There's glass, and there's CURVET glass Return to home page     Glass is a substance that was first made and used before 2000 BC. Glass is produced by fusing silica (sand) at extremely high temperatures along with borate or phosphate additives. Glass is not a solid or a liquid. It remains in a vitreous (glassy) state due to the cohesive nature of its molecular structure, a state in which the molecules stick together but do not bond. Glass can be reheated to return it to a liquid  or plastic like state. Float glass as it is used in our furniture division is produced by floating large flat sheets of molten silica  to the desired thickness, and then slowly cooling it to an annealed glass state. Annealing glass is a process in which glass is heat formed or bent and then  cooled very slowly to relieve the stress that results from formation. Annealed glass or plate glass is popular in the furnishings industry due to its machining, drilling, edging and polishing possibilities as well as its remarkable resistance to oil and dirt penetration. Annealed glass is considered to be softer than tempered glass and is slightly more susceptible to surface scratches or chipped edges than tempered glass.  Note that the windsheild of your car is produced with annealed glass on the outside, tempered glass on the inside and a plastic material between to keep the glass together when breakage occurs. This alone is a testement to the durability of annealed glass. Tempered  glass is created by a process that  strengthens the surface of the glass by heating the glass to a soft state and then rapidly cooling it. Tempered glass is also called safety glass because of the tight pattern in which it breaks. Tempered glass is most often used in building projects where saftey is the main concern- this does not mean that tempered glass is neccesarily better, only that when it breaks it breaks in a "safer" tight pattern. Tempered glass is particularly susceptible to breakage when hit on the edge, this is why we hesitate to recommend tempered glass over annealed for countertop, table top and table base applications.  Chemical Strengthening is an ion exchange process in which the surface of the glass becomes compressed altering the glass surface to strengths greater than 7000 kg per sq. centimeter. Tempered and annealed glass can be colored using our trademarked Colorglass system. Click here to view our colors.