Reuse for glass

Would like to here from anyone recycling or repurposing glass. I making paperweights out of glass melted from old bottles. I've collected over 5000 bottles from old dumps. I use a propane weed burner to melt and form and a wood fired annealing oven.

That's a nice piece. I have used old bottles melted in a glass furnace to blow new objects, but never thought of using it the way you are.

nice work!

a person could make arrowheads:



or a person can build a house:

Roberto Pokachinni : You might enjoy this variation on bottles in a cordwood wall, Rob Roy who is a prolific Writer on Owner built homes takes this idea One step

Further ! ////// See link below :





The Rob Roy version which favors paler clearer colored bottles uses an outside wrap of flashing or white plastic to transmit the greatest amount of light through his

Walls. Enjoy ! For the Good of the Craft ! Big AL

For me, glass is primarily a disposal issue, since I haven't seen much that I would like to replicate, in the bottle glass category. I have used it effectively, to replace some of the gravel, when mixing concrete. Gravel is very inexpensive, so it's not about any cost savings. It's about not having a buildup of glass which  ends up mixed with soil in so many cases, if left lying about.

I have seen a few art glass items, made from recycled glass. Some of them are quite nice. But, when I look at the quantity of fuel burned, to turn a pound of glass into something useful or decorative, I always come back to the idea of just getting rid of it in concrete.

Dale Hodgins wrote:For me, glass is primarily a disposal issue, since I haven't seen much that I would like to replicate, in the bottle glass category. I have used it effectively, to replace some of the gravel, when mixing concrete. Gravel is very inexpensive, so it's not about any cost savings. It's about not having a buildup of glass which  ends up mixed with soil in so many cases, if left lying about.

I have seen a few art glass items, made from recycled glass. Some of them are quite nice. But, when I look at the quantity of fuel burned, to turn a pound of glass into something useful or decorative, I always come back to the idea of just getting rid of it in concrete.

Someone had that bright idea in our house, they had filled the eves with concrete made with glass, it was lethal to remove it when we replaced the roof since there were sharp shards sticking out everywhere. when it broke into chunks it left sharp fragments of glass everywhere, and now I am stuck with it as I cannot take it to the recycling because it is a mixed material. be very careful where you use glass in concrete. All glass here goes to recycling. Most of the "recycled glass" things I have seen look hideous to me, I do fancy the counter tops, but that takes more equipment than we have.

It strikes me that if someone were trying to optimize upcycling/recycling in their construction techniques, cobbing clear or light colored glass bottles in as windows in a cob structure would allow light into the building.

Alternately, It occurs to me that you could use a foot or so of glass bottles along the top of a foundation for a greenhouse/high tunnel structure (mortaring them in place) to increase the amount of low-angle light, which might be beneficial for winter growing.  

The video shows a guy cutting bottles. He is using a wet saw, which usually prevents glass particles from becoming airborne. I have been on many job sites, where this sort of saw is used. Sometimes, the material does become airborne. That's because people are foolish in disposing of the sludge that accumulates in the bottom of the water bath. If it's just dumped out on the ground, it will dry out, and be whipped around by the wind. The safest place to get rid of this, is in the footing or mixed with concrete.

The small particles of glass are very destructive to clothing. Sometimes the person doing the cutting, will continue to wear those clothes after they are dried out, so that that person is now shedding little particles of glass, wherever they go.

I have taken a similar bottle, and scored the cut line deeply. This usually allows the glass to snap in the right spot. The process is faster, once you get good at it, it doesn't require any power tools, and it doesn't create millions of little pieces of glass, to contaminate our lungs.

“The Rob Roy version which favors paler clearer colored bottles uses an outside wrap of flashing or white plastic to transmit the greatest amount of light through his

Walls. Enjoy ! For the Good of the Craft ! Big AL“

Given my experience with double and triple pane windows, if you don’t seal the 2 bottles with something like a bead of silicone, you will eventually get condensation inside your brick unless you’re in a very dry climate. Might even be worth buying a bunch of desiccant packets and toss 1 in each brick. Also if anyone is going to use a saw like that, lower the blade until it’s just exposed about twice the thickness of the cut to be made. Much safer to use that way.
Used to live not far from Rob and Jaki. He was pretty low tech, what some would call a hack, but good at marketing the cordwood concept. A couple of the people who taught Rob had really nice houses built in that style.

Kind of an old topic, but since it's been bumped again, I'll chime in.

One other option I came across.  Some people have use busted glass and concrete to make decorative faux geodes.
https://www.madebybarb.com/2017/05/05/diy-giant-concrete-geode/

I think a way to use old glass would be to arrange it (entire bottles? Crush it up?)
Into a form. Arrange the glass into the shape you will want it to be in, THEN blast it with the fresnel lens.

You might be able to do ANY shape with preshaped molds.

I have to say yes, nice work; however! those shards are SHARP; my husband  is getting into flint knapping, and even the flint knapping shard are sharp. I have a couple that I think I could skin a rabbit with.... I like the artificial geode; and I am thinking; what if you tumbled the glass pieces in a rock tumbler?

I know there are youtube videos on how to make your own rock tumbler....

Roberto pokachinni wrote:nice work!

a person could make arrowheads:

A First-Nations friend of my brother's had an "Indian encampment" at an Old West re-enactment event and was demonstrating knapping knives from
TV screen glass (old-school TV's have extremely thick glass lenses on the front, apparently). He made me one with a 7 inch blade and it was gorgeous and so sharp. I don't have it anymore unfortunately or I would post a picture.

I crush it and put it deep in gopher holes with used wood pellet cat litter.

I've found a way to make a really good emergency candle in an old jar using an old food can as a chimney. The flame is very steady. It does not produce smoke or soot. It makes very little odor. The wind will not blow it out if you take it out doors.
I made a hook out of a nail so I can hang it from a hook in the ceiling. You have to use one of those new type cans that you don't need an opener for. Make 24 wide slits at the top of the chimney 1.4x.08 inches. Make 6 narrow sits .65 inches up from the bottom .7x.03 inches. Bend the flange inside the can, that was left behind when the lid was removed, so that it mimics the cam features that are part of the jar lid. This will allow you to attach the chimney securely to the jar. Save the jar lid. You can remove the chimney and put the jar lid on when you want to put the candle out.

I really like the OP's idea for making paperweights and also someone suggested making geodes.  Great ideas.

I tried to find some more examples though what I found doesn't look like something recycled.

Here are some ideas I found:


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The farm shop near my old home used to sell organic olive oil (from Spain) in re-used wine bottles - green and brown. I guess if you can find a way to seal the bottles effectively there are lots of potential uses like this.  

So much energy goes into making glass bottles and jars, I love the idea of taking advantage of their shapes.

We went through a craze in the eighties of making bottle lamps.  They were pretty basic compared to the ones on this inspirational website:

bottle lamps website

When I get my stuff out of storage from this latest move, I am planning to make some glass funnels out of bottles turned upside down with the bases cut off and the edges ground down.  These will be great for putting preserves into jars and for general kitchen uses to cut down on plastic. (I also plan to make some funnels out of gourds grown in the garden but that is another story).    

     

I watched a aquaponics guy somewhere suggest that broken glass could be used to electrostatically clean  fishtanks.
I've heared it said that fish don't get caugt on glass shards but I can not confirm it.

I would like to try out that theory but I would prefer to gemstone polish the broken glass first.
This would take a gemstone polisher, graded grit and energy I do not have.

I guess a waterwheel could do a good job of polishing the sharp edges off of glass without electricity if the noise it would create is not an issue.

Otherwise I've collected plenty of naturally polished glass from the local river bed, but not enough to create the multiple filtration grades I would like to experiment with.

My hypothisis is that polished glass will provide plenty of surface area to electrostatically clean particals from water and be easy to clean and return to service by re-tumbling it.

I buy in bulk when available and repurpose glass jars by filling them with dehydrated foods or vacuum seal foods for short and long term storage. Sometimes, I shop in local thrift shops for old unchipped usable jars.
Alcohol bottles I save for making syrups and my own sweet boose
I dislike most "re-arted" stuff. Majority look tacky . No wind chimes! Glass or not. The most annoying things people hang outside

Hi,

A history Lesson, When White colonists came to Australia they introduced Glass, when some of this was left as waste and picked up by aboriginal people, they melted it and turned it into spear heads.

Maybe melting glass and putting it over, on, in things can be a way of improving homesteads?

See an image of flint knapped spearheads made of glass!

Just want to say a THANK YOU for the apple
(I'm not sure how that works but I am very grateful )