
	Archaeological findings indicate that glass was first made in the Middle East, sometime in the 7000's B.C. This earliest man-made material has lost nothing from its fascination until today. Its precious look like natural gems, the brilliance and clarity as well as its translucency are its characteristics. Utilized in the furniture manufacture, it communicates lightness and noble reserve and permits the vista on decorative under- and backgrounds. For our tables we use flat or float glass. Worldwide it is produced only from a few large-scale enterprises. The production facilities are situated near the natural resources, especially the quartz sand as well as soda and limestone deposits (e.g. in Germany in the Upper Palatinate as well as in the Cologne Basin). The market is dominated by the main utilizations: in the building construction resp. façade design and renovations, in the window production, special glass for the car industry. The flat glass which is used in the furniture industry is only a vanishing small quantity (max. 5 % of the total output). Float glass is an industrial product and is manufactured fully automatically in huge production lines (about 1.2 km long), at a melting temperature of about 1600° C. Similar to the steel worker’s blast furnace, a glass furnace is designed to have a useful life of about 10-11 years in which tons of flat glass sheets roll off the conveyor belt around the clock, day in day out. They are picked, loaded and transported to the glass processing industry by road, rail and sea. There they are cut to size and the edges are worked. It is only at this stage that they arrive at our workshops for use in our production. The high quality demands especially in the furniture industry treat a very special point of view, which is totally contrary to the glass processors. For the window industry, car industry and the façade design the main criteria is the transparency. The eyes want to look through the material and are focussing the object behind the glass pane. For the furniture industry this is normally contrary. In this application the pane is, as a part of the furniture, the object of the view itself. Therefore every little irregularity will be detected, which sometimes becomes a problem. The quality requirements in respect to flexural strength (brittleness, breaking strength), translucence (blisters, inclusions, clouding), surface quality (scratches, streaks) and glass colour (green cast) are fixed in regulations for DIN and European Standards. Apart from the technical feasibility, the tolerances are mainly influenced by the needs of the key customers. Basically, it is impossible to manufacture glass completely free of blisters, inclusions or clouding. Limits are set by the consistency of the natural material, which is never perfectly pure nor perfectly constant, and the highly complex smelting process. Defects which are outside of the tolerances have been identified and marked on the production line by photo-laser sensors so that they can be isolated and rejected during the cutting process. Inside the tolerance are fine, hairline scratches, small enclosed blisters, fine clouding or inclusions, as long as their effect is not too disturbing in normal light from a distance of 1.5 m. Standard-Float glass The slight greenish light refraction of this type of glass is caused by chemical additives (diff. metallic oxides) in the glass flow. Its intensity increases in proportion to the thickness of the glass, but it can also change over longer periods during the production. Glass produced in different batches can have quite a different colouring. White Glass – Opti-White The white glass Draenert delivers differs in the clarity, because the greenish light refraction of the standard float glass has disappeared almost completely. The glass edges still show in proportion to the glass thickness and pane size a blue-green colouring, but which is significantly lighter as the fir green edge of normal float glass. The edge colour is not visible on the very small sample panes in the sample case. The proof for standard float glass or white glass shows the view through the glass on a white sheet of paper. With standard float glass the sheet looks light green, with white glass the white sheet remains white. Lacquered Glass With special glass lacquers, which will be applied on the underside of the glass pane, we combine the brilliance and clarity of glass with almost every required colour shade. For the colour authenticy we apply in this product line only white glass as base material. In addition, a special adhesive technology enables, in connection with the glass lacquers, a continuous optics of the glass surface without interruption by glued-on metal support parts. Therefore they remain invisible. Standard Float Glass with sandblast effect lacquer Another variety of lacquered glass is standard float glass with sandblast effect lacquer. This special lacquer, also applied on the underside of the underside of the glass pane, achieves the same optics as frosted glass panes, but with the advantage, that fingerprints are not visible. But with this coating the metal support parts must be glued before the painting, so they remain visible in the glass surface. Satinated Glass The matt optics, with will be achieved on standard float glass or white glass, results from a special etching method, which abrades the glass surface with gossamer delicacy and therefore becomes opaque. This etched surface will only applied as used side, as the metal parts cannot be glued on the etched side. And about fingerprints must not be worried. Coloured Glass For some models of our collection we use coloured glass, a clear, solid by metallic oxides coloured float glass. You can find two shades, grey and brown, but this glass panes will not be produced in every required thickness an at every time. Therefore longer delivery times must be accepted. Bent Glass For tables of bent glass, cut glass panes will be reheated to 800°C (1472 F), until they will get bent over special negative moulds. Afterwards they have to cool down very slowly to achieve this special shape. These glasses, which have been produced with great technical effort, have special features, which differ significantly from a regular float glass pane. Ripples, streaks, rainbow-coloured mirror reflexes, punctiform recesses, small bubbles or inclusions as well as fine scratches belong to the appearance of these glasses, especially in the bending areas. Also the edges may show slight irregularities. Caused by the bending process the dimensions accuracy of height and width as well as the angles of the sides are influenced. These special features belong to this production technology and must be understood and accepted. Also bent white glass panes can be lacquered in all colours. Tempered Glass – (ESG – safety glass) Tempered glass is a special glass finishing procedure of standard float glass or white glass wand will be utilized on most of our dining tables. It is characterized by an extreme impact and bending strength. It is regular float glass which has been tempered by an additional thermic procedure. Resulting from this, the glass pane will break into small grains which reduce the risk of injury significantly. Big, sharp glass shards may not occur. Disadvantages of this treatment are visible optical inferences like ripples, streaks, rainbow-coloured mirror reflexes, punctiform recesses, small bubbles or inclusions as well as fine scratches belong to the appearance of these glasses. The panes are not always totally plain and also the edges may show slight irregularities. Tables with composed glass tops may show slight differences at the glass seams. This may technically not be avoided from the part of the glass industry. As per our point of view these optical impairments are acceptable in regard to the greater safety afforded. General Care Instructions Concerning the care of float glass not so much remains to be said. It is a user-friendly but also sensible product which is resistant against almost all normal household acids and alkalines and can be cleaned with conventional non-abrasive cleaning agents. As a part of our range of care products, DRAENERT offers a special Citrus glass cleaning agent. Matt rings on the glass surface come mostly from lime scales from the water and may easily be removed with non-abrasive lime scale cleaners. But glass can easily be scratched due to mechanical impact or may break due to inappropriate use. A few basic principles in handling of glass furniture: glass tables have a similar as comparable tables of a different construction but should never be charged with more weight as for regular use. Never use glass tables as a seat. Glass tables are not a children’s toy Glass should never be exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations (e.g. a hot pot or a deep-frozen bottle). This may provoke a spontaneous break. Please always use coasters. Be careful with ceramics, porcelain or diamond rings, which may provoke scratches due to their extremely hard edges. Please use coasters. Damaged edges may provoke sometimes - also time-delayed - a break of the glass pane. As the bottom glass plates may easily be scratched on stone or ceramic floors, PVC slide pads should be used (available on request. top		Product information about glass