Repair etched glass window on entry door with copper foil solder

by c battles
(hunt, ny)

I bought an old farmhouse 4 years ago thinking I could fix things and make it all great. The front door has antique hardware and an etched glass window 24 by 36 inches of a scene of two buck deer and flying geese, kind of nice, and bordered with repetitive angel heads (kind of ugly). Somebody had shot a hole through the window, and there are three long cracks running from the hole, with a radiating bunch of cracks going to the lower corner of the window.

I want to know if I can put copper foil in the cracks and solder it -- even if the design is not perfect and still looks like a repair of a cracked window. It would look much better than having tape on it. I'd put a flattened marble in the hole.

I don't know how to do stained glass. I tried to get a stained glass person to come and do this for me, but no luck.

By the time I buy all the materials, I may be out $100 and still the door might look bad.

What do you think?

I could submit a picture of this window if you insist.

Answer

Please send me a picture. It would make it much easier to answer your question.

However, laying copper foil over the cracks won't be a permanent fix. With no solder over it and nothing to anchor it on either end, the foil will eventually fall off. Since the foil won't be between the cracks only on the surface of the glass, the glass may fracture more if you do try to solder it.