The Glazier's Bench is used to make various glass products, such as glass rods and sheet glass. It runs on charcoal.
Consult the Glassmaking article for detailed strategies for using a Glazier's Bench.
Built: in a compound, uses 11x17 cells
Skill/Tech required: Glassblowing
Glazier's Benches use charcoal as fuel, and in order to melt and shape glass the bench must be heated by adding charcoal. While using the bench, the window will display the current temperature, as well as options to add 2, 6, or 12 charcoal.
Adding charcoal causes the temperature to increase over a period of about a minute -- the more charcoal added, the greater the increase. This is followed by another minute or so where the temperature stays constant, followed by a gradual cooling.
If charcoal is added while the bench is still in the "heating-up" phase from the last charcoal addition, this will trigger a dramatic spike in temperature. This can be a useful way to heat the bench quickly to its desired temperature. However, it is disastrous if it happens while creating an item (when the temperature must be kept within a certain range), as the spike in temperature will almost definitely ruin the item. Keeping the bench's temperature constant demands careful timing between charcoal additions.
Left alone, a bench will eventually begin cooling until its temperature returns to zero. It is not possible to speed up this cooling process. Items made on a bench cannot be taken out until the bench completely cools.
A more detailed model of glazier bench response may be found at Details
A Glazier's Bench has a reservoir that can contain up to 50 deben of molten glass. It must contain at least 20 in order to craft an item from that glass, regardless of how much the item will actually consume. This means that 19 deben of glass will never be used. Fortunately, unused molten glass normally stays in the bench between uses, even after cooling, so it is not necessary to fill the reservoir from scratch every time.
An individual bench can only contain one type of glass (soda, normal, or fine) at a time. If you want to use a bench for a different type of glass, you must deliberately empty the reservoir and start over. Since this is so wasteful, it's generally more economical to build an additional Glazier's Bench for the new glass type instead.
There are three types of glass:
| Glass Type | Melting Point | Working Temp | Ingredients |
| Soda Glass | 3200° | 1600–2400° | 1 Lime, 2 Soda, 10 Sand |
| Normal Glass | 3200° | 1600–2400° | 1 Lime, 2 Potash, 10 Sand |
| Jewel Glass | 4400° | 1600–2400° | 1 Lime, 2 Potash, 10 White Sand |
One of these combinations is heated to high temperature to produce melted glass of the desired type. The melted glass can later be formed to the various end products. It takes 1 deben of glass to create 1 item, except where noted otherwise.
Items that can be produced using soda glass:
Items that can be produced using normal glass:
Items that can be produced using jewel glass:
Making a Mirror can be done in any glazier bench. It doesnt matter what type of glass is smelted in it, or how much of it. The bench has to be heated above 5000 degrees. To make a mirror you must have 200 Silver Powder and 1 Sheet Glass in your inventory. Sheetglasses in the bench do not count so you ahve to let the bench cooldown and take the sheet glass out before making a mirror.
More discussion and operation details may be found in the Glassmaking guide.