Know Your Glass !!!

The focus of this post is just glass.  I am not talking about coatings of any kind.  Glass itself (even when it is perfectly clean without any mineral deposits) can have different surfaces. Over the years I have found that razor blades will either slide across a surface with incredible ease, or drag like you were moving across a hard wooden surface.  Then there is anything in between.  So I have got into the habit of first listening to see if the surface is defective tempered glass.  Henceforth I am NOT going to use the term Fabrication Debris.  Cuz I simply don't know if this is indeed NOT a lie.  Fabricated by very smart minds over many years.  With the best of intentions, and a very noble agenda.  One reason is, because believe it or not, I have also come across very rough annealed glass that did produce scratches.  Which were only visible in the direct sunlight at just the right angle. These did come out with a light polish using cerium oxide slow.  I have also developed the habit of feeling clean dry surfaces with a dry fingertip.  Another favorite tool has been a simple penny. Lightly dragging it across a clean dry surface will produce a sound.  It will even drag at certain points revealing the glass has patchy areas of roughness. Next I might use pure water on a clean paper towel and wet the entire window.  First I will clean the window and wipe the edges.  This will show up the "chemistry" of the surface.  If there are any invisible chemical contaminants present this will show them up. A much more definitive test using water is to cold steam the surface so that you create microdroplets or a fog.  If you look at any fogged glass surface with a 30 power hand held lighted microscope you will see the microdroplets. These will form a pattern on the glass showing very precisely how "clean" it is.

I was talking to a fellow Window Cleaner a month ago who works in my area and made the point that not all glass is the same.  Then before I even started to explain myself he said absolutely!  He has been doing this work for 10 to 15 years and has experienced firsthand exactly what I was referring to. I know we all have talked about the "old" glass.  It is usually very hydrophobic.  No sealants.  Feels super smooth to the touch.  Razor blades just glide across it with extreme ease.  I mean it is just a beautiful surface.  One hundred years later! Now how is it that brand new glass is coming out so different? Another interesting point about tempered glass.  We are always talking about defective surfaces regarding this glass.  But it is possible to find tempered surfaces that are as I put it really "tight"!  Super smooth to the fingertip or the razors edge.  I can ask the same exact question regarding these wonderful surfaces as I do regarding the wonderfully smooth surfaces of some very old glass;...WHY!

Obviously something is afoot here that wasn't so much a hundred years ago.  Also there is something going on in the factories today that either no one knows about, or are very reluctant to let us in on.  I do believe that whatever it is we can figure it out.  This is a material world.  Not talking about mad Donna here.  We have a good understanding of chemistry.  We know about physics.  We can "see" individual atoms and watch as they blink on and off.  We have transmitting electron microscopes to show us nano surfaces using electron waves.  So I propose this.  I do believe Paul Duffer, Paul West, and the IWCA will indeed get to the bottom of it all in time.  Waiting for the end of summer people.  There are several basic reasons why glass surfaces today and yesterday can be very different from one another.  Also, these reasons can be explained using chemistry and physics.  So while I certainly don't have your bux, knowledge, or contacts, I will just sit here, wait, watch, and write.  HAVE AT IT GUYS!!!

Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com
Publishing the Product Development Review
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