Have the suggested candelabra! The center light is off exposing a
metal rod as a center and the cavity filled with a resin like
material. Also, the other 4 arms are loose with one already out of
the center column.
Where do I get replacement rosin(?) or a substitute (Epoxy??? ,
which is very flammable!!!)? Do I ‘Silver’ solder the arms, from the
inside of the column then refill with a rosin or do I use a 'lead’
solder which has a much lower melting temp?? Followed by replateing??
Traditionally cheap silver candle sticks were made from very thin
silver sheet, almost foil, and filled with pitch mixed with plaster.
from what you have said your piece is similar. You should check how
the arms were originally held in place and try and copy the method.
Because the arms are loose and not broken off I would guess that
they were never soldered but held mechanically, possibly just by the
filler. If this is the case you would have to strip out the filler,
jig the whole thing back together and then refill. What you fill it
with is up to you epoxy would be easiest to find but expensive,
pitch would be cheaper but messy, what ever you decide to use I
suggest you add plaster or a metal power to give the piece some
weight.
I would respectfully suggest that you contact Jeffrey Hermann at www.silversmithing.com He is a consumate repair master. Your life
would be a lot simpler if he fixed it.
The proper way is to warm the thing up a bit and remove the filling
is it pitch like. yuo can order replacement pitch from your tool
supplier, you might be able to reuse it if you did not overheat, it
is also used to fill i. e. the handles of table-knives. clean the
leftovers out with Methylated spirit or Aceton (hazardous) than
solder with silver solder, build up if there are any gaps, and than
replate and refill with warm liquid pitch carefully not trappinjg any
air. A hot air gun might be better than an open flame. A difficult
and involved job, but lead solder will not work satisfactory, too
weak and still to hot for the filling. Also you are finishing the
piece off instead of repairing.