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12 December 2003

How to Cut the Top Off a Bottle

Adapted from A Thousand and One Formulas 1920 by Sidney Gernsback.

Cut a piece of filter or blotting paper in two narrow strips, moisten same and paste around the bottle, each piece of paper parallel to the other, leaving between them a narrow space, marking the place where you want to cut the bottle. Now hold the bottle over the flame of a spirit lamp and turn slowly so that the bare space is heated evenly; after about a minute the glass will break quite clean and will only need to be filed smoothly to take off the sharp edges.