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Glass Skelly Caps: How to Make Them

New York City kids play skelly, or skully, on a board drawn with chalk on concrete or asphalt. When skelly was most popular, in the 1950s and '60s, kids made glass skelly playing pieces by grinding the necks of beer or soda pop bottles over the bumps in manhole covers until the top rings broke off. This process usually resulted in jagged, broken bottles. One to make a glass skelly cap more safely involves scoring a bottle's neck with a glass bottle cutter, using a cutting tool from a craft or hardware store.

Things You'll Need

Pop or beer bottles (allow several bottles for practice)
Masking or painters tape
Protected surface
Machine oil
Cotton swab
Safety glasses
Work gloves
High-quality glass cutter
Sand paper (coarse and fine)
Wet paper towels
Candle
Ice cube or heat-proof pan of cold water
Vacuum cleaner
Polishing powder

Instructions

- 1
  Place a smooth, clean bottle on a protected surface. Apply masking or painter's tape slightly below the bottle's lower ring to help prevent jagged edges and cracking below the cut line.
- 2
  Apply a drop of machine oil to the cutting tool wheel with a cotton swab. Oil helps the tool make a clean cut.
- 3
  Put on gloves and safety glasses.
- 4
  Make a light score (cut) with the glass cutter at a 45-degree angle to the bottle surface, around the bottom ring of the bottleneck above the tape. Use a firm, consistent cutting stroke rather than force. A light cut makes it easier to separate the bottleneck from the body.
- 5
  Overlap the beginning and end of the score line.
- 6
  Wipe the scored area with a wet paper towel to remove machine oil and glass dust. Discard the used paper towel immediately.
- 7
  Light a candle over a fireproof surface, and slowly rotate the scored area in the candle flame in one direction until the bottle neck feels hot to the touch. Do not try to heat or break the score too quickly.
- 8
  When the scored area is hot, blow out the candle and rub an ice cube around the scored line or plunge the bottleneck into cold water. If the bottleneck does not separate, do not force it. Dry the bottleneck with a clean paper towel and reheat the scored line with the candle.
- 9
  Discard the bottle in your trash or recycle bin. Use a vacuum cleaner hose to suck up glass dust and particles from the work area.
- 10
  Place the bottleneck, scored side up, on your work surface, and smooth the cut edges with coarse sandpaper.
- 11
  Sprinkle polishing powder onto a brick or into a metal bowl. Dip the cut edge of the glass in water and into the polishing powder. Using a circular motion, rub the powdered cut edges on the brick or metal surface. Continue until the skelly cap's edges are smooth.
- 12
  Use damp, fine sandpaper to give a final polish to the cut edge. Test the edge to make sure it is smooth, with no jags or breaks.

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