I bet you are wondering why in the world you would want to know how to cut a glass bottle in half. Isn’t that dangerous? (yes!) Don’t you need special glass cutting tools? (no!) Maybe you want to start trying your hand at upcycled crafts. Cutting a glass bottle in half isn’t easy but it does come in handy sometimes.
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Why Are We Cutting Glass Bottles in Half?
Maybe (like me!) you have a 16 year old son who proposes the idea to his Advanced Placement Environmental Sciences teacher as his midterm project. Even though you TOLD the 16 year old boy that cutting bottles in half wouldn’t be as easy as those YouTubers made it look on the internet.
And of course, being a 16 year old boy…he ignores you and decides to do the project anyhow. Because that’s just how teenagers roll, right? So, here is our experience last weekend in learning how to cut a glass bottle in half with string.
Wine Bottle Crafts That Don’t Require Fire
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Cutting Bottles With Lighter Fluid is Ugly and Dangerous
This is NOT a Pinterest worthy, beautiful upcycled crafts project where everything is perfect. Far from it! I will leave you a link at the end of the post is you want ‘perfect’….this isn’t it! But, we learned a lot and I wanted to share our experience in case you wanted to try it for yourself.
I did not take my DSLR camera outside for this project, either. Because the idea of my very expensive camera anywhere near my son, fire, and a bowl of ice water made me way too nervous. But, hopefully you get the gist of glass bottle cutting with my lame iPhone photos!
Below are the supplies we started with. These are not the supplies we ENDED with:
How to Cut a Glass Bottle in Half with String
Supplies you will actually need for cutting glass bottles:
- a glass bottle (you will need to check out my post on how to remove labels from glass bottles before you start)
- cotton string
- source of flame (lighter, match or candle)
- lighter fluid
- paint brush
- small glass bowl
- large container of ice water
- sand paper
- hot glue/decorations for your final craft project
Check out my quick video below if you want the bare bones breakdown of how to cut glass with string. However, I recommend reading the whole post because I will give you a few handy tips that you might miss in the video.
Videos we came across said to use EITHER rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover or lighter fluid. I will tell you right now, don’t waste your time with alcohol and nail polish remover. They don’t work worth a damn! Get lighter fluid. To keep your hands clean, apply it to the string with a paint brush.Have multiple glass bottles on hand. Once you figure out how to actually get them to break in half, you will realize that they don’t always break SMOOTHLY! The beer bottle we started with cracked in half but was so jagged there was no salvaging it so we moved onto a wine bottle.
Have a lit candle on hand as your fire source. WAY easier than trying to light a match or holding the glass bottle one handed as you try to light a lighter. The candle worked much better for our uncoordinated group.
Cutting Glass with String Is Tricky!
You need a very absorbent string to make this work. Yarn didn’t really work well. Don’t get anything coated in wax. A thick, cotton string from the hardware store worked well for us. Tie the string tightly around the bottle, several times if possible. Then, grab a paint brush, glass bottle and lighter fluid.
You need to SOAK the string in lighter fluid without getting it all over the glass bottle. Otherwise, the fire will spread! Just paint it on slowly and carefully. Try not to breathe in too many fumes and keep it off your skin.
Please Be Careful Using Fire to Cut Glass Bottles!
If you look VERY carefully in the photo, you will see a tiny little fire on the string around the beer bottle. That attempt was with rubbing alcohol. There is no photo of the lighter fluid attempt because there was a raging inferno in my hand and way too much yelling to get a photo of the fire itself.
Suffice it to say that the lighter fluid will make REALLY BIG FLAMES…so please do this outside and not on a flammable surface!
Quickly Chill Glass Bottles to Break Properly
We originally started with a large BOWL of ice water, however it wasn’t deep enough to really plunge the wine bottle into it quickly and deeply. We moved to a tall pitcher. Use one that you don’t care if it gets dirty because there will be lighter fluid reside and nasty black crud in it by the time you are finished.
Please keep in mind when learning how to cut a glass bottle in half with string that this is NOT a particularly easy task. Our bottle was still jagged and completely blackened by the time it finally broke. You are going to have to wash it thoroughly and BE CAREFUL! I sliced my finger on the edge of the glass bottle even trying to be cautious.
Be Careful with Jagged Edges!
Once your glass bottle is broken, you will need to smooth out the edges. You can use an electric sander if you have one but since my son was supposed to be doing this himself, I gave him sandpaper and a very thick glove to protect his hand from sharp edges.
It will take a while and you need to be careful that you don’t get bits of glass on you, in your eye, or on the ground. We still ended up with some rough edges so we put some duct tape around it for safety purposes since it had to go to school with him.
My son’s project proposal was to turn a wine bottle into a goblet or candle holder. Once you have the two pieces of wine bottle clean and smooth, just hot glue the mouth of the bottle to the base of the bottle as shown, making sure it is straight. Decorate as desired.
This is my son, MANY hours after we first began this project. He apologized to me no less than 15 times for the stress and chaos he created by not listening to mom and choosing a difference project! But, he put in a lot of effort and hopefully will bring home a good grade for it.
I can tell you for sure, this is NOT a project I will be trying again any time soon! If you want to see people on YouTube cutting wine bottles, you can check out the Crazy Russian Hacker.
Now that you know how to cut a glass bottle in half with string, will YOU try it?
Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire and has worked in cancer research, academics, and biotechnology. Concern over the growing incidence of human disease and the birth of her children led her to begin living a more natural life. She quickly realized that the information she was learning along the way could be beneficial to many others and started blogging and freelance writing to share this knowledge with others. Learn more about her HERE.
I love your honesty. Every site I have seen this done on makes it look like it’s something you can do in a kitchen on a Sunday morning. There are machines that are supposed to make this easier, but I guess you would only invest in something like that if you were going to make a business of it:)
If I needed to do this frequently or really wanted it beautiful and perfect I would buy a machine! For personal use (like upcycling wine bottles into glasses for the family) I might just do it this way since it is cheap. I find that alot of things aren’t as easy as the internet says they are and that frustrates me to no end! Glad you found the post helpful!
I have been trying all morning to cut a wine bottle in half with various types of string and nail varnish remover. It definitely doesn’t work. It lights then goes out and doesn’t even touch the bottle. I will definitely try your way thank you for writing this post!
good luck. It was a challenging experiment and definitely didn’t work as easily as I saw online but eventually we did get it to work!
I am adventurous and have a lot of time on my hands so I might try it. I definitely have wine bottles.
This made me happy, especially his expression when he finished the project. I hope he received an A+
After all this hard work, I think he was surprised that it actually WORKED!
HILARIOUS! I laughed out loud. Well, cuz I just tried it with acetone and it started to take off my manicure. AND I’m outside for some fresh air cuz I tried it in my kitchen.
HAH! Yeah… it was a challenge for sure! Sorry about the manicure!
Great job!! A+ to you for even trying it. I loved your candor and I too laughed out loud. I will NOT be trying this project. I certainly did enjoy your post., it was a great way to start my day.
Thank you, Ellen
So glad you enjoyed the process!
I originally clicked on your post to learn how to cut a glass bottle. It absolutely does make a lovely Pinterest post, by the way. I have a teen boy, I get it. I was cracking up not far into your story. “These are the materials we started with, but not the ones we ended with.” 😆
I’m entertained and also grateful to learn that I will not be trying this method to cut bottles!
It was definitely NOT as easy as we saw on YouTube!
I so agree with your comments. It sounded intriguing at first until I read the whole post. Nice to hear someone tell the whole story. I think I’ll continue to recycle my bottles.
I definitely wouldn’t try it again!
I’m definitely going to try this one!! I’ve got plenty of wine bottles for it!!👍
Looked great there.
Good luck with it!
Next time don’t use hot glue, it never holds up! E6000 is my go to for gluing glass to glass or even plastic!
Thanks for the tip!
I liked your post but you never explain exactly when to break the glass. Is it after it is placed in the ice water or before? does the glass just break or do you need to tap it and apply pressure to break it. It would help if you numbered the steps to be taken in the order one should take them. Thanks.
Joann
The glass should just break without you doing anything at all.
Thank you for a wonderful story!!! I loved it and laughed alot from the very first paragraph about telling the 16 year old boy…!!! I read it completely through, it was so entertaining. You’re a good sport. I bet he learned a lot more from this besides how to cut a glass bottle.
I certainly hope he did!
Most definitely not trying this one! I’m making bird feeders for myself and gift giving instead! Also making Christmas table wreath and painted wine bottle for self and gift giving! Less stress is best! Candy dispensers for all the children and gift giving as well! Much gratitude!
Sounds like you have some great gift ideas ready for this season!
I laughed through your entire narrative…anything with glass is can be dangerous. I hope the cut you endured wasn’t too bad. So, I need to know…what kind of grade did your son get? My sons are all grown up but I forwarded this to them so they can remember the shenanigans they would get US into and so they can keep those in mind when my grandkids do the same to them! 🤣 Pay backs!!
Glad you enjoyed the post! He got an A on it if I recall… I think the teacher was impressed more with the effort than the results 🙂
Loved it was very entertaining,but don’t care to do it ,will buy my wine glasses,they r very inexpensive, I make my own Wine, now that is rewarding HAHA!!!!!
We have made mead but never wine and it is rewarding!
Could you wear rubber gloves and dip the string in lighter fluid and then tie it around the bottle…instead of painting it on the string while it’s on the bottle?
You could try although gloves might hamper dexterity.
How long do you let it burn before putting it in the ice water ? Should the bottle be totally submerged ? Tnanks
We submerged ours completely. Length of time probably varies depending on the bottle type and maybe even color of glass.