glass cleaning

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vapour

Grumbler in Training
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Nov 15, 2002
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belfast
I have been framing for a few years now and my weakest point is cleaning glass, I tend to spend more time doing this than any other part of making a frame. I don't think it's the glass cleaner that's the problem ,it's me and my cloth.
Please help.
 
Details please.

What kind of cloth and cleaner are you cleaning with.

What do you lay the glass on when you clean it?
 
For years we had used standard Scott's c-folds or equiv. This spring a salesman from Nosja Disposables came in and talked to the staff and left some samples of a roll product RC8R3. They loved the samples and I ordered a case of 4 rolls (3,600 sheets @ about $110/case) I thought it was very expensive. In the long run, it has save us money.
You can pad up 2-3 sheets and it will last all day or longer. Add a fresh top sheet and it lasts even longer.
 
We use the cheapest paper towels we can find at the supermarket (as long as they don't have bunnies or teddy bears on them).

We place the glass on kraft paper, Sprayway™ the dickens out of it, and use a new sheet of paper towel for each cleaning.

The papers towels are linty, but we dust the surfaces of the glass with a draftsman brush before we place over the art.

Seldom a problem!

The wet paper towels are then left to dry for other applications such as wiping glue, cleaning my glasses, or hankies. They make great party favors, too.
 
I was lucky to find a great source of glass cleaning rags. My daughter in law worked in a factory that made disposable pads for hospital beds. The material is a lot like birds eye material diapers. (This for those of us who can still remember cloth diapers). If you can find these cloth diapers they would work great. Absolutely no lint. Sprayway is the only cleaner I use.
 
I've tried making glass cleaner, using all the brands available, but the very best (to me) is TruVue's glass cleaner. The LJ brand streaks really bad. I do think the cheapest paper towels are the best as they seem to have alot less lint.

Bill, hope you don't invite me to a party! LOL
 
I use one of those fluffy static dusters to remove any particles.
 
I use a streaking cleaner and will be buying some of the recommenede products... To wipe, I use men's white cotton hankies (these are really old - do they even make them anymore?) or coffee filters.
 
I totally agree with the people who say spray - away is the best glass cleaner. I use a kimtowel called "work horse" which I buy at a janitorial supply house. plus I wear gloves when I cut glass so with that and pre washed glass it's a breeze!

Pam
 
I use a product called "Lite Grip" that looks like a folding metal gate with large bumpons. It expands accordian-like to accomdate the size of glass that your are cleaning. It keeps the glass off your work surface and since it's only contact is with the bumpons, you can clean both sides quickly. You don't have to wait for one side to dry before flipping it.

You can see it at http://www.lite-grip.com/

It isn't cheap at $149.00 but I think its worth it.
 
In our shop we use Wype-All Plus wipers and Sommer&Maca Hi-Sheen glass cleaner. My wife also likes those microfiber cloths to clean glass, I only like them for dust removal and plexi cleaning.
My experience is to start with a slightly dampened towel and move fast. The faster I move the less streaks I get.
We use the drafting brush for the table, and the anti-static brush for glass and plexi. My drafting brush has scratched the conservation coating and plexi surface before so I only use it to get the glass chips off the table.
B.
 
Larry, I use the lite-grip too. I love it. It is amazing to see the amount of trash left on the table after a day of using the lite-grip. Fitting has been much easier since we got it.
 
Plastic squeeze bottle, the type used for ketchup and mustard. Rubbing alcohol, distilled or tap water, a very small amount of rottenstone, about what you can scoop up with an average size screwdriver.

Fill the squeeze bottle halfway with alcohol, put in the rottenstone, fill the remainder with water, shake it up and viola, you have the best glass cleaner you can get. Then use old fashion cotton diapers. You have to wash them at least once before they really work well. This is a formula that has been used by framers since at least the twenties, probably earlier.

This is also one of the most cost effective glass cleaning systems available to us. Alcohol is cheap, diapers are cheap and last for years, rottenstone is cheap.

Note: Too much rottenstone will leave streaks, not enough will not cut the silicone powder that comes on case glass.

John
 
Vapour

We would call "rottenstone" Pumice Powder in this part of the world, you can buy it from a laboratory supply company….try Davidson and Hardy in Belfast.

When cleaning the glass with your cloth work from the centre of the glass out this way you will not drag new dirt back on to the glass.

If you are using rags that have being washed with a fabric powder (Daz etc.) there is a residue which will cause streaking…run the rags through a final clean water rinse.

Bohle in Oldham have a great glass cleaner (I think they took over Ebor who made a glass cleaner to the CML formula) www.bohle.ltd.uk product # BO 60 231 05 they have it listed in my catalogue at €36.29 for 12 cans

Rgs

Dermot
 
For those of you using cotton diapers, they work a lot better (for glass cleaning, anyway. Not sure for the original application) if you wash them WITHOUT fabric softeners.

I use heavy blue paper towels that I believe are made for "drool bibs" in the dentist offices. One usually lasts about a week before it's demoted to putty- and glue-wiping duty.

When they're too scuzzy for that, I give 'em back to the dentist.
 
BTW, if I couldn't buy pre-washed glass, I think I would have moved to a less-stressful career years ago - maybe air-traffic control or NYC parking enforcement. That goop they put on the regular glass is designed specifically to torture framers. Protecting the glass is a secondary consideration.

The pre-washed stuff is so clean that it is tempting to skip the cleaning step altogether. I have read several times that even pre-washed glass should be cleaned, even if it looks like it doesn't need it, so I do that now. I also lightly seam the edges with a whetstone, a la Greg Fremstad.

And I bumped up my glass prices a little to cover the extra labor. :D
 
My husband puts clean kraft paper down before cutting glass. I use upholstery samples which can be vacumned or shaken. I don't seem to have any trouble with scratches. Good point Ron. Even new cloth has some kind of sizing in it. I wash mine at least once before using and have found that the more they are washed the better they clean. NO FABRIC Softener.
 
for cotton diapers, we don't use any soap or fabric softeners, we just wash em in hot water.

Dermont, we also have pumice powder on this side of the pond, it is way to course for glass cleaning. Rottenstone is a much finer powder.

Ron, if you have your mixture correct, that silicone powder on glass just disappears like magic. That is the whole reason I started using this formula.

John
 
SYLLABICATION: rot·ten·stone
PRONUNCIATION: rtn-stn
NOUN: A soft decomposed limestone, used in powder form as a polishing material.


Rottenstone is also found in better supplied home paint stores.
 
Thanks John, I had never realised that Pumice and Rottenstone were one and the same thing except for the grade……..when I sold (a long time ago) Pumice I just sold it by grade……I learned some thing new today…..which makes it a good day

Rgs

Dermot
 
I’m sure everyone has their favorite glass cleaner. I have found that by running a seamer around the edge of the glass to take the sharp edges off the lite it saves the cleaning rag or paper from leaving lint and tearing the cloth, which then leaves streaks
 
Many good suggestions for glass cleaning here.

How many of you do NOT brush your cleaned glass with either a very soft brush or an antistatic whisk brush such as is sold by UMS and other suppliers??

I would bet hardly any of you clean the glass with whatever cleaner and wipe and place it directly over the object to be framed without first brushing any lint from the surface. So, lint isn't a major factor in the actual cleaning unless it is coming out of the cloth in piles and is everywhere. In that case, I would look for new material to use as wipes.

I use cloth diaper material or linen yard goods cut down and hemmed on a machine. I always spray the glass cleaner rather sparingly so as not to completely saturate the surface of the glass. There is no need to do that with paper interleaved pre-washed glass anyway. We are not cleaning windows here, sports fans! We are ensuring that an already fairly clean piece of glass has the finishing touches applied to it before the final installation.

I always wipe from the center outward in all directions, not to control streaks or spread the cleaner out radially, but to stay away from those sharp edges. The edges of any cut glass can do more harm to your cleaning cloths and your fingers than any other part of a sheet of glass. So why wipe from the edge inwards or parallel to each edge?? You will only cut into your cloth, create more lint than was originally on the cloth, and shorten the life of your cleaning cloths by a bunch.

I have layered about 4 layers of double thickness cardboard (the really stiff heavy kind that many shipping boxes are made out of) together and I cover that package with black kraft paper. I lay my dimensioned glass on that black surface to do my cleaning. It shows the slightest streaks and the tiniest little fur balls and you can take an anti-static whisk and remove those "fish" very easily. When the kraft paper gets dirty or worn or torn, simply replace it with new paper. I store it under my mat bench in one of the slots that hold full sized matboards. It is almost full size to begin with and is right there handy when I need to use it.

The fitting techniques have alot to do with keeping wooly boogers out of the frame package also but that was addressed in another thread not too long ago.
 
A note from the still beautiful Northwest forests - please don't use paper products for cleaning glass. Rolls of very used linen commercial bathroom towels or old diapers work great and can be washed over and over. My vote is for water, alcohol, and a drop of detergent in a spray bottle.
 
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