how to remove and re-install tight fitting glass trim
We make our sailors valentine boxes with eight pieces of trim that hold the glass in place in the box. Unless you request loose fitting glass trim, we do our best to provide tight fitting glass trim.
Tight fitting trim will generally hold the glass in place without being glued or tacked into the box; however, if the humidity level in your home is extremely low, then the glass trim will shrink faster than the rest of the box and could become loose enough that the glass would fall out of the box if you have it hanging on a wall in your home. For that reason, once you have completed your sailors valentine, even with tight fitting trim, we recommend "tack gluing" no more than every other piece of trim into the box using a tiny dab of clear silicone near each end of the trim piece. Some of our customers have found that a single dab of silicone on only the top piece of trim is all that is needed on our boxes with tight fitting trim. The advantage of silicone over wood glue or all-purpose glues like 527 or E6000 is that you can more easily cut through the silicone with a sharp blade if you're unable to pop the trim pieces out of the box.
IMPORTANT: If you apply too much glue to the trim pieces, you may be unable to remove the glass without damaging the box.
our sailors valentine boxes with
the glass and glass trim installed.
If the back panel of your box is
non-removable, then you will
need to pull the glass out of the
box from the top side to gain
entry into the box.
panel, you can remove the back
panel, then hold the glass down
and pull up on the sides of the box
to separate the box from the glass.
with a fixed back panel, we use a
palette knife. We offer this tool
for $3 at the bottom of this page.
remove the glass. Gently press the
suction cup to the glass near one
corner and pull up on the glass
to raise the adjacent glass trim.
Moisten the suction cup a bit to
get a good seal to the glass.
If the glass trim is exceptionally
tight in the box, you may need to
use a pair of pliers to get a good
grip on the suction cup. Hold the
outside edge of the box down
while pulling up on the glass.
up after pulling on one corner of
the glass, move the suction cup
to an adjacent corner and pull
up on the glass from that corner.
You may need to alternate corners
a few times to loosen the trim.
Now that the adjacent trim has
been raised slightly, pull those
two pieces out of the box.
of glass trim from the box keeping
each piece in its proper position.
trim has a number on it. When
re-installing the trim, match the
number on the trim to the number
on the glass ledge of the box.
The #1 piece of glass trim will be
at the 12 o'clock position. The #2
piece will go to the next clockwise
position, and so on, with #8 being
adjacent on the left side to #1.
Place six consecutively numbered
pieces of glass trim around the
box. The last two pieces will be
wedged against each other and
then pressed into place.
into the glass ledge with one end
of each piece resting against the
already installed pieces adjacent
to them.
of the last two pieces of trim until
they are snug inside the glass
ledge of the box.
#Tool04
To use this tool to remove
the glass in our
Sailors Valentine Boxes