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Interesting. I love glass blowing. Maybe I'll learn about it some day. Borosilicate and aluminosilicate cookware is actually pretty tolerant of chipping, bec

Interesting. I love glass blowing. Maybe I'll learn about it some day. Borosilicate and aluminosilicate cookware is actually pretty tolerant of chipping, because pieces tend to be thoroughly annealed. Tempered soda-lime, on the other hand, is not, so it has tremendous internal stress that makes it much tougher than borosilicate, but once it does chip it's liable to shatter explosively. Like Prince Rupert's drops. Hey, you want to see something cool? You'll appreciate this since you work with the stuff. Go to 2 min 45 sec in the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-f4gokRBs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-f4gokRBs. High speed video of one of these things exploding. Kinda blew my mind.

code_duck 8y ago
PR drops are definitely fun! You can make them easily with a torch, some glass and a bow of water. The problem with chips in a lid is that they will slowly expand over time, likely leaving debris in food. It can also lead to sudden unexpected failure as glass gets much weaker once chipped or scored, especially combined with moisture. I don’t discard lids immediately either, but the manufacturers do suggest it for those reasons. Definitely not like tempered glass, you’re right! Tempered glass is safer in how it break into those little square pieces - much less likely to lacerate than long jagged shards, in many applications (shower doors for instance). I had a tempered safety glass oven door shatter suddenly one day - apparently this happens fairly often?