Posted by Gary Dodge on December 01, 2002 at 23:17:01:
In Reply to: Re: melted lead came accidently posted by Rob Klara on November 28, 2002 at 22:33:36:
Hi susan,
Depending on what you call a small melt, sometimes it may be necessary to clean things up so that foil can stick, then patch in a bit of foil to use as a base for your patch up soldering.
Other times if the damage is extensive you may need to use a small saw, like an X-acto razor saw to cut out a section of came and patch in a small piece of new came. If the damage is in the middle of an "H" came, sometimes you need to cut away the leaf on that side of the glass, then cut a small section of just one leaf from a piece of came and solder it in place with a very flat soldering.
GaryD
: 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.