# Whittling



## deepwoods (Aug 19, 2004)

Heres a generel question for all ye bottle folk - How much of an age indicator is whittled  glass? It seems to me that MOST of the very whittled bottles that Ive seen fall into the    mid-1800s to around 70,80 range. Anybody have a rule of thumb,and or,explanation for this?


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## diggerjeff (Aug 19, 2004)

when glass whas blown in a mold that had not come up to temperature ,maby the first few blown in a mold for that day, sometimes it would cause this effect as the outer layer cooled too quickly. you wont find this in abm bottles.


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## IRISH (Aug 20, 2004)

The glass being too cool caused heavy Whittling as well as what Diggerjeff posted,  I have seen a few machine made bottles with whittling but it's not as common as with the older bottles.


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## monalisa (Sep 4, 2006)

Hi, Can "whittling" be caused by the wood mold/mould? In other words, taking the outer shape & feel of the wood mold?? Thanks in advance, Mike in Maine


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## tombstone (Sep 4, 2006)

wood couldn't withstand the heat of molten glass.  Wooden molds is probably a myth introduced by people ignorant of the process.


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## monalisa (Sep 4, 2006)

Always willing to learn something......................Thanx Tombstone


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## GuntherHess (Sep 4, 2006)

> wood couldn't withstand the heat of molten glass. Wooden molds is probably a myth introduced by people ignorant of the process.


 
 Not a myth, wood molds were used.

Although wooden molds were extensively used in the very early days (pre-1800 up until the 1830s) of glass blowing and continued to be used for some applications until the early 20th century, including for the block in free-blowing, wood had too short of a life span to be of much use for most industrial bottle making where the temperature of molten glass was 2000Â°F and wood burns at about 1/4th that temperature (Whitall Tatum 1880; Toulouse 1966; Lohmann 1972).  It is believed impossible to visually determine that a bottle was blown in a wooden mold since these type of molds had to be kept very wet in order to avoid premature burn-out or even ignition when the hot glass hit the wood.  Due to the water, steam was formed in the mold creating a cushion that the bottle "rode" on between the glass and the mold surface.  This would not leave any trace of the mold surface texture and would likely preclude embossing on the bottle.  When used, wooden molds were often lined with clay, coal, pitch, and other materials to try to extend the life.  All were poor substitutes for metal molds (Atwater 1893; Toulouse 1966; Kendrick 1968; Lohmann 1972; Munsey 1970; Deiss pers. comm. 2005).

from 
http://www.blm.gov/historic_bottles/body.htm

 Of course "whittle marks" have nothign to do with wood molds.
 From the same site.
Whittle marks are a very descriptive term for a bottle body feature that almost never has anything whatsoever to do with its name.  The term "whittled" or "whittle marked" is a reference to a hammered or wavy surface to the glass that one could imagine was caused by the "whittled" marks of the mold maker on the inside surface of a wooden mold.  Early 19th century glass makers called this effect "ruffled glass" while later it was referred to as a "hammered look" (Toulouse 1966,


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## monalisa (Sep 5, 2006)

Hey all,

 Wow lots of great info. I was looking for the article which I read a long while ago, it was almost the same as the article posted......Thanx for the info.......learn something new everyday.......!I love this stuff~~


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