On 29/07/2012 00:16, NT wrote:
On 28 July, 10:22, Andy Dingley wrote:
On Saturday, 28 July 2012 01:40:14 UTC+1, John Rumm wrote:
If they're really 'real' leaded panes then the proper way to fix them
would be to dismantle them & re-make them.

Yup pretty sure they are real... however, can't see the idea of taking
out the front room windows for a strip down and rebuild going down well!

One thing that _doesn't_ work is trying to re-solder lead joints in old lead. If you do have cracked joints, then either live with them, or rebuild the whole panel on new lead. Trying to re-solder a failed joint in an old panel is near impossible.

Resoldering oxidised metal certainly is. Would it not work ok if cut
with a knife each side of the crack, to expose clean lead?


NT

Trouble is , you very quickly get into 'diminishing returns'

Ideally, you want a nice 'butt joint' between the two pieces of lead
before soldering.

If you have any significant gaps (more than a couple of mm) then you'll
find that the solder will 'neck' in and look terrible. Again, in an
ideal situation, you want solder to stick to the flat surface of the
lead came. Andy's right, no amount of wire-brushing / sandpapering /
wire-wool work will be effective.

It's another step into the land of bodgery grin - but I've had some
success with the two-part 'liquid metal' epoxies, which, once set, are
pretty much indistinguishable from the original lead - and can hold
things together if there's no funding for a 'textbook' (remove,
dismantle, re-lead, re-putty, refit) strategy...
Not ideal, but better than having the rain come in!

I'm seeing a few of these recently - mid-1800's church windows, exposed
to salty sea-air and the odd football / stepladder or, in one case, a
flying pumpkin (it was Halloween!)

Adrian