As a big fan of up-cycling there are lots of great ways to use those old bottles rather than just lob them into landfill or get them ground up to be made into yet more bottles!
You can make pretty much anything from lamps to glasses to candles and more, the skies the limit, or rather your imagination is.
What Are The Best Glass Bottle Cutters?
The best glass bottle cutters are cutting jigs. A glass bottle cutting jig will provide cleaner cuts, more safety, and less chance of breakage than using other methods. The best jigs for bottle cutting are:
- Fixm Square & Round Bottle Cutting Machine
- The Kinkajou Bottle Cutting Jig
- The Diamond Tech G2 bottle cutter
By using these specialized jigs you can create a range of cool items you can be proud of as opposed to a dusty box of old bottles.
If you carefully cut the top section off a wine bottle you can have yourself a trendy, funky cocktail glass.
If you take a beer bottle and cut it in half you can make yourself a cool beer glass. Imagine making glasses from beer bottles? Cool!
What about candles? If you like a drop of the old vino and you are wondering what to do with the empties, why not cut the bottom third off and make a nice scented candle?
If you are careful you can turn wine bottles into glasses and candles!
What about the rest of the bottle? Simply upend it and pop in a light fixture and you have yourself a nice lamp too!
The best way to cut glass bottles is with a bottle cutting jig
Fixm Glass Bottle Cutter
The Fixm cutting jig is a more traditional table top version where you place the bottle into the jig and manually roll the bottle scoring the side as you roll.
This cutting jig has just been upgraded to allow the cutting of square bottles too as well as round. This is a very big step as it will allow you to cut those square bottles far easier than before. Another key point to note is that it does not cost more than the regular model making it ideal.
It’s a bit more tricky to set up as you need to use the Allen key to correctly align the bottle into the guides and scoring blade before you can do the job. After a few tries, this will become second nature and you will be churning out those glasses, candles, and other nifty projects by the bucketload.
The jig itself is made up of durable metal parts that are fully adjustable to a variety of bottle widths and lengths.
I really like this one and feel it’s one of, if not the best way to cut glass bottles. It’s so easy to use you will find your mind wandering to your other bottle cutting ideas. Just stay focused though until you are finished
The Kinkajou Bottle Cutter
It has a triple lever system that can accommodate bottle diameters of 43mm right up to 103mm. This flexibility allows you to get creative with your bottle cutting projects using a wide array of bottles and jars at your disposal.
It’s a fairly easy tool to use and with practice, you can whip the top or bottom off of a bottle and have it sanded and clean ready to go in as little as 15 minutes.
As the jig clamps onto the bottle it does not do so well with bottles that have any raised or molded patterns on them but if you are just using it for regular smooth bottles then you will be fine with this nice tidy little unit.
One point of note is the 3-way clamps. As you can adjust them just make sure you have done so evenly and that you have allowed a little room for the clamps to be engaged. You will find that if you have not done so the fit will be too tight and you will not be able to move the unit around to score the bottle and may in some cases put too much pressure on the bottle causing it to break.
This is a handheld cutter as opposed to a desk or table mounted glass cutter, this can be quite handy if you are short of space or you don’t want a bulkier glass bottle cutting jig preferring something compact.
Creative also offers a 90 day money back guarantee on this product which is awesome. As you are fully covered for the first 3 months while you get the hang of using it.
The Diamond Tech G2 bottle cutter
This bottle cutting jig is also a handheld one. But rather than clamping it onto the bottle you stand the bottle on the table and place the jig onto it with the plastic guide going into the bottle opening. You then rotate the bottle and jig together scoring around the outside.
At first sight, this looks to be quite a fiddly process. But if you set up the guides correctly this cannot be further from the truth. In no time at all, you will find yourself chopping those bottles like crazy.
The jig has a few clamps allowing you to cut at varying heights and widths to suit you. With regards to versatility, I feel this is the one to beat as the sheer range of bottles you can cut with this is staggering. Imagine chopping the bottom off a massive demijohn and making a mini secret garden to place inside it, using bonsai and other miniature plants and models. Nice!
In conclusion
All 3 of the jigs reviewed have their merits. It’s hard for me to recommend one over the others as they are in my mind the best glass bottle cutters I have seen out there and whichever one you choose to get you will not only make some really cool and funky items but you will have a lot of fun along the way.
If you prefer to cut glass the old way then take a look at this article designed to give you the best idea about which glass cutting tool is right for you.
I hope I can inspire you to make some great things for yourself and others while reducing the amount of rubbish we would usually toss away.