Curio glass temper or not?

[paul dyar]

I am building corner curio for greatgrand daughter should I have glass tempered?

[Jim Becker]

Personally...I would. Tempering doesn't guard against breakage for sure, but if it happens, it should be a little less dangerous for your great granddaughter.

[John TenEyck]

Not required, but certainly a good idea. Another option, and often cheaper, is to use laminated glass. The cost of tempering is pretty low but the shipping costs are awful, at least from the companies I've bought it from. Laminated glass can be fabricated by your local glass shop.

John

[Brian Holcombe]

Would acrylic work? I’ve stopped using glass for framing and have moved onto acrylic it’s practically impercivable from glass. Might work nicely here.

[Geoff Crimmins]

I don't think is essential, but it wouldn't be a bad idea since it would make the glass harder to break, and it would be less dangerous if it does break. If you decide to go with tempered glass, be sure to order it before you need it. Since tempered glass can't be cut, my local glass shop has to order it cut to size from the manufacturer, which takes a couple of weeks. It's possible that the lead time would be less in a big city, but I don't know for sure.

--Geoff

[Bill Carey]

I would use tempered glass. When we bought our new house it came with a lot of the furniture from the estate, including 3 very old, beautiful display cabinets. They have the old wavy glass which we love. But when the grand kids and great grand kids are over, we are constantly vigilant about where the little ones are, and we even bought some shoji screens to put in front of the cabinets. It's worrisome. If I were building new I would use tempered glass, (or, as John suggested, laminated glass.)

[Dan Hahr]

Glass is expensive enough before you start tempering and laminating it up. I think glass panes in a curio cabinet are surely less dangerous than the giant panes in the windows throughout the house...

Dan

[Bill Carey]

per code (most places I've worked) if the glass in a door or window is within 18" of the floor it has to be tempered. But then I've never pulled a permit for any of my builds.

[Mike Cutler]

Yes, use tempered glass.

I have a few boxes of tempered glass panes in my garage loft that were once part of an all glass modular store display case. If you would like some, and the pane dimensions are compatible, shoot me a message, and they're yours for shipping/postage.
I will probably never use them all. They have been up there for 25 years and I've never used them. Wait, I did use one for the scary sharp method of plane and chisel sharpening.
Almost tossed them all, a few months back.