plate stuck in antique crystal bowl

[Alex Franke]

Merry Christmas, everyone! (And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then happy Friday!)

After our big holiday feast, we ended up with a round stoneware plate stuck in an antique crystal bowl, and they don't seem to want to come apart. It's not an air-tight seal, or even a water tight one -- water put in the bowl will leak slowly into the void below the plate, but we can't fit anything in there to try to free it.

Any ideas?

We'll try anything up to and including sacrificing the plate to save the bowl -- although we'd like to save the plate if at all possible, too...

[Black wallnut]

fill the space under the plate almost full with water then use compressed air to blow it out.

[Uncle Cracker]

You might also try heating or chilling just one of the two. A little expansion or contraction of one or the other might do the trick...

[crokett]

Alex, is there any space at all around the edge of the plate? I am thinking that if you can find something like a long feeler gauge you can put it down one side and might be able to work it up the other side and out under the plate, then just pull up.

How much heat would the bowl take? Fill it with water, then boil the water and it might push the plate out.

I like Uncle Cracker's idea but what I would do is get some water nice and hot, put the bowl in it then dump a lot of ice on the plate.

[Richard in Smithville]

I would try and warm the bowl. Place the two upside down in the sink and slowly pour boiling water over the bowl. Heating the bowl and using gravity might release the plate.

[dbhost]

My idea was pretty much the same as Richard's, other than to suggest hot but not boiling water. (Don't want to risk cracking the bowl...)

[MilDoc]

I would worry about heating the bowl and cooling the plate together. Or separate. Just might crack. But then I'm no thermoengineer!

Richard's solution migt work.

Or, how about WD40, oil, etc>

[cgallery]

Use a shop vac hose to grab the plate and pull it out.

[iceman61]

Put the bowl in hot water almost up to the top, then put ice on top of the plate.

[phi1l]

before trying any of those potentially destructive procedures, I would first get one of those suction cup handles& stick it on the plate to get a good grip, then put some vegetable oil around the edge to minimize friction. It might be that they are both a little out of round & if twisted a bit, might become free.

Good Luck

[herb fellows]

Use a shop vac hose to grab the plate and pull it out.

+1 on that!

If that doesn't work, perhaps a rubber suction cup from something?

[phi1l]

Here is exactly what you need: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40993


I'm thinking the thing went in there easy enough probably either one or both is out of round & if you the 2 oriented correctly the plate shoudl slip right out.

[unknown poster]

Any liquid around the edge will create a vaccum seal. Dry the whole thing out, and then try to seperate them.

[JoeyGee]

Why not just stick them both upside down in the fridge overnight? Wouldn't the stoneware constrict a tiny bit, loosen itself and fall out? The plate would constrict more than the crystal, I would think.

[tommyt654]

Get a Dremel tool with a diamond saw blade and cut the plate into smaller pieces till she drops. Sounds like all you are really worried about is the crystal as stoneware is fairly abundant.