Using a Jack Tool for Glassblowing

Video Transcript

Hi! I’m Jim McKelvey with Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis. You can check us out on the web at www.stlglass.com. Today, we’re going to learn about glassblowing for expertvillage.com. Well here we have a nice bubble, it’s fairly even, the bottom is nice and thick—and I want to put some jack lines in it. The jacks, which are this tool, are held like this. Now, the important thing to remember about the jacks is that there are two working surfaces. There are the blades up here at the front, and there is the paddle of handle area. The paddle can be used to shape the glass, while the blades can be used to smooth it or to create indentations. The thing to remember about the jacks, however, is that both of these surfaces, the paddles and the blades, can be very hot, so you have to be sure to grab the jacks right in the center, in the handles—and hopefully that’s cool. It’s also a good idea, after you use the jacks, to dip them in water if they get too hot. If they start smoking, you’ll be a lot safer if you have cool jacks, just in case you accidentally grab the wrong spot. The other thing about the jacks is that you want to set them down on the bench with the blades back, so that when you sit down you can take your right hand, grab down, and just lift those blades right up. Let’s talk about where to put the jack lines in a piece of glass. Most beginners would want a jack right here, right at then end of the pipe. There are 2 reasons for that. One, they’re trying to save that last bit of glass, and also there is sort of a natural indentation in the bubble as it starts to blow out. That indentation is a real easy place to start the jack line. Unfortunately, it’s wrong. If you jack there you end up trying to jack through the stainless steel pipe, and that’s not going to work. We’re going to put our jack line about half an inch down from that natural indentation, and we’re going to resist the urge to go into that groove.

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