CIM Shocky?
 

Does anyone else find CIM to be more shocky than other 104's? I am having a heck of a time with Fiddlehead green. It keeps shattering and breaking off in chunks!

Not in general, no, but specific rods of whatever colour and manufacturer can always be different! Try looking at the end and see if it has airholes running through it? Though I don't usually get that with CiM's rods at all.

Some colours or rods need putting back in the flame a bit more slowly, or they can shock off just above the part you'd previously heated. I get that with all manufacturers though.

You can't paint a whole brand of glass with one characteristic, so no - CiM as a whole is not any more shocky than any other brand of 104 coe glass.

As a tester for CiM glass, what I can tell you is that some of their opaques - greens more than any other in my experience, can be shocky. The darker, more saturated greens and teals have had some tendency to shock, but that's pretty much par for the course in many opaque greens across the brands, in my experience. The lighter opaques don't have any shocky issues that I can recall. Transparents haven't been shocky at all.

Once I had a rod of Mermaid shock like crazy, but the rest of the batch was fine! :)

I've had good luck preheating the ends of shocky rods of any brand in the kiln for a few minutes before using them. Or, I just introduce them to the flame really slowly.

I hope this helps!

Try adjusting your fire the glass may need more or less oxygen.

My understanding is that all CIM colors are handpulled. That might be why you're finding them shockier (can we invent this word?)
My experience is different from Kandice's, I recently used Linen and Dried Sage, both pale greens, and they were nasty shocky. I even got burned twice by flying bits, which had not happened to me in a few years.
All in all, I don't find them more shocky, just as shocky as other brands. If we're going to talk about brands, Devardi beats them all.

I was smacked in the lip and hand and arm yesterday by Effetere gray. Sometimes I think the rod got banged around more than anything. Or like when it gets dropped into the pvc pipe. I haven't found CIM any shockier actually. It's just a crap shoot.

I agree with the others - CiM is not shockier than glass from other manufacturers. Most of the time for me with CiM, when I come across a really shocky rod, it has one or two friends in my stash but the rest of it is fine.

I did have one experience, though, where the entire pound of Khaki that I had bought was a self-fritting disaster, and when I told Kathy at CiM about it, she replaced it for me. She cares deeply about the quality of her product and our experience using it, so if your problem is really dire and seems to be throughout the rods that you bought, maybe let her know.

I find all 104 greens to be a little suspect! Nile was the worst for me for a while, but I'm never sure how a new rod of almost any green will work out.

I don't have Fiddlehead, but I've been pleased with Iguana and Kermit. It seems the newer ones are not that bad. Except for Celadon.

Celadon is my current nightmare. I have not managed to even make one bead from this color yet. I pick the chunks up off my worktable and try to melt those and they shock as well. Horrible, and such a pretty color too. I don't have a way to preheat, so I'll really have to try again with a low flame when I have the time.

Wow. I have not had that experience with Celadon! My batch is very old though. It is a color I love.

I once had a batch of Canyon de Chey that was very unstable. Kathy didn't want to replace it so I had to sell it with a disclaimer on it.

Great, I just ordered Celedon to try out. My last order of Dirty Martini is shockier than sh**! It freaked me out a bit so it went back into the drawer and I haven't touched it since.

So sorry Carol! Hope it works out better for you, I didn't try another rod of it so it might just be the one in the bundle that decided to act up. I was too freaked out as well, lol.

I've had that problem with Celadon off and on--the latest batch is VERY shocky. I can use it by preheating the end in the kiln, but that's all I get, it pops off at the temperature line. Just hope the next batch is better.

Another way to deal with shocky glass is to heat it with just your propane flame first and then slowly add in your oxygen. Paula

The worst one of all glass I've tried and it's even beats Effetre Anice, is Effetre Sage Green. Ihave better luck with the Avocado.

I was going to start a new thread about this, but saw this one so I will add that I just got some of the new CIM heartthrob, and it should be called "heart shock"! I know how to deal with shocky glass, but this one was just awful. I ended up tossing the rod into the bin and am afraid to use any more of it.
VERY disappointed and feeling ripped. It's a nice red too, as I got some of it to make a bead, but it just popped all over the place. I have found CIM to be the one that is most shocky, in my experience. And there was a honey something or other by Effetre that shocked, but I could tame that.
I must get the bad boys

Gellys sty - frit on a stick!

The worst shocky glass ever is Anice! And the first time i ever picked up a rod of glass to make beads it was anice :lol:

Sounds like the recent stock is shockier than old batches. The stuff I have had the worst problems with are the usual suspects from Effetre, and then the old Vetro odd lots. I have never worked up the nerve to try my Anice White!

Beadskadoo, Honey Crunch. I think that was Vetro? I love it though, so I baby it along.

I have some kind of dark blue transparent effetre special color that just chunks off in 1/4" perfectly fractured sections. I have not been able to do anything to it to make it better. It sucks a$$. Blue Ivory? Shoot, I can't really remember which one it was.

I find CIM shocky - fiddlehead green specially. I find if I sit them on top of my kiln on the rod warmer they aren't as bad.

I get the odd rod of shocky CiM, but it is rare to have that problem with CiM for more than a few rods in any given batch. The very worst shockiness problems I have had were with Effetre Anise White and Vetrofond Honey Crunch. Those colours are virtually unusable for people without saintly patience. Every single rod, fritplosion city.

By comparison, even the very shockiest CiM experience I have ever had (which was a whole pound of pretty unusable Khaki) was a total picnic.

Effetre dark pink. I actually just clean my work table before I use it and let it pop off into frit. I pick up the pieces, mash it up to get rid of any air bubbles, and pull it into thick stringers (or narrow rods, depending on how you look at it.). It's the only way I can get it to a usable form.

The same thing happened with Calico for me, Lori. When I'd gone through two thirds of the rod without making a single bead, I put all the chunks in a metal tray in the kiln. Then picked them up with the melted end of a rod. That rod was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen but I did get to make some spacers. Trouble is, I LOVE those spacers. Now am I prepared to buy more calico? I honestly don't know 😳
Caitie

Yep, Effetre Dark Pink, Opal Yellow (especially when it has holes) and Sage Green. Sometimes Copper Green, too. Seems Effetre can't handpull anything without catching a bunch of air holes. All of those are terribly shocky. Yikes!

I've only been making beads for about a year but, one of the first things I was told is that CIM glass tends to shock easier. But, I never noticed a true difference between CIM and any other glass. I agree with the others in that it seems to be more by the individual color.

Any form of Goldstone tends to crumble for me, no matter what I do.

I've found that the easiest way to remedy a shocky color is to preheat the rod, if you can.

I agree with the others, in general CIM is no worse than any of the other manufacturers for shockiness.

But Fiddlehead, OMG, it's definitely up there as frit on a stick! It's shocking (pun intended! ;) ).

Kristin - got my batch of Celedon, not that shocky thankfully!

Eff Mint Green is pretty wicked too.

Good! The rod I was using was a thick one, so maybe I'll get lucky with the rest :)

Looks like Fiddlehead was one of the greens I missed - sounds like a good thing! I am a pushover for any green.