Fruit Lamp Repair #12

It seems no two fruit lamps are exactly the same.  This one gets the prize for being the heaviest though!  These lamps are always heavily soldered and strongly built.  In this case, the lamp had been incorrectly installed in the kitchen ceiling and was hanging (for two years!) by only the electrical cord.  It should have been hanging by the chain.  It unexpectedly fell and landed on a centerpiece on the table.  Amazingly, the only damage was to a single slumped pear at the border.  Here's the story of the repair.


Here is the large lamp showing the damaged pear at the border.

Close up of the damaged pear.

As mentioned in the previous post which covers fruit lamp repair #11, the Worden Company was the only manufacturer of the slumped (dimensional) glass apples and pears.  Just by chance, I had one large pear left in my inventory which I used for this repair.  These fruits came in two sizes and with different colored glass.  I had a smaller pear for the previous repair, but the glass was not a good match, so I opted to create a flat pear instead.  (Click here to see previous fruit lamp repair).

I used needle nosed pliers to crack out the pieces of broken glass. Then I used a hot soldering iron to melt out most of that thick black solder around the border.

Now most of the solder has been melted out from around the border.  When the pear came out I was surprised to see that there was no wire below it.  These lamps traditionally have a wire running along the entire lower border.  Here I’m using a hand file to take off the patina so that I can insert a length of wire which extends beyond the borders of the pear. This is for added overall strength of the lamp.

I affixed 7/32” copper foil around the border of the replacement pear.  Here I’m using a “fid” to burnish the copper foil onto the glass.

 The pear is held in place with painter’s tape. Then I applied liquid flux to the foil and the outer border.  The flux is a catalyst which helps the solder to flow freely.

Now I’ve applied liberal amounts of solder around the pear to lock it in place.  I applied solder to the backside of the pear as well.

Here I’m inserting a thin wire along the bottom edge of the pear.  I’m using strips of painter’s tape to hold it in place as I flux and solder it in place.

Now I’m applying a blue liquid called black patina.  This turns the solder black instantly.  After it sets, I use a neutralizing spray to clean off the residue. I also applied patina to the edge of the pear and to the interior of the shade.

And it’s done!  After the patina was clean and dry, I applied stained glass finishing compound to the area. This is a light wax which protects the patina and gives the pear a nice shine.

And here it is, repaired as good as new, ready to be installed back in the ceiling (the correct way), to provide many more years of enjoyment.  Thank you Joan F. for bringing your lamp to me!

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