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Questions about our white-metal/spelter repairs: Q. Are you doing low heat
solder of the breaks or are you using a modern plastic adhesive?/ it is apparent
you are welding/soldering the brass and bronze stuff, but not specifically
stated in you spelter/white metal repair examples. Although
I assume you are doing proper solder repair, it is important for me to know this
A. Most of the time, for
spelter/white-metal repairs I use low temp solder. If at all possible,
especially where the piece has to bear some weight, I also use an internal pin
in addition to the solder. I insert the pin so that it will bear all of the
weight, the solder then makes it even stronger.
On pieces that are made with an alloy high in zinc the solder has a hard time
flowing, so I use a gypsum-based compound in combination with pinning to
secure the break. This compound holds up under the heat necessary to work the
solder in place.
As a last resort, for the few pieces where the above methods don't work, I
will use epoxy in combination with pinning. My goal for each piece is to
repair it in a way that it will be able to function as it was originally
intended.
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