Ken Saumure, Peek'r Technology, (Glass Manufacturing and its Capabilities), is a retired engineer who has been fascinated with astronomy since childhood on the family farm. Ken worked for 20 years in the pulp and paper industry designing machinery and systems and another 15 years in the aerospace industry developing Quality Control Procedures. Combining these two backgrounds with his hobby, Ken has developed some unique manufacturing methods for his telescope designs.

For most amateur telescope makers Plate or Pyrex becomes an issue of personal preference as to which of the two materials to use as a mirror substrate. With the new technologies available, Plate glass has gone through some quality changes that have greatly improved the structural make-up of the glass itself. Zero impurities, x-ray approved quality, temperature stability, and tensile strength required for building construction, are a few of the changes for the new generation Plate glass. In this presentation Ken compares these two materials and the merits of each in telescope making.