For me, one of the best things about taking up stained glass has been learning the word “fid.” Scrabble, anyone? Sure, it’s only three letters, but that little word has helped me limp along on the Scrabble board more than once.

What’s a fid? Yeah, my Scrabble competitors always ask that, too.

Here’s a photo of a fid:

and another:

and another:

A fid has many uses in the stained glass world. When using the copper foil method of constructing stained glass projects, the individual pieces of glass are wrapped along their edges with copper foil tape.

The foil has a backing that is peeled away to reveal the sticky side. The sticky side adheres to the glass.

A fid is then used to press the copper foil more firmly against the glass, and to flatten the tape securely against all edges of the glass.

This is my favorite fid. The end edge was straight across when I bought it. The grooves were worn in by continued use.

After all the pieces are foiled and assembled, flux is applied to the copper seams and the pieces are soldered together to create the finished project.

Obviously not the same glass project as pictured above, but an example of what finished solder lines look like.

If you are using came instead of copper foil for joining the glass pieces, fids are also helpful for opening came channels to accommodate thicker pieces of glass.

This is a piece of zinc U-shaped came. The glass edge fits into the channel in the came, and the came is soldered at the seams where two or more came pieces meet.

Fids are full of fantastic features for foiling fun forms! Tell that to your Scrabble companions!

  F is for Fid