Stained glass

Kevin Buschey <kbuchey [at] peoplepc__com> writes

>I am in the process of repairing a stained glass window. ...
>guess it is from the 1920's, possibly a catalogue piece. There a
>number of broken clear pieces of glass. The pieces are framed with
>zinc channels. I am attempting to heat the old solder enough to
>liquify and break bond, so I can disassemble the frame and remove
>the broken glass. The old solder will not liquify when applying the
>soldering iron to it.

The steel wool has probably not cleaned enough of the oxidation off
the old solder. You'll have to use something like a single edged
razor blade to scrape off the surface oxidation until you reach the
shiny solder below. Then, while constantly cleaning off the tip on
your soldering iron (it picks up any and all old dirt, etc.) and
using 60/40 or 63/37 tin/lead solder, you should be able to solder
the joints.  For zinc it is often best to use a paste flux and then
carefully clean up all the residue.

Mary Clerkin Higgins
NYC


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:57
                   Distributed: Sunday, May 28, 2006
                       Message Id: cdl-19-57-006
                                  ***