PATCHING
Sometimes someone wants a patch. A window is more or less intact, but there needs to be a patch.
So, I admit I approach these hesitantly, for two reasons. The first is, that I can’t work unless it’s flat, so it does have to come out. The second is, the windows are often in much worse shape than their owners admit.
In its liquid state, as you use it, solder makes water seem sticky. There is no such thing as vertical soldering. It just runs away, causing damage. I can only patch a window if I have it flat.
But sometimes, it wouldn’t be worth doing, because the window needs re-leading. One of the ones I encountered last year, the client wanted a minimal fix, but the whole thing was held together by cobwebs. I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t have gotten away with it.
I do sometimes patch windows, if they are suitable, if they can be brought to me. I do enjoy the method. It’s not an easy thing to do.
A contractor brought me this classic shatter on an Edwardian window. This one was a softball at least.
This kind of patching is like surgery. The first step is to assess what can be kept, but also, to build a process of restoration. Because I am not disturbing the edges, I am going to have a sequence problem. It will have to be done in a very precise order. There will also be an A side and a B side. It where are to be any knotty technical bits, they must be on the B side (the outside).
So I start by trimming lead, and checking glass, and (in this case) being a bit amazed at what an impact can do to lead.
Once the bad lead is clear away, the plan become clear. New glass, two big pieces of it, will slot in from the left, fitting the intact old leads on the right. On the left, all the short leads will be false leads, tinkered out of solder and scraps. The trick (and the strength of the design) will be ensuring that the big lead, the one between the two big new pieces, is a true lead. False leads, where the two sides of the lead are not a single piece of metal, are not as strong as true leads. This one needs to be true, so everything else must bend to that.
The new glass needs to be nestled into a pre-built cradle of false leadwork, with perfect timing, such that the central lead can be fooled into fitting. Sounds easy, right?
Reconstructing an existing panel is difficult, because panels are not flat, and do not actually lie on the work table. Their frames hold them up.
Fortunately, I have developed a magical material to use for levelling and for temporary joins. It is cheap and universal, and it cleans the surfaces it touches. Solder cannot harm it, nor fall through it. It is bread dough.
Sculpting temporary scaffolds out of bread dough allows me to rebuild individual joins and panes with great precision.
Once all the pieces are precisely placed, it’s just a solder job.
In a couple of years, as the metal oxidizes into its mature colour… you would never know.