How to install glass in a cabinet door without breaking the glass

[dennis thompson]

I am making a display cabinet. The doors will have a glass panel to allow you to see inside. The instructions show a "glass stop molding" which is put in place behind the glass with brads. I'm concerned that I'll break the glass when installing the brads. Any suggestions how to do this without breaking the glass? Should I use my air powered brad nailer? a hammer?
Thanks
Dennis

[Robert Chapman]

Instead of the molding I use a small bead of silicone to hold the glass in the door. Learned this from a local glass installer. Works great.

[Larry Schwenk]

Do you have to use glass? There are a lot of options to chose from.

If so, did you try those little push clips you find on the back of picture frames? Since the frame supports the weight of the glass, you just need a secure device to hold it in place; putting two in each edge would be plenty secure.

Also, to keep the glass from moving you might also want to put little bits of those sticky cork pieces on the edge; make for a quiet opening/closing.

[Dell Littlefield]

I have a small inexpensive tool called a brad pusher. It is shaped like a screwdriver with a round bit. As the brad is pushed in, the outer shell retracts to allow the brad to be fully seated. Works great on soft woods and pretty good on harder surfaces.

http://www.amazon.com/Crown-110XW-Brad-Pusher/dp/B001C04FYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1269261392&sr=8-1

[Lee Schierer]

If any of your brads hit the glass going in it will break the glass. You need to insure they are driven at an angle away from the edge of the glass. Personally I like the plastic glass retention molding instead of silicone as it is easier to replace the glass should it ever break if you use the press in molding.
http://woodworker.com/images/ss/152-393.jpg

[Robert Parrish]

I use quarter round stop molding with small amounts of silicone. This makes it easier to replace the glass if you have to.

[Rob Fisher]

I'm with Lee on this one. The friction fit plastic/rubber molding is completely the way to go. It also help reduce the "glass rattle" noise.

Rob

[dennis thompson]

Lee
Where do you get the glass retention molding? I looked at Rockler & they don't seem to have it.
Dennis

[Wesley Roberts]

I concur with Robert Chapman's solution. In remodeling the kitchen which included the cabinets, I use seeded glass in the top cabinets and installed the glass using clear silicone caulk. It is not obtrusive and is not visible from the outside. Further, it has the advantage of preventing the glass from rattling in the frame. Good luck!

[Lee Schierer]

Lee
Where do you get the glass retention molding? I looked at Rockler & they don't seem to have it.
Dennis

Try Woodworker Supply, they have it.

[Karl Brogger]

Instead of the molding I use a small bead of silicone to hold the glass in the door. Learned this from a local glass installer. Works great.

Bingo. Easiest, fastest, cheapest way to do it.

[Brian Hughner]

My local (Rochester, NY) Woodcraft carries the clear and the brown retention molding. I believe it comes in 10' lengths. I've used this on a couple of beveled glass display cases and it works great. Highly recommended.

[Frank Drew]

I don't think installing wood glass retention molding is all that risky; just aim your brads at wood, not glass.

For period work, plastic wouldn't be appropriate and I'd use either wood or colored painter's putty (perhaps subbed out to a glass installer).

[Ed Boyland]

You can purchase rubber molding from SOMMERFELD'S TOOLS. check there web site out. Sommerfeldtool.com

[Jamie Buxton]

This is all a matter of taste, but my take is that the rubber molding and the silicone look cheap. I use the molding on doors where I know the back will never be seen, like a sliding closet door. But otherwise I use wood.

Brads do work. Look for ones called escutcheon pins. They're generally brass, with small round heads. They're sold in a variety of lengths. In hardwood, it is worth drilling a pilot hole, and Dell's pusher tool works well.

Another option is screws. #4 screws work well. You can chamfer the inside edge of the molding to give yourself a nice flat land for the head. Or you can make the molding a little more complex. You can make it have an L-shaped cross-section, so it kinda wraps around the back of the frame, and then you run the screw into the frame well away from the glass.

[Bob Vavricka]

I have used brads to install either square keepers that I make out of the same wood as the door or sometimes I use small quarter round stained to match. I pre-drill the hole in the stop using the same size brad with the head cut off to drill the hole. Then I hammer the brads in the stop prior to setting the stop in place on the door. At that point I either use a brad pusher as mentioned in a previous post or I use a pair of channel lock pliers to press the brad into the door. I either put tape around one of the jaws or use a thin piece of wood on the outside edge of the door to keep from marring the door. If you get the pliers set so they are pressing the brad at a right angle to the brad, they will usually press right in. You can buy picture frame pliers http://www.amazon.com/Peachtree-Woodworking-PICTURE-FRAME-PLIERS/dp/B00153LKU0 to do this, but I have never actually used a pair.

[Ellen Benkin]

I just built a display cabinet and took the doors to the glass place to get glass and have them install it. They gave me a choice of push pins or silicon. I chose the silicon. It doesn't show and it works.

[Frank Drew]

. You can make it have an L-shaped cross-section, so it kinda wraps around the back of the frame, and then you run the screw into the frame well away from the glass.

This is a method I like, a simple profile bolection molding, and I'd chamfer the edge, as you say, to give a nice starting point for the brad or screw.

As you suggest, Jamie, a swinging door will get opened from time to time, and you'd like the inside to look pretty much as good as the outside.

[Joe Kieve]

I built a grandfather clock years ago and used glazer's putty to hold the glass in two doors. I used oil stain and mixed it with the putty to get the same color as the cherry clock and glazed it in just like you would a wooden sash window. It's still in place and looks good after 40 years. Just my 2 cents.

joe

[Mike Henderson]

I like the look of a wood molding behind the glass - silicon caulk or rubber would look cheap. I attach the wood with a 23 gauge pinner. Never broke a piece of glass yet (knock wood).

Mike

[Dave Cav]

Mike beat me to it. Wooden stops and a 23 gauge pinner.

[David DeCristoforo]

I use the method Lee posted except that I make the stops out of wood instead of using plastic. Three pieces can be mitered and inserted full length. The last piece has to be split into two pieces. I use a mitered scarf joint at the center of these two pieces. The "beauty" of this method in that you only need one pin (at the scarf) to keep all of the mouldings in place.

[Bob Vavricka]

I use the method Lee posted except that I make the stops out of wood instead of using plastic. Three pieces can be mitered and inserted full length. The last piece has to be split into two pieces. I use a mitered scarf joint at the center of these two pieces. The "beauty" of this method in that you only need one pin (at the scarf) to keep all of the mouldings in place.
David,
That sound like a slick method--I'll have to try it the next time I do that type of door. Thanks for posting it.

[John Nesmith]

I use quarter round stop molding with small amounts of silicone. This makes it easier to replace the glass if you have to.

I will be facing this issue in the next few weeks. This seems like a reasonable solution. I wonder why it is not used more often. Seems people use silicone alone, or molding secured by brads, but not molding secured by silicone.

[David DeCristoforo]

"I wonder why it (silicone) is not used more often..."

You will find out if you ever need to replace the glass....

[John Nesmith]

"I wonder why it (silicone) is not used more often..."

You will find out if you ever need to replace the glass....

A utility knife would not cut the molding loose?

[Jerome Stanek]

I use a brad hammer it is angled so you slide it against yhe glass and tap in the brads. We had a greenhouse that covered 1.5 acres and thats where I learned how to glaze.

[George Neill]

I use a brad hammer it is angled so you slide it against yhe glass and tap in the brads. We had a greenhouse that covered 1.5 acres and thats where I learned how to glaze.
+1

I even ground a flat on the side of a hammer at about 25* to the handle so I can slide the hammer across the glass and be sure the face rather than the bevel around the face hits the brad.