Well now, like I mentioned in another post...it's usually about what
glass you are using. It's not always about so called difficult cuts. I
truly believe that most folks do not challenge themselves enough and
usually end up using the cheap glass...Spectrum, Kokomo, Armstrong. The
beauty of the finished product is not always the design as it is the
glass. With that said, most folks shy away from the herringbones, the
fibroids and most of the real art glass. If you spend the money on an
expensive piece of glass, why waste part of it with having to hand cut
more away just to get the piece out. with a saw, you can go in and
decrease the waste you would normally end up with...then finish cutting
the piece out by hand. Have you ever tried to cut a 2" x 1" crescent
shaped piece out of herringbone...99% of the time the tips will
break...use a saw. Do my saws gather dust, sure they do but they are
there when I need them and knowing that, I can buy expensive glass and
not worry about whether or not I'm going to wast more than half of just
getting one piece cut. Bottom line, learn to cut by hand of course. And
as the Glass Guy said...if you can afford one and want one then buy one
and be happy. It's all good.

Scratch

FlameNwind wrote:
About 6 months ago, I purchased the Taurus III ring saw. Aside from
practicing on it (which it definitely requires) by cutting on numerous types
and thicknesses of glass and attempting every type of cut known to man, I
have used it for practical purposes exactly 0 times. Maybe it is a lack of
imagination on my part, but I really cannot come up with any truly viable
use for it. Maybe, I can see potentially using it for mosaics and for
fusing work as stated by others. I've cut some ceramics and rocks/crystals
with it. That was pretty cool and might be a viable use for a stained glass
artist if you are into adding inclusions in your work.

But, at present, the most positive things I can say about it is that it is a
nice color of red and doesn't eat much. Considering its original cost and
the space that it takes up, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, particularly
someone who is only doing stained glass.