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Best Technique for Cutting Wine Bottle Tops?

Not that we drink a lot in our house, but I have a growing collection of wine bottles with neck size just perfect for slides. I've goggled cutting techniques for these and the most common approach is to use a glass cutter to etch a line around the neck, then dip the neck into boiling water to raise the glass temperature, then plunge it into a bucket of ice water. The sudden contraction causes the neck to break along the etched line.

Well, it works, sort of. I've had several bottles break off cleanly while other times, the fracture line runs up the neck instead of around.

The one thing that is pretty consistent is that the hot/cold method does eventually result in the neck breaking off. Unfortunately, the fracture line is often jagged and rough.

So, does anyone have a sure fire recipe for getting a clean break on a wine bottle so I can add to my slide collection?

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on January 4, 2015 at 5:10am

Okay, so I pulled the tile saw out of the back of a cabinet, dusted it off, filled the tray with water and grabbed two empty wine bottles.

Holy-Moley Batman! The tile saw sliced through those two bottle necks like cutting through butter. It cut quickly and with practically no pressure against the blade. The finished cuts were generally smooth, but could be a lot smoother if I set up a way to hold the bottle steady and perpendicular to the blade while cutting. That will be the next project.

Total time to make two cuts on a bottle neck was less than one minute. A little Dremel work and I was good to go.

If you have any friends with a tile cutter lying around, give this a try for cutting bottle necks.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Willmouth on December 30, 2017 at 2:22pm

Do you have to rotate the bottle as you cut it, or do you cut straight through?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Willmouth on December 30, 2017 at 2:20pm

I'm having the same problem, except the first cut always seems to break even -- but the second cut (either lower or higher) has destroyed every bottle except one so far. I'm wondering if a wet tile saw with a diamond blade would do a better job?

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Permalink Reply by Jim_N on December 30, 2017 at 3:37pm

Repeating the caution I posted on a similar thread several months ago:

Use a good mask when cutting/grinding glass.
You do not want to breathe in microscopic glass dust!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 30, 2017 at 10:08pm

Not much to offer on this topic, hope you find a good solution.

The best way I know of is to let someone else do it. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on December 30, 2017 at 10:32pm

i use a Sawall diamond blade in my banjo saw it takes me 5 to 6 mimutes to cut and sandpolish each one some guys use a wet tile saw to get them prefect , my method the blade cuts just into the top of the glass and as it gets depper it fractures the top off pretty clean i call them my Bar Fighter Slide you cad delet my pics if you want buddy all good .