Introduction: DIY Bottle Cutter

By www.instagram.com/woodness.goodn
About: I love coming up with cool ways of using wood! Furniture is my specialty. Getting ideas from all my fellow wood lovers out there. Wood is Good!

I've always wanted to make my own glasses with cool bottles that I've collected. I came up with this very simple design to cut bottles into your very own glasses! Cheap and simple build. I was able to make mine out of scrap walnut that I had lying around the shop. Make sure to watch the video as it shows you every step required! Have fun!

Step 1: Cut & Drill First Piece

As you can see I made a prototype prior to making the walnut bottle cutter. My prototype actually worked just as good as the walnut one! Alright, so the bottle cutter is made of three different pieces of wood. Let's get the first piece ready.

  1. Cut a piece of wood to 5" x 9". 1" to 1.5" thickness is fine
  2. Mark a grid in order to get drill spots
  3. Add half the measurement of your board thickness to your first riser line measurement
  4. 1" riser lines all the way up the board length (this will be the adjustable portion to make glasses taller/shorter)
  5. On the 1" riser lines that run widthwise, mark two holes 1" 1/4 from either edge
  6. Drill holes

Step 2: Cut & Drill Second Piece

This next piece will be your base. The portion your bottle sits flat on.

  1. Cut another piece of wood at 5" x 9"
  2. Mark riser hole width on end of your second piece with a nail as shown
  3. Drill holes
  4. Your riser can now be moved up/down by simply un-screwing from base plate

Step 3: Cut & Drill Third Piece

This is the side support that keeps your bottle in a corner and gives the cutter some rigidity. It needs to be drilled and screwed into the riser piece and base piece. Use screws so you can easily adjust the height of your cuts.

  1. Cut another piece of wood at 5" x 3.5"
  2. The 5" portion should run along the length of the base piece
  3. Mark centered holes along bottom and side along riser piece as shown
  4. Drill holes
  5. Use the piece you just drilled to mark the holes on the riser/base piece so it matches up
  6. Drill the new holes on the side of riser & base pieces
  7. Mount it together using screws

Step 4: Rocks Glass Setup

This bottle cutter is supposed to be able to adjust depending on how tall you want your glasses. So lets set it up for rocks glasses to start.

  1. You will basically repeat a step and now measure out your bottle cutter so it will cut a 4" rocks glass
  2. Mark new riser holes set at 4"
  3. Drill holes
  4. Screw together
  5. Use a bottle to see the riser height is where you want it

Step 5: Mount Glass Cutter

This is a pretty important part as this is what's going to cut your bottle. It needs to be strong and stable in order to do its job as straight as possible. So take your time.

  1. Buy a glass cutter - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MUHLIVO/ref=...
  2. Drill a hole in the middle of the glass cutter (metal portion)
  3. Remove wood handle from glass cutter
  4. Mark center of bottle on top of bottle cutter riser as shown
  5. Mark your drilled hole on your riser and an additional hole in one of the notches in the cutter as shown
  6. Make sure the glass cutter sticks out enough from your riser! This needs to touch the glass to cut it!
  7. Drill the two holes
  8. Mount the glass cutter using screws

Step 6: Setup 5" Glass

Alright, so the bottle cutter should be all set up at this point to cut yourself some 4" rocks glasses. You can go ahead and skip this step if you'd like. I'm going to show you how to add an additional glass setup to your bottle cutter. You don't have to do 5" you could do 6" or anything really.

  1. Repeat the same steps you took to mark your riser for the 4" rocks glass
  2. Measure out 5" glass to make sure your cutter will cut at 5"
  3. Mark new holes through riser support on the riser
  4. Drill holes
  5. Mount together to make sure it's all good

Step 7: Sand & Finishing

Now we need to disassemble in order to sand and oil our bottle cutter!

  1. Remove all your screws
  2. Sand all three pieces until it's nice and smooth
  3. Apply danish oil or a finish of your choice
  4. Let dry
  5. Reassemble

Step 8: Make Glasses!

Now we can use our new bottle cutter! Follow the steps to easily make your own glasses. When scoring the glass, make sure to apply a steady amount of pressure. It doesn't need a tonne of force so be patient and just apply enough pressure until you hear it scoring the glass. Gently spin the bottle while applying pressure to get a complete cut.

  1. Clamp cutter to table using the end of the base piece
  2. Cut the bottles pressing against the edge of bottle cutter and riser support
  3. Adjust your cutter as desired (for glass height)
  4. Get a large container that can fit the bottles with ice water
  5. Get a big pot of water on the stove nearly boiling
  6. Place your bottle in the hot water for 30 seconds while spinning it slowly (your score line needs to be in the water!)
  7. Remove from hot water and immediately place in ice water for 30 seconds while spinning it slowly
  8. Glass should separate
  9. If glass doesn't separate on its own try applying a little bit of pulling pressure
  10. If that doesn't work repeat hot water/cold water
  11. Wet sand the edges to remove any sharp surface

Step 9: Enjoy!

Enjoy your new glasses! Make sure the edges/rims are smooth and won't cut any lips! If they are still sharp use some more wet sanding paper with a little water until smooth. These make great gifts, so make some for Christmas this year! Thanks!