Chris - I’ve just read Laura’s message about fire-polishing
glass with a torch. While she’s right about being able to do all
this with a torch, I’d just like to second a few things she said.
The success of this method depends on a lot of different
variables: thickness of the glass, annealing method (annealing
glass is not the same as annealing metal - the same word has two
completely different meanings), type of glass, color of glass,
type of flame. If your cabs are old (you said you “collect”, as I
recall), the glass may contain lead, which will likely turn to
grungy gray in a torchfire. I suggest you do a lot of practicing
with the torch before attempting to torch-polish a piece of
glass you care about.
If you have access to a small kiln, none of these variables are an
issue.
Rene