Posted by Rob Klara on November 28, 2002 at 22:33:36:
In Reply to: melted lead came accidently posted by Susan on November 28, 2002 at 10:33:07:
This has happened to me, too, and it's really awful because it befalls you after so much work has been put into a piece. I'm new to stained glass, but will give my advice for what it's worth. When I experienced this problem, it became immediately apparent that removing the damaged strip of came would be a nightmare, and probably cause more damage than I'd done already, so I didn't even attempt it. Instead, I held my soldering iron a little bit above the hole, and dripped a few drops of melted solder into the hole. I let it harden, then smoothed over the affair with a little more solder until I got a shiney patch. Such a fix doesn't look as good as a nice smooth piece of came, mind you, and I worried about that, too. But you know what? once the black patina (assuming that's what you plan to use) has been applied, most people who look at the finished piece won't even notice. With all the lead black, mistakes are much harder to see. I hope I'm not giving you bad advice here, but this is how I solved the problem. I'm still trying to get the hang of my iron's power control, but I know this much: Too cool is easily remedied; too hot can spell big trouble, as you've found out. Hope this helps.