> He was effortlessly making straight cuts and wavy cuts in what he said 
> was salvaged glass.  ( IMHE Old glass is somehow more difficult to 
> deal with than new glass. )
> He was slicing off strips only about an inch wide, which is, for me, 
> more difficult than making a cut across the middle of a larger piece.

Hey John
   It might have been an inferior cutter that wore instantly.
   But also,.......... what he was doing was warming up!

The effortless wavy and straight strips? Notice he was doing it totally 
freehand? Just zipping along and snapping the pieces with his hand as 
fast as they were cut?
  I warm up this way myself.
because.............
   This is the absolute easiest way to cut glass!

Grab a piece of scrap glass and try it yourself.  Anyone can do it 100% 
of the time.
Fast easy zip zip zip
  Because its random!! Its completely random, in scrap, and its carefree.

Its also the way you test your cutter for sharpness. Since its a 
carefree exercise the only thing you have to think about is the cut 
itself as you go.
Does it feel smooth in use? Is it easy to make the cut?
If anything is wrong you ditch the cutter and try another on scrap 
before committing to your more precious glass.

  Guiding a cutter smoothly along a straightedge, or intentionally 
following curves?
That is a whole different ballgame altogether.
The real skill of cutting glass lies is in following a line!  ;)

  Steel glass cutter wheels don't last as long as carbide wheels.
But carbide will never be as sharp as a good steel wheel in the first 
place.
   A plain Fletcher gold, or cheap Red Devil steel wheel glass cutter is 
the easiest to use glass cutter you can buy.  When they are new from the 
box you hardly have to push at all!
   It feels and sounds like the thinnest tissue paper tearing.
   Eventually they dull and get "spotty" in the cut, and you toss them.
But until then, they really are the best.

  Carbide, even the best ones, you have to push so much harder right out 
of the gate.
  But if you push too hard it makes tiny ragged chips as you go,
and its much harder and more perilous to snap the glass, especially thin 
strips at the edge.
       yours scott

*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html