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How to Make a Bottle Cutting Jig

You can construct a jig for cutting bottles with a traditional window glass cutter. This jig allows you to hold a bottle securely while you score a straight line around the glass. It is important to make only one firm pass around the bottle to ensure a clean line for the glass to break along. Repeated scoring causes sloppy guidelines that create uneven cracks and stress lines. Learning to cut bottles with a jig creates many recycling possibilities.

Things You'll Need

Measuring tape
1- by 4-inch pine board
Saw
8 2-inch wood screws
Drill
1/4-inch metal rod
Vise
Rubber ball
Sharpening stone

Instructions

- 1
  Cut two pieces of a 1- by 4-inch board into 18 inch sections. Place them together to form a "V" shape.
- 2
  Position a 7-inch piece of the board on the end of the "V" to form a stop for the bottles and to act as a foot for the jig allowing it to sit on a table. Screw this board in place with four wood screws.
- 3
  Sand the top edges of the wood, especially where your hand will rest. Use 100 grit sandpaper.
- 4
  Place the end of a 1/4-inch metal rod into a vise and make a 1-inch perpendicular turn at the end of the rod. Insert this rod in the scored bottle and tap around the etched line to start a clean crack. This crack will appear as a silvery line in the scored area.
- 5
  Adjust the rod so its momentum hits directly on the scored line. Mount a rubber ball on the other end of the rod to rest on the neck of the bottle and hold it at the scored line. This ball is adjustable for use on different size bottles.
- 6
  Grind the bottle edge of cut bottles with a sharpening stone.

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