just supposin, that this guy was cleanin up a jar that his kid had got hold of, and used for holding his pet frog, and that this jar was his wifes prized possession and he just didn't have the heart to tell her...er sumthin? anyway, who cares why people do things...

Iron clad proof that there is still a sucker born every minute.

You wouldn't be saying that if you had a cellar full, at least not out loud....

I'd say to take a different approach. Rather than throw it away just because it has one crack, I'd paint a big red arrow on it pointing right at the crack. I'd then double my asking price and claim it had historical value.

{ It worked for the Liberty bell }

Just try painting the crack on your....posterior, and selling that as a historical piece.

Expensive glass, just isn't what it's cracked up to be! Sorry for the pun, I couldn't resist it

You could always buy a windshield glass repair kit and spread the solution into the crack.

You must be caught in a time warp.

sjw40364, you might want to look at posts (replies) 7,10 and 11, regarding use of a windshield glass repair kits, which the crack still has to be stopped drilled.

I have repaired glass without drilling holes, that is the optimal solution for best results for strength to make sure the crack gets completely filled. I will say it is messy and time consuming without pre-drilling, but warming the solution first will help you to force it into the crack. Of course if it is a hairline fracture it will most likely only help cosmetically and will more than likely still remain partly visible. I would advise trying it on something else first to practice your technique.

You must be "deaf" too. I can't say that you are "dumb" because I'm not able to hear you speak, if you can. Not that you'd have anything of interest to say. We really aren't repairing windshield glass here.

I'd stick to pointlessly arguing about things which we could agree might not have clear cut answers. Like the eastbound speed of light.

Thanks for your valuable responses.

I give up too! But, Please, Please, do tell me, what the speed is for east bound light? Is it something like, −186,000 mi/s LOL

Hi Nabil, maybe as a last accord, here is something that just popped up in my mind: I don't know what a "windshield" repair kit is, never needed one. But I know there is a liquid called "glass water". Sorry, I don't know any sci nomenclature, and if you do find out what is it, take care how you apply it. There may be some leftover that sticks to the glass surface and may look "warped". But still, it is transparent. Again, good luck.

What you are thinking of is not "glass water" but "water glass"! It is a solution of sodium metasilicate Na₂SiO₄ and has been used in glass repair. Said repair is not structurally sound, and won't endure even nominal use.

Anyway, there is your tidbit of info for the day!

Every thing which you are saying is correct except following 1. One need to conditions glass Jar before one can attempt to fix the crack. 2. When crack develop we are creating two new surface and to seal we are going to eliminate one surface and this needs surface to be cleaner 3. As we heat crack area at some place we will go to melting temperature and other just above glass transition temperature and when cooling starts we will have more cracks than we started with 4. Adding liquid glass ( which is 75% SiO2 and 25% Na2O) is good to fix concret since that has calcium aluminum and that reacts in presence of carbon dioxide 5. Needs to look for polymer which will have same refractive index and you can seal at temperature below glass transition temperature of the jar glass materials

Thanks a lot.

I do not agree:

"Every thing which you are saying is correct except following 1. One need to conditions glass Jar before one can attempt to fix the crack"

Insensitive glasses as Pyrex or Quartz-glass do not require preheating and oven cooling to prevent cracks, but sensitive glasses do need this: as uniform cooling as possible!

2. When crack develop we are creating two new surface and to seal we are going to eliminate one surface and this needs surface to be cleaner:

Cleaner than at cracking?? Nobody did talk about allowed dirt, clean as perfect as possible - a problem, I know.

3. As we heat crack area at some place we will go to melting temperature and other just above glass transition temperature and when cooling starts we will have more cracks than we started with...

No, do it right and you will have success. Go to a artisan glass-maker and try to learn. Go to a museum restoration facility where they put together ancient broken glasses and make facsimile of these - they know how to.!

Try yourself - you will have some success. To learn artistic know-how is not an easy job.

RHABE

I agree with comments #2, #3 and most of #1. Even Pyrex and Quartz-glass need to be throughly heated in areas surrounding a repair so that the temperature gradient is as gradual as practical. Also following heating, all glass should be annealed to reduce internal stresses, otherwise the object will be more fragile than necessary.

I'm glad to hear that at least you have an above average understanding of the different properties of what most laymen will call "glass". As you point out, there are many different clear silicates out there with widely different thermal mechanic properties that one could make a large jar out of. My point here is that despite our OP coming back several times to thank people (a very polite action that I do appreciate) we still have no idea at all what type of jar this is or why it is considered to be expensive.

For all we know, this could be a large jar of Roman glass. If this is a piece of Roman glass then I say that regardless of the skill of any technician, any attempt to repair this will dramatically diminish the value of the jar. Maybe this glass jar is a pressed glass trophy that can be repaired so that the internal stresses imbalanced by this crack can be properly stabilized. I could go on but I think I've made my point.

My barely trained (I did some of my own small glass blowing many years back) gut feeling is that any amateur repair will be more costly than replacing this jar, one way or another. Even a professional repair might be more expensive than replacement. But without knowing what type of "glass" this jar is made of, all answers are just wild guesses.

I am not sure when this was purchased. If this is old and from Roman it may be made of crystal glass if it is high end product. Crystal glass has very good reflection properties and are generally a high lead containing silicate glass which was very common in old time and still from East Europe area we get high lead crystal wine glass and glass jar. If it is then I will recommend to put in dumpster and by one which is lead free which will be good for all known reasons

I guess I should clarify what I mean by Roman glass. I'm talking about some glass that has been around for a little while. I'll admit that this glass cannot be purchased new.

Does the lead leach out? Or are you concerned about it's use in general?

Under normal use answer is NO Under abuse conditions like leaving acid food let dry then may do that in part per million level (this is guess) If you have acid like hydrochloric acid then a lot

Fortuitous then, that Portuguese vin ordinaire is seldom served in crystal

_{(and Thanks, very interesting)}

If you don't want to play chemist by taking the glass back to its molten state, the best bonding material for glass is a one part, clear silicone. It is a product of glass and sand. Moisten the glass before applying, lay a very thin, small bead down, let it dry, cut away the excess and you will get an extremely strong bond. Will it ever look perfect... No Way! But at least your crack will be fixed.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks a lot.

You can try Canada Balsam . This is used in Physics optics laboratory to join glass prisms.

Thanks indeed.

Lynn-Door industries sells lovely miniature bumper stickers in a wide variety of subjects. Contact them directly for their latest catalog. There is sure to be one to please. Good luck.

Find a local museum and ask them where you can get it restored properly, Don't try drying things in a microwave, dry it in the air.

regards