Why is glass shelving so dear?

[pippip]

can your local glass supplier toughen glass?

pip

[George]

you would have thought it would be cheap being a very common commodity to produce.

Bah! humbugs

[Andy Hall]

Three reasons:

- It's normally toughened

- The edges are normally smoothed/machined to avoid cuts

- People are willing to pay the asking price

[Peter Andrews]

Where are you buying it from B&Q? Try your local glass supplier, cut to size, edged and toughened, not that expensive in my experience.

Peter

[Andy Hall]

Usually they can get it done.

Generally the procedure is that either the local glazier cuts and machines the glass and then sends it to a a firm with the equipment to toughen it, or they simply order it from a firm able to produce the toughened glass in the first place.

[Steve Firth]

He can certainly give it a good talking to and recomment that it pull itself together.

[Graham.]

And if it answers back, it will get a stretch in the Glasshouse.

[meow2222]

Would laminated glass be workable? Weaker but safe in breakage, and much less cost.

NT

[Andy Hall]

You sure? I thought that it was rather more expensive....

[Malcolm Race]

I had to get a piece for a chill cabinet in a shop where I work as a handyman. The local glass supplier said thay toughened galss was enough as rge toughening process polised the edges. I went with this and while the edges were not bevelled, they had the sharp corners removed and were perfectly acceptable for a shelf in a chillir cabinet. for a piece about 1000 x 300mm this cut the cost by about one third compared with bevelled & toughened (to about £25).

Malcolm

[Andy Dingley]

Laminated is expensive if you want the edges finished on it. It's also usually _much_ more expensive and slow to deliver, as few places cut it on-site. If they're a laminated specialist, it's comparable.