Glass finishing by grinding

 

Grinding in the original sense is the slow movement over a surface, whereby it is intentionally or unintentionally altered by abrasion in form and extent. The grinding machine holds the glass on a vertically moving grinding wheel. The grinding wheel made of silicon oxide, corundum or diamond slides away under the workpiece, the tips of the abrasive grain inevitably attack. Grinding patterns are ancient, they result from the profile shape of the dipping into the glass grinding wheel and from the position of these incisions to each other. The profile of the grinding wheel determines the shape of the groove of the grinding pattern. A grinding wheel with a round profile grinds into the glass a shallow, round sink. The pointed profile creates a notch whose sides reflect the light and add brilliance to the cut. By overlapping reflections and rotations, by moving the wedge cuts, micrographs can be invented, which can be combined to form an infinite number of patterns. The dense coating of the glass with such geometric motifs, which are then polished to a high gloss, and the subsequent filling with a fine network of matte cuts, culminates in a sparkling, silvery glow that represents the grandeur of the classically cut glass.