I made a bathroom counter backsplash with a couple pieces of cherry, into
which I routed recesses for hand-made transparent or semi-transparent pieces
of art glass made of recycled glass. I painted the bottoms of the recesses
white, and then set the glass in clear silicone sealer, and finally filled
in around the glass pieces with grout. It looked great when I finished it,
just the visual effect I was after, ... but ...

The backs of the glass pieces are irregular. What happened after the
silicone cured was that in the deeper recesses on the back of the glass the
silicone turned sort of brown, and no longer presents a nice white
background. So I'm going to cut the whole works up and grind the grout off
the glass pieces and start the whole project over.

What I need to do is get the silicone sealer off the backs of the glass
pieces, particularly down in the recesses. What I'd like to do is find some
process that will let me get the silicone sealer off with a minimum amount
of work, and the minimum amount of damage to the glass (I intend to re-use
the glass). What does the wisdom of the wreck offer to ease this task?

I'm thinking heat, maybe, or some chemical treatment that will soften the
silicone sealer so that it doesn't hang on like grim death and require
picking it out of the back of the glass with dental picks. But I don't know
what it would respond to, if anything. So help me out here, folks.

Too late, by the way, to beat me up by telling me that I never should have
done it this way. I've already figured that part out. And my politics didn't
have anything to do with it either.

Thanks for any help you would like to offer.

Tom

On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:41:34 -0800, "Tom Dacon"
wrote:



What I need to do is get the silicone sealer off the backs of the glass
pieces, particularly down in the recesses. What I'd like to do is find some
process that will let me get the silicone sealer off with a minimum amount
of work, and the minimum amount of damage to the glass (I intend to re-use
the glass). What does the wisdom of the wreck offer to ease this task?


Take a look at this. There are products to do it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ7x6Lcml1Y

On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:46:58 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:41:34 -0800, "Tom Dacon"
wrote:



What I need to do is get the silicone sealer off the backs of the glass
pieces, particularly down in the recesses. What I'd like to do is find some
process that will let me get the silicone sealer off with a minimum amount
of work, and the minimum amount of damage to the glass (I intend to re-use
the glass). What does the wisdom of the wreck offer to ease this task?


Take a look at this. There are products to do it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ7x6Lcml1Y

That led me to this silicone remover video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JZUK...eature=related

Interestingly enough, this video was linked on that second page. g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xElIik0Ys0

--
Progress is the product of human agency. Things get better because
we make them better. Things go wrong when we get too comfortable,
when we fail to take risks or seize opportunities.
-- Susan Rice

Thanks for the tips, Ed and Larry. I'll give it try and see how it goes.

Tom