Kinda OT: glass repair

[ioannisds]

I know there are a few of you guys that are pretty handy on the board (i.e. Lakemonster), and I'm hoping you can help me out.  Hookah bases are made of glass most of the time, so what the hell.  I have an absinthe fountain which I cracked last night while washing it.  It looks like this:[img]http://www.absinthefrenchmanspoon.com/absintheabsinthe/font/f2.jpg[/img]Anyway, the area that is cracked is maybe 1.5 inches around, near the bottom portion of the glass, with multiple cracks running through it, and a small hole to boot. I REALLY don't want to buy a new one (it was $$$$$$$), but I am hoping to repair it so that I can still use it.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I'm thinking I need something that I can maybe brush on that will seal up the cracks, but I don't even know if they make such a product.  Hope someone can help.  This has made me very sad .

[yashman19]

Now I have no experience with this sort of stuff, but this is just a suggestion.

My dad as a hobby makes glass beads and has a really expensive, really
nice torch that hooks up to an oxygen and propane tank, well he has
millions of these glass rods that he melts with the torch, then when
the glass is goopy, it drips it over a thin metal rod. Then sticks it
in a kiln to slowely cool down until it is nice and hard and a bead.

Maybe you could do something similar. Get a torch from Home Depot, get
a glass rod and heat up the glass rod until it gets to be a goopy ball
of glass at the end, and then just put it over the cracks.

The reason I'm not sure this will work for sure is because putting hot
melted glass ontop of your cold fountain glass might make something
crack.... So I'm not sure.

My friend told me that when he broke his bong, there are places you can
take your pieces and they will do something similar to repair your
glass bong that has to do with meltion the glass, then just sticking
the melted glass back on and it hardens. Sort of like glue.

These are just some ideas.

If this seems like an option you might want to persue, I can probably
snag some clear glass rods from my dad and send em your way, there not
really expensive at all...

And if this sounds like something you don't want to attempt by
yourself, maybe you could find one of these types of places that
repairs glass bong pieces. Maybe they could patch it up for you, even
though its not a bong

Just some ideas I thought I would throw your way.

[dizzing]

that sort of thing is pretty tricky.  bongs and things like that, and most art glass like that which you speak of, are made of borosilicate glass (like pyrex).  not all bongs are, but this glass is extremely heat resistant and easy to do things like melt it and whatnot.  unfortunately most kitchenware is not this kind of glass.  using borosilicate rods to try and seal off the cracks would a) probably not bond well, and probably break the vase.  plus, even if it worked, when it cooled it would probably break again.  generally pieces are cooled slowly in a special kiln.  i'm not saying it's impossible, i'm just saying it's probably not going to work.  i'd recommend trying some high strength epoxy rated for use on glass, i've had good luck doing similar things with it.

[pavlakos_politakos]

duct tape maybe?

[HookahCaterpillar]

They sell glass sealant like poly urethane and stuff which could help.
That absinthe fountain is AMAZING i would kill for one of those. I
drank half a bottle of absinthe one time and unfortunately no
hallucinations. Have you experienced any from absinthe or did i just
get some fake absinthe or something? Anyways here is a link to buy some
glass sealant its pretty cheap so id give it a try.
[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/POWR-BOND-URETHANE-AUTO-GLASS-SEALANT-"]http://cgi.ebay.com/POWR-BOND-URETHANE-AUT...-GLASS-SEALANT-[/url] AND-GLASS-PREP_W0QQitemZ5664714196QQcategoryZ88433QQssPageNa meZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[HookahCaterpillar]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/POWR-BOND-URETHANE-AUTO-GLASS-SEALANT-"]http://cgi.ebay.com/POWR-BOND-URETHANE-AUT...-GLASS-SEALANT-[/url]
AND-GLASS-PREP_W0QQitemZ5664714196QQcategoryZ88433QQssPage Na
meZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

sorry about that copy and paste this and it will work for some reason
it isnt letting me put a real link in there. Hope this helps

[HookahDuck]

I know nothing about glass work.. but I immagine the process is similar to TIG welding (stick/rod welding).I'd call around to glass blowing shops around you

[ioannisds]

[quote name='pavlakos_politakos']duct tape maybe?[/quote]You goddamn Greek. 

[ioannisds]

[quote name='HookahCaterpillar']That absinthe fountain is AMAZING i would kill for one of those. I
drank half a bottle of absinthe one time and unfortunately no
hallucinations. Have you experienced any from absinthe or did i just
get some fake absinthe or something?  [/quote]One of the biggest myths around is that absinthe will make you hallucinate.  It never will, and never did.  There are books out there where you can read about it, but to make a long story short, here's why most people think this:Absinthe was incredibly popular at the turn of the century.  There was good absinthe and bad.  Lots and lots and lots of people drank the bad, and there is now evidence that some of this crappy absinthe actually contained mercury (I cannot remember why).  Mercury makes you retarded/stupid/crazy/etc, etc, etc.  Add to that a guy who killed his family while drinking (it could have been anything, it just happened to be absinthe), Van Gogh and his severed ear (absinthe had nothing to do with it, although he did drink it), and voila!  Drink this and you will get loopy.  If someone tells you they got high off of it, they were either lying, or just drunk.  It should be drunk for the different/refreshing flavor (kinda like ouzo).  That's it.  Lecture over .

[dizzing]

glass definitely cannot be welded like metal, if you were to heat up the vase at all in an attempt to 'weld it' it would break.  only certain, highly resilient types of glass can even be used in an ATTEMPT to do that (i won't pretend to know exaclty how the process would work, but it would still be incredibly difficult).. i am almost 100% sure that that absinthe vase is not made of borosilicate glass, so anything like that is out of the question.  sealant is really the only way to go.

[[LB]]

use an epoxy, go to home depot or something and get a clear epoxy then run it through the cracks to seal it properly. Make sure it can bond with the glass as well. Epoxies are extreeemely powerful, so give it a try, lay some on nice and thick!

[HookahCaterpillar]

Thankyou for clearing that up i always thought it was a myth too. I was
in amsterdam on vacation and drank absinthe and yes it got me ripped
but defenetile wasnt hallucinating. I know someone who owns a pub in
the UK and he serves absinthe and also says it does not make you
hallucinate i think he would know better then some dumbass kids at my
college.

[Sonthert]

1. Go to an auto glass place. They have new techniques for removing cracks. 2. Pyrex is not boro-silicate, as I understand it, it is calcio-silicate. As opposed to sodio-sillicate which is normal glass or plumbus-silicate which is crystal. Borosilicate is too expensive for normal uses. The only source for boron in the world is Death Valley, CA. 3. Absinthe traditionally was flavored with wormwood which contains thujone, which is indeed psychoactive. I've never heard the mercury story. Why would anybody add something as expensive as mercury to something as cheap as liquor? The large degree of debilitating disease associated with chronic absinthe consumption are the same as associate with chronic alcohol abuse, ie, the problems absinthe causes are mainly caused by the alcohol, not the other psychoactive principles. In fact if you read left-wing authors, the only reason absinthe was made illegal was that is was largely consumed by the poor from Eastern Europe which were the "bottom minority" at the time. 4. I would not use a chemical sealer when alcohol is involved. Ethyl alcohol is a very powerful solvent.5. Modern absinthes are made without wormwood, although the health effects associated with it are dubious, at best. I have real absinthe my mother brought me from Spain and from France (two bottles) and it has never done jack squat for me. I don;t know if they have stopped the wormwood addition in France and or Spain or it just doesn;t really d othat much. I have anecdotally heard that it just doesn't do much...it isn't what its cracked up to be. 6. Besides, hasn't anybody ever had serious visual distortions to the point of "hallucinating" when drinking just regular alcohol? 7. Gin was purported, along time ago, to have similar properties. Nobody believes that anymore. The old "We were drinking martinis, I didn' know it was your wife, I though it was someone else" defense doesn't work, trust me. 8. As I read farther through the post, Ioannisds seemed to say substantively the same thing I did in one of these paragraphs.9. I can't stop, somebody help me!10. I'm out of control, I can't stop typing.

[dizzing]

tangiers, you summed it all up excellently i'd say, good points there, however i would like to respond further to one of them [i typed this introduction after i actually typed the post so sorry for the incongruity]:haha, well with pyrex it's complicated.what you buy in your kitchen as pyrex is not borosilicate , i believe you may be right that it is calciosilicate.  however, lab equipment and other things which need chemical immunity and temperature resistance are made of corning's original pyrex (originally made primarly about 2 hours from where i live) , which is in fact borosilicate.  there are other brands besides pyrex, like simex, which are , too, with varying compositions for different properties - i don't know the details really, just these basic things (which i cannot vouch for 100 percent anyhow- i probably should go read wikipedia to get these issues cleared up before i go posting about them )

[dizzing]

well, hah, just so nobody can say i didn't, i checked wikipedia's article on pyrex and it is overly generalized.  there's hardly any useful information on there, just a few half-truths and factual misuse 

[ioannisds]

[quote name='Tangiers']3. Absinthe traditionally was flavored with wormwood which contains thujone, which is indeed psychoactive. I've never heard the mercury story. Why would anybody add something as expensive as mercury to something as cheap as liquor? The large degree of debilitating disease associated with chronic absinthe consumption are the same as associate with chronic alcohol abuse, ie, the problems absinthe causes are mainly caused by the alcohol, not the other psychoactive principles. In fact if you read left-wing authors, the only reason absinthe was made illegal was that is was largely consumed by the poor from Eastern Europe which were the "bottom minority" at the time.5. Modern absinthes are made without wormwood, although the health effects associated with it are dubious, at best. I have real absinthe my mother brought me from Spain and from France (two bottles) and it has never done jack squat for me. I don;t know if they have stopped the wormwood addition in France and or Spain or it just doesn;t really d othat much. I have anecdotally heard that it just doesn't do much...it isn't what its cracked up to be.  [/quote]You are correct sir.  I don't know that the mercury was actually "added" to the absinthe, or if it had something to do with the machinery/chemicals used during distillation/maceration. I have a couple of books floating around here that talk about it a bit, but they are hopelessly lost in boxes as I have just moved.  If I dig them up, I'll let ya guys know what they say.  'Cause, you know, I believe virtually everything I read [img]http://images.allmoviephoto.com/1984_This_Is_Spinal_Tap/tn/michael_mckean_this_is_spinal_tap_001.jpg[/img].As far as the whole wormwood/thujone issue, modern absinthes actually are flavored with wormwood, although there is a strict cap on the amount that can be used if the absinthe is made and sold in the EU.  You cannot, ahem, "legally" get absinthe here in the US because wormwood is a no-no as far as the FDA is concerned.  Wormwood and thujone are a non-issue though, as you would need massive amounts of wormwood to get the thujone levels anywhere near they would need to be to make you hallucinate, especially in a drink that is usually mixed with around a 1:5 booze/water ratio.  Studies and chemical analysis have been done on pre-ban absinthe, and in many cases the wormwood/thujone content is very close to, if not less than, some of the brands available today BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.  Sorry, I am an absinthe snob .By the way, what brands did you get from Spain and France from your mom Tangiers?  I'm just curious as to what you have tried, and how you have liked it. 

[ioannisds]

Ok, I think I might have repaired the thing.  I found some stuff called Loctite Stik 'n Seal.  It is waterproof, and works on glass.  Kind of like epoxy.  I brushed it on both sides of the cracked area, and it seems to have formed a nice, solid coating around the damage.  Doesn't look too pretty, but I'll know in 24 hours (once it has cured) if it worked.  Thanks y'all for the help and conversation.  

[ApoC]

good to hear ya got it patched up, real shame it broke, that is a very very nice fountain! ive been meaning to get some good french absinthe for a while, not cheap but the good stuff indeed has thujone, and yes it gets you high (not hallucinating, more like a light mushroom buzz). good absinthe is very tasty too. french and swiss stuff is generally the best.

[[LB]]

absinthe does make you hallucinate! if you put lsd in it!

[pavlakos_politakos]

.....what exactly is absinthe?i just thougt it was the style the fountain was cafted in.guess not.tang wanna fill me in?

[ioannisds]

[quote name='pavlakos_politakos'].....what exactly is absinthe?i just thougt it was the style the fountain was cafted in.guess not.tang wanna fill me in?[/quote]Here ya go:[url="http://www.feeverte.net/"]http://www.feeverte.net/[/url]

[Sonthert]

I'll check the brands and get back to you. I have a friend who buys absinthe from a website from a woman who smuggles it in. Stuff hits for $200+/bottle! He used to have nine or ten brands, Swiss, German, French, etc. I believe it isn't illegal to own or buy it, just import it or sell it. Don't quote me on that.

[pavlakos_politakos]

ok thanks ioanis.the history of absinthe is very interesting.im going to try to get my hands on some.

[ioannisds]

[quote name='Tangiers']I'll check the brands and get back to you. I have a friend who buys absinthe from a website from a woman who smuggles it in. Stuff hits for $200+/bottle! He used to have nine or ten brands, Swiss, German, French, etc. I believe it isn't illegal to own or buy it, just import it or sell it. Don't quote me on that.[/quote]Hey Tangiers,I know exactly who your friend is buying from.  TELL HIM TO STOP.  I don't frequent the absinthe forums too much anymore, but I do remember A LOT of negative talk about her business practices, attitude, prices, etc...  Basically the folks who are in the know don't send money her way anymore.  Think Genuine Hookahs and you'll get the idea.  For that kind of moneny, he could probably get three bottles of great absinthe shipped via courier from this guy in Germany:[url="https://www.absinthvertrieb.de/oxid.php/sid/570f2f1c6a81ed57a124cbdac728c616//cl/start/tpl/-/lang/1"] https://www.absinthvertrieb.de/oxid.php/sid...70f2f1c6a81ed57[/url] a124cbdac728c616//cl/start/tpl/-/lang/1 Delivery is guaranteed using the courier, though it costs a little more.  I have ordered a couple of times from him (his name is Markus), had it shipped regular mail (cheaper), and never had any problems.  This place is great too, and I have ordered many times without incident:http://www.spiritscorner.com/ing/index.htmlRun by a great guy named Albert in Spain. If your buddy ever needs any help or has questions, go ahead and let me know and he can get in touch with me via e-mail.  I've been drinking the stuff for a long time, and I hate to see people get ripped off for something that is really kinda expensive to begin with. 

[Sonthert]

Spain: Campeny "Partus" traditional iridescent green color 50% alc.French: Veille Maison much more subdued color, more yellow than green 54% alc. I get the feeling this may not actually contain wormwood as the label says "Herb de Abelard" and "Substances Vegetables".