How to treat your wooden tools
- Prior to shipping, molds, blocks, and wooden tools will be wrapped in plastic to retain the moisture within the green wood. When you receive your shipment, the plastic should be removed.
- Even if you have ordered some extra blocks to keep in reserve, do not store them wrapped in that plastic. That will cause them to rot, eventually. Stick them in a freezer instead. That will keep them fresh and moist until needed.
- The best thing is to prep the molds/blocks as soon as possible after arrival. Before they can be used in production, the surface of the mold/block should be rubbed with hot, molten glass until it’s blackened and charred, thus the pores in the wood will be sealed. In the case of blocks, hot glass should be used to seal the exterior as well to make them as long-lasting as possible – with molds, this is normally unnecessary.
- Then stick the mold/block/tool in lukewarm water so it gets a good soak before using it. The longer it can soak before use, the better.
- When starting to use a mold, the first blown piece, and maybe even the second, is used only to complete the charring of the mold. There will be a lot of smoke on these first two or three uses.
- In between each new piece of glass being made, the mold should be either dipped in a bucket of water or sprayed with water – the latter being automatically done if it is being used in a mechanical -boy machine.
- When not in use, the molds/blocks/tools should be kept in water at all times. If the water in the storage container is very cold, the mold should be brought into the hot glass workshop well ahead of blowing the glass, so the mold warms up.
- As time goes by, you might end up having more molds than you actually use. But even if a design is discontinued, an order is done and delivered, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to store all molds in the water bins – don’t throw the mold away. Stick it on a shelf and let it dry. It’s not ideal and it might get so dry that the wood cracks. But, if you come up with an idea where the mold can be useful again, stick the mold in a bucket of hot water and leave it to soak for as many days as possible before using it – like one or two weeks. You’ll be amazed how it will return to shape and likely will be just as useable as the last time you tried it! (No guarantees on this of course!)
