[TheForge] Glass and Steel

[Peter Hirst]

Does anyone have experience with glass table tops?  I have available to me a virtually unlimited supply of 1/4  glass up to almost 48 x 96, both tempered and plate.  I am looking for technical information on using such glass for table tops.   Quarter inch seems thin to me, but a couple of things have encouraged me.  First, when I was a kid, we had a porch dining table of (machine) forged iron with a glass 1/4" top that was supported only at its edge.  This was about 36 x72.  Second, a friend of mine has a dozen or so 48x 96 panels 3/16 thick that he removed from a skylight application, the strength of which he demonstrated to me by walking across a single sheet supported only at its long edges.  Of course, the thing is tempered, so you tap it with a hammer and it explodes into a pile of marbles, but the initial strength is impressive.  I have found some 1/4 inch thick table tops online up to 48" diameter rounds, but not with enough techinical information to give me confidence to build a table for sale from such material.  Anyone out there into incorporating glass in furniture?

Peter Hirst
Keziah's Forge