Boehm Stained Glass Blog: Fruit Lamp Repair #11

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Fruit Lamp Repair #11

This is the 11th fruit lamp repair I've done so far. These were very popular in the '60's and '70's and have great sentimental value. This lamp had several challenges. The wiring assembly had become detached, the crown collapsed during the repair process, and the slumped pear had to be replaced, as well as seven piece of cracked flat glass. Here's how I went about repairing this little gem.

This view shows a crack in one of the large upper panels, as well as a broken pear at the border.

Here is another cracked piece, between the leaf on the left and the first red marble cherry. There were several other cracks on various sides, mostly to the amber colored glass.

An important part of repairing lamps is being able to match the existing glass. This amber glass is made in several shades and textures by several different glass manufacturers. Its a very popular glass for lamps because it gives a warm, glowing light. Here I've assembled a supply of amber pieces so that I can choose the best match for the project.

Stained glass looks differently in the light, therefore I'm doing a "luminosity test" here, using a light box. I eliminated a few pieces of amber and chose others that were spot-on.

Here's a view of three more cracked pieces, one to the left of the flower, one below, and then the green stem.

I've cracked out the corner piece and will clean off the old adhesive from the original copper foil. This will assure a clean bond to the neighboring pieces. I'll replace one piece at a time, waiting to replace the cracked bottom piece until after the top replacement is done.

After making a template of the opening, I've traced it onto the glass. I'm using an oil-filled pistol grip glass cutter to score the line as shown.

After the replacement glass is cut, I bring it to the grinder. This will smooth the edges of the glass, allowing the copper foil to adhere strongly and making the glass safe to handle.

Here I'm using a hand file to grind the edges of the opening. Rough, uncut glass will not accept the foil as well. The pieces in these older lamps were not ground so I take care of that as I do the replacements.

I've added new copper foil to the borders of the opening as well as to the borders of the replacement piece. Then I applied liquid flux to the copper and then soldered it in place.

I ran a length of thin wire along the upper edge of the piece and onto the adjoining pieces. This wire will serve to reinforce and strengthen the corner of the lamp. Here I'm using a hot soldering iron to melt out some of the old foil and solder to prepare the bottom piece for replacement.

I prefer to cut glass by hand. I do occasionally use an electric ring saw as shown, for some curvy pieces. Glass can be temperamental. It doesn't always cut well by hand.

Here the two cracked pieces above and below the flower have been replaced and soldered. I'll apply patina to them later, in order to blacken the solder.

Onto the next replacement. I'm using the metal end of the glass cutter to tap repeatedly on the cracked area. Eventually the pieces will loosen and fall out. I'll use needle nosed pliers to remove any remaining glass pieces.

After the glass has been removed, I'm using the needle nosed pliers to tug off the old foil and solder.

Now the area is free of old solder and foil and the old adhesive around the borders has been cleaned off.

Checking to be sure the paper template for the replacement is a good fit. It is.

Here's the replacement piece completed.

Holding the new green stem for the flower. It was foiled and soldered in place soon after.

Onto the cracked pear. The Worden Company, which manufactured these dimensional fruits (pears and apples) for 42 years, went out of business about a year ago. The fruits are no longer made and are difficult to find elsewhere unless they are custom-made at high expense. Therefore, with the lamp owner's permission, I created a flat pear for the lamp. I chose a textured amber glass very similar to the original pear as well as to the border shown here.

Template is traced onto the glass.

And here it is soldered in place.

Now the cracked pieces along the bottom of the lamp have all been replaced. Now I'm cracking out the large piece on the top part. Notice how three of the crown pieces are missing. During the course of the repair, all six became detached. The upper edge had never been reinforced with wire, as is customary for lamps. And the foil was so old it could no longer hold them together. I repaired and reinforced the crown after the side was completed.

Using the needle nosed pliers to tug off more of the old foil and solder.

A view inside the lamp which shows the paper template made for the replacement. I cut and ground the glass for it and set it aside.

The metal bar which supports the lamp wiring was soldered inside the crown, at the tops of the side panels. It had detached and needed to be more strongly bonded to prevent a recurrance. Here I've cut short lengths of zinc and brass "channel" which will clip onto the ends of the side panels.

Now I've soldered short lengths of metal channel to the ends of the top panels.

View from inside the lamp showing the new side glass and the metal channel reinforcement around the opening. (Notice the beautiful new pear).

Onto rebuilding the crown. Here I'm using a razor to scrape off old adhesive. After each of the crown pieces was clean, I added new copper foil to all of the borders.

To strengthen and reinforce the crown, I've taped a length of thin wire to the border as shown. Then I soldered the wire in place.

One of the final steps in the repair is to go back and apply patina to each of the areas which received solder. Here I'm brushing on the blue patina which instantly turns the silver solder black. After it is allowed to set, I clean it off with a deneutralizing spray.

This is the metal bar which holds the wiring for the lamp. Both ends on both sides were badly rusted. My husband Eric used an electric buffer/grinder to remove the rust to get to the bare metal and prepare it for soldering.

Here I've used copious amounts of solder to attach the metal bar to the metal channel. Its a very strong bond. I applied solder to the other side as well. Every effort is made to assure that the repairs will not fail and will stay in place for years to come.