A glass bottle cutter is an inexpensive item that enables you to turn your used wine, beer, or liquor bottle into a drinking glass, candle holder, flower vase, pendant light, wind chime, and more! We’ve seen glass bottle cutters online and in craft shops and were curious how (and if!) they really work.
Before we share our findings, though, a little bit about the KnowWines blog. We are an Amazon.com affiliate and we do receive a small commission if you purchase items through our affiliate links at no cost to you. The commissions we receive help us pay for web hosting fees, our podcast, products to test, and other costs associated with running this site. Thanks for using our affiliate links and supporting our independent blog!
Best Glass Bottle Cutter
Recently I took a trip to Kansas to work on my farm and hunt for wild mushrooms. After one look at the forecast though, I had to make other plans - there were three days of rain and snow in the forecast. Considering the number of guests coming who’d create empty bottles and forthcoming inclement weather, I did a quick search online and purchased this glass bottle cutter with great reviews and a great how-to video.
The Home Pro Shop Glass Bottle Cutter
I chose this product as it not only included the glass cutter tool (a base with rollers), but it also included the following items:
120 CW sandpaper
a handheld glass cutter that looks like a knife
a pair of safety gloves
an L shape back brace and screw to adjust the height of the cut on the glass bottle
The glass cutter kit showed up quickly. It was in a cardboard box and all described items were present and accounted for.
How to Cut A Wine Bottle
My fellow house guests delivered on generating empty bottles. We washed and rinsed the accumulated bottles when we did our dishes. Then we started crafting. The instructions included with the wine bottle cutter were straightforward, however, we found this video to be especially helpful.
While we are experienced at home improvement, we found the process straightforward enough to manage even for someone who is a novice with tools or who hasn’t done many DIY projects.
In addition to the wine bottle cutter kit, you will need a pan of boiling water—or tea kettle of water over 200 F (88 C)—and a sink filled with cold water.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the steps:
Place the bottle over the rollers.
Adjust the L back brace to adjust where your cut will be on the wine bottle.
Apply pressure and rotate the wine bottle until a line is scored in the glass.
Pour boiling water on the scored line.
Pour cold water on the scored line.
Alternate the boiling and cold water treatment over the scored line until the wine bottle neck separates from the base.
Use sandpaper to smooth the rough edges.
As a number of reviewers online state, you may need to practice with a couple of bottles. We recommend practicing on a couple of empty beer bomber bottles. By the time we cut our third bottle, we felt very confident.
Since every bottle will not yield a perfect cut, we did not expend energy in removing the wine or spirits label from the wine bottle until we had a collection of cut wine bottles that we liked.
How to Cut Many Wine Bottles With a Wine Bottle Cutter
If you want to take your wine bottle cutting to the next level—let’s say you are a candlemaker and want to make a dozen or more cut wine bottles and then fill them with candle wax—you may want to make a few adjustments to the process. First, consider taking the entire process outside, onto a deck or patio. That way if you do drop a wine bottle, the mess is not in your kitchen. Then, consider the following:
Increase the Volume of Boiling Water
If you want to to cut dozens of wine bottles, you may want to invest in an outdoor boiler/steamer for heating the score lines. Try this one by Bayou Classic:
Increase the Volume of Cooling Water
For cooling the score line for many bottles at once, use a large tub like this one—Made in the USA by Homz Plastic Storage Tubs:
Purchase Additional Sandpaper for Cutting Wine Bottles
If you are going to be sanding a lot of cut wine bottles for crafting, you’ll want to get some additional sandpaper. The amount of sandpaper provided in the Home Pro Glass Bottle Cutter Kit won’t be sufficient for dozens of wine bottles.
You’ll need some additional 120 grit Silicon Carbide sandpaper specifically designed for use on hard surfaces (like glass) and that can be used on wet items.
How to Remove a Label From Your Cut Wine Bottle
Now that your cut wine bottle is sanded, you may want to remove the bottle label from the bottle.
Where to Buy Recycled Wine Bottle Glasses
And in case you decide you don’t want to purchase a wine bottle cutter after all and just want to buy a few recycled wine bottled glasses, those can be purchased online.
Our Conclusion on Wine Bottle Cutters
The Home Pro Shop Wine Bottle Cutter is a good DIY bottle cutter if you have several wine bottles to cut.
We highly recommend collecting a few extra bottles to practice with before commencing with your wine bottle cutting. There is some trial and error involved in getting the hang of a wine bottle cutter.
Last, you may not want to invest in a wine bottle cutter, and instead just purchase a few recycled wine bottle glasses if you are needing just a couple wine bottle glasses.
Cheers!