Glass and Mirrors - Cutting old (very old) glass window panes

I have some very old windows that I bought when an old bldg. was being demolished. The glass is thick and frosted looking and the panes are in heavy metal frames that were used for crank type windows. I want to get them out without breaking them. So far I have tried heat and cutting with a reg glass cutter. No luck. HELP !!!!!

Norma Dean,

First, welcome to DoItYourself.com.

Before you can cut the glass, you'll have to get it out of the steel frame. Glass is cut by scoring it, then bending the pane so that it snaps along the scored line. The steel frame will not allow you to bend the pane of glass. And THICK glass (I'm assuming double strength or thicker) is a lot more difficult to cut and snap smoothly than a pane of single strength.

It may not be salvagable. If you REALLY want to try to save it, you might call a local glass shop and see if one of their pros can help you out. I'm sure that they won't guarantee ANYTHING. And you'ld have to pay them of course. But you may get something out of it going that way. Doing it yourself, I'll pretty much guarantee you that you'll get nothing but a blood drawing.

Why do you want to take this glass out of the metal frames? Is it a really unique type glass that maybe has antique value? If the glass can be purchased, cut-to-size, don't waste your time........buy it.