Restoring stain glass leaded came

by brian
(W3)

How do you remove stain glass safely from antique lead came windows and replacing it with a new lead came section. Can you age the lead came to blend in with existing aged lead came?

Answer

You should really replace all of the lead rather than some of it. If some has broken, chances are that the rest of the lead will do the same within a few years. The window will look much better with all new lead rather than some new and some old. You will not be able to match the color of the existing aged lead so that it looks right.

First of all, make a rubbing of the entire window. You do that by placing a sheet of paper over the window then rub over the lead lines with a the handle of your lead knife. Number the pieces, then number the glass pieces to match the numbers on the paper. Now you have a cartoon of the window so you can put it back together.

Carefully cut the lead so you can remover the glass. Pull out all of the glass and clean it. Use new lead to rebuild the window. There is restoration lead available that should match the old lead in shape and size.

Reassemble the window, apply putty, then darken the lead with a natural bristle brush.