Cutting Edge Products, a division of Red Hot Metal, creates handcrafted, precision tools for glass artists.  

In the Beginning

Cutting Edge Products was established in 1998 by Jeff Lindsay, but his love of glassblowing began in 1973. While attending Chico State, he happened to wander by the hot glass studio. It was love at first sight! As a result, he began taking classes and eventually began working at Orient & Flume Art Glass. In addition to building studio equipment, he helped develop a sheet glass shop and assisted the glassblowers.

Tools for The Glassblower

While working with glass in those early years, Jeff began to imagine a refined set of tools for the glass artist. Through a lot of research and experimentation, he discovered D2 steel. Jeff determined this was the best steel for making shear blades; the blades don’t wear out. Making shears became his new business — Random Specialties (circa the late 1970s).

A Slight Detour

In those days D2 had to be cut with a hand saw. This was a tedious and unpleasant task. And young men wander. Fellow bike riders were racing down backroads on clunker bikes. Who could resist this kind of temptation? Not Jeff. He built a Mountain Goat, one of the first mountain bikes, and started another business venture called Mountain Goat Cycles.

Cutting Edge Products Leads the Pack

In 1998, Jeff came full circle and began producing his hand-made tools for glass artists under the business Cutting Edge Products. It was the development of the CNC machine that made the business possible. The CNC machine could effortlessly and consistently cut shear blades out of D2 steel. 

It didn’t take long for Jeff to be recognized as a leader in the evolution of the glass artist’s tools. Through innovative design, the highest quality craftsmanship, and the best state-of-the-art materials and manufacturing processes, Cutting Edge Products create the very best tools available to the glass artist – and we back that up with our warranty.