Glass Working Bending and Blowing 85 



These may all be made for a few pence by a student of 

 Section II. A steel or iron wire, about 5" diameter, and taper- 

 ing to a point (Fig. 74) is also very useful for widening out a 

 flange on the side of a tube, but tools of this kind may be 

 made as required for special 

 purposes, and, in the main, 

 their aid will be required but 

 seldom. FlG> 74 



In addition to the blow- 

 pipe, a fish-tail burner on stand should be available, and all 

 bending may then be performed on the bench. This should 

 be arranged so that it is not necessary to disconnect the 

 blowpipe in order to accommodate the ordinary burner. 



Special blowpipe tables are frequently listed and sold by 

 makers of apparatus. It is, of course, an advantage to have a 

 separate blowpipe table, but a specially made one is not neces- 

 sary. Any ordinary table covered with asbestos millboard 

 and arranged at a convenient height will serve the purpose. 

 Whether one sits or stands while at work is a matter of 

 personal choice. It would seem that greater control over the 

 bellows, and hence over the flame, may be exercised while 

 standing, but most professional glass-blowers consistently sit, 

 whatever the size of their work may be. 



Students should bear in mind that it is simply an accurate 

 knowledge of the material that enables a glass-blower to pro- 

 duce his effects with such ease, and that at the commencement 

 of their endeavours, therefore, they will find considerable diffi- 

 culty in obtaining eyeable results indeed, will be inclined to 

 accept an inferior piece of work as the best they can do, and 

 pass on to the next exercise. If, however, they repeat the 

 exercise, a much better result will in almost every case be 

 obtained, inasmuch as they will start with less ignorance than 

 before. One or two hours' work at glass-blowing will show no 

 progress worthy the recording, but a course of systematic 

 endeavour, extending over some forty or fifty hours, will 

 invariably be sufficient to free a student from any fear of the 

 material. After spending that time at the work most students 

 are able to undertake the making of filter pumps, condenser 



