1.A Client contacted us regarding an antique French Door that had some glass panels broken and the zinc was in need of some repair to keep the integrity of the Door- this door belonged to a 50 + year old lake front cottage that's been in the family since its original construction .The owner wanted to keep the door as original as possible-- as we collect old windows and doors, we actually had older glass to match our client's needs for replacement.  Since all the panels were encased in Zinc, it was pretty easy to make a match.

2. Our client delivered the Door to our studio with cardboard and duct tape holding the glass panels together. Our first task was to remove the panels from the wood rails and styles. Because of the construction of the door, we were able to remove the glass and zinc panel from the wood without jeopardizing the old wood.  (If the Rails and Styles needed to be taken apart, we would've needed the assistance of a reputed carpenter to disassemble the surrounding wood so that it would sustain no damage.)   Here's a picture of what the existing glass panels looked like as we prepared to do our work.

 

 5.  Because of the deterioration of existing putty holding the glass within the zinc, it was fairly easy to remove the broken glass and zinc from which the existing solder had lost its strength.-  Each piece of existing zinc which was salvageable needed to have its channels cleaned and the ends die ground  to accept new solder. Alvin's next function was to remake the zinc came where it was needed.   (A mistake that was made when the original panel was constructed was that each zinc piece was cut individually to surround each panel).  To gain additional strength on this panel's second time around, Alvin cut the horizontal zinc came as one piece that goes across the entire width of the panel.  Additionally, four new glass panels needed to be cut to replace the broken and cracked ones.   Below is a picture of the panel reconstructed and ready for resoldering and reputtying.