bottle cutter source (for garden cloches, etc)

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Wow- I never anticipated the response to my earlier post re: making garden cloches from recycled glass. I checked with the manufacturer of the bottle cutter which I purchased- he has sold the last one. Apparently he has developed a new cutter which he says is better than the one I got, as it can be used to cut the neck of the bottle as well as the bottoms. He has just listed one of the new ones on ebay- he sets the opening bid at $9.99, but says the high bid generally reaches $39.00. If 6 or more people would like to place a combined order, he will sell them for $26.00 plus shipping. If anyone is interested you can go to ebay and enter "bottle cutter" in the search engine. This model is listed as "New, aluminum bottle cutter & instruction book". If anyone wants to purchase one, please let me know in the next week or so- if enough people respond to warrant an order, I will work out the details and let everyone know.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), February 06, 2001

Answers

Well, actually I have a bottle cutter from long, long ago, and a couple of years ago decided to make some cloches from 1 gallon wine bottles. Made the cloches. Used them. Not (favorably) impressed. I found them to be extremely labor intensive. For me, cold frames, and my own silly little greenhouse work much better. The cloches tended to cook things. Now, I do not have the ability to monitor these all day long. Is it my inability, or am I just not quite able enough? I await any input! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), February 12, 2001.

A FEW YEARS AGO,WHEN EVERYBODY WAS RAISING TROPICAL FISH,WE USED TO MAKE SPARE TANKS OUT OF ONE GALLON JUGS,THAT WE CUT OFF. WE DID THIS,(AND YOU CAN TOO) BY TYING A PEICE OF STRING,THAT WE SOAKED IN LIGHTER FLUID,AROUND THE JARS,AT THE PLACE YOU WANT THEM CUT OFF,LIGHTING THE STRING,LETTING IT BURN ABOUT 30 SECONDS,AND DIPPING THE JAR INTO COLD WATER IN THE SINK. CUTS THEM EXACTLY WHERE THE STRING WAS,VERY STRAIGHT,VERY SMOOTH,WITH NO JAGGED EDGES TO SAND OR GRIND. CANT GET MUCH CHEAPER THAN THAT,AND IT WORKS REALLY WELL. YOU CAN CUT TOP AND BOTTOM OFF IF NEEDED TOO. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR CLOCHES,NEVER TRIED THEM.( YET )

-- DON AND CARLA SLOAN (TWOSLOANS@TEXOMA.NET), February 13, 2001.

I use plastic bottles for cloches - they are lighter to use and store and easier to cut than glass, plus they don't shatter when dropped. The trick to using cloches is that they do need to be watched so the plants that you protected from the cold don't cook in the sun. If you can't be there to remove them when the sun comes out, perhaps rigging up some sort of shade for the hotest part of the day would work.

-- Maggie's Farm (elemon@peacehealth.org), February 13, 2001.

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