Note: To those of you that have read the Wiki guide on glass making... ignore it. That guide is roughly 20 times longer than it needs to be, and is filled to the brim of useless and unnecessary information. It took me a while to sort through all the gumph, but when I did, the result was a mere nine lines of handwriting on a rather small notepad. You do not need to know any special information about the bench you are using. I have used many, and have found the same basic rules and methods work for them all. So, here is my condensed and *useful* guide on glass making for beginners.
You can make the following items on a Glazier's Bench:
All items will use 1 glass to produce. The time required to make the items varies, but is noted on the bench's menu.
To make 1db of glass you will need:
You will then need access to a kettle, although I would recommend using as many as you can at once. The recipe for Potash is 5 Ash and 25 Water. You will also need 29 Wood per kettle (for stoking). Click on the Potash button, and then Begin. Then follow this method:
~Toonix
Actually you can make potash with 28 wood per kettle, start with 3 wood, when it hits zero stoke it max until the water level reaches 1. At zero wood it will burn off the last water. This process completes 1 minute faster than the above method.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once you have Limestone, you need to burn it in a Bonfire to make it into Lime. Some simple recipes
A Glazier's Bench uses Charcoal, so have plenty with you before you start. The first thing you must do is get the bench to a temperature that can melt raw materials into glass. If you are making Normal Glass, this temperature needs to be above 3200. If you are making Fine Glass the temperature needs to be above 4400. For the purposes of this guide, we will assume you are making Normal Glass items.
To get the bench started, add 2 Charcoal. Watch the temperature bar carefully. As soon as you see the temperature rise, add 2 Charcoal again. Repeat this until you have used 8 Charcoal (in other words, added 4 times). Now sit back and wait. The temperature will rise slowly at first, but after a minute or two, it will jump up above 3200. When this happens, add the raw materials to the bench.
Note: If you are making Fine Glass, simply continue to add until you have used 10 Charcoal.
The raw materials will instantly be made into Melted Glass. However, the bench is too hot to begin making anything yet. You must wait for the bench to reach its operating temperature. Simply watch the temperature bar and wait for it to drop. The operating temperature for making any items (Normal and Fine Glass) is between 1600 and 2400. As soon as the temperature hits 2400 or below, click the item you would like to make. A timer will appear on the bottom bar and count down as the item is made.
Note: You must have at least 20db glass in a bench before you can make anything. You may never use the last 19db of glass. The only way to clear it is to choose to clear all glass out of the bench, but this is a terrible waste of resources. For this reason, most people build two Glazier's Benches - One for Normal Glass, the other for Fine Glass.
You job is now to stop the temperature leaving the operating range of 1600 to 2400. This is accomplished by adding Charcoal at the right moment. As soon as the bench goes below 2300, add 2 Charcoal. The temperature will again begin to rise slowly. Soon the temperature rise will stop, and hold constant for a short time. It will then drop by a large amount. As soon as it does this, add another 2 Charcoal. Repeat every time the temperature drops. This method will allow you to keep the bench at its operating temperature for enough time to produce between 2-4 items, depending on what you make.
However, the temperature drops will always be slightly larger then the temperature gained by adding Charcoal. The result is a steady decline in temperature, until the bench falls below 1600. To prevent losing your current item, you have to watch the temperature very carefully.
When you notice the temperature drop to around 1700, add another 2 Charcoal as normal, and finish the item you are currently working on. Wait for the next temperature drop, and add 2 Charcoal. As soon as you see the temperature rise, add another 2 Charcoal. Now you must wait. After around two minutes, the temperature will spike at above 2400. Wait until it has dropped to 2400 or below, and resume your glass making using the above method for temperature control.
Note: If the temperature of the bench goes below 1600 or above 2400 while you are making an item, the item will be destroyed and you will lose 1 Glass.
This item is slightly different than the other glass products. It uses a seperate skill to make called Sheet Glass Fabrication. Whether you succeed or fail to make Sheet Glass is based on your skill level, and works in a similar way to Stone Blades. The higher your skill, the less you fail. At 7/7 skill, you wont ever fail. However, unlike Stone Blades, you gain in this skill by failing to make sheet glass, instead of succeeding. Because of this, it can take a long time to reach 7/7
And there you have it... glass making. Yes this guide is quite long, but that is only because I chose to explain everything step-by-step, simply and easily. Its certainly a lot easier to understand than the gumph on the Wiki. Have fun!