Expert: lyn buerger - 9/27/2009

Question
I am making two 7" by 5' panels that will replace the sidelights by my front door. I have found that some long narrow pieces are slightly shorter than they should be, between 1/8th and 1/16th too short. Is there a lead came with a wider heart that I can use at the ends of those pieces to make them fit better? They are a swirled baroque glass so if I have to re-cut a few, I'll have to re-cut them all. I have the same situation at the bottom of the panels, so if there is something I can do with lead, it will at least be symmetrical.


Answer
As far as I know the heart of the lead may vary from batch bath but it is hard to find anyone who stocks a wide enough selection for you to be picky. I know in my shop I only keep 8 or so different kinds because I just don't have that much call for a larger selection.  In my piece I've just learn to work with the problems that develop.  What may work for you is to somewhat ignore that some pieces are shorter and put them in the piece as if they were OK.  As long as the glass edge is actually inside of the lead channel you can center it when you putty the glass piece when it is finished.  But the piece of glass does need to be able to be centered in the lead opening and the edges be cover.  However I've done repairs on some old, old pieces and it was obvious that the glass had never been inside the channel of the lead but just sealed with putty (dap).  The first one, I did a little laugh but have seen that on more than one occasion, so I'm assuming in the "old days"  when tools were more primitive than ours some artistic discretion was excused.

If I was doing the piece I might do one of the following:

1) put it together so that the shorter pieces are lined up with accurate pieces so that the correct ones will let you keep the design straight.  or

2) Do  a minor pattern adjustment by maybe adding an accent area in the middle with bevels or a small abstract design.  That way you can extend the over all size and get rid of the shorter ones in the process.