Summary for white bronze statue repair Discussion
White bronze statue repair is the central issue in this thread: the asker is restoring a GAR Civil War soldier statue, has cast a bronze replacement rifle, and needs to reattach broken hands on a statue made of white bronze, which is about 99% zinc. The original joints were soldered, and the restorer would prefer to solder again if possible. Goran Budija advises that this is really a job for a professional metals conservator and points to the American Institute for Conservation website for help. He notes that while special zinc solders exist, including brands such as Castolin Eutectic, they are not suitable for precise work. His practical recommendation is to use a strong epoxy cement, combined with stitching or screws and fiberglass reinforcement, rather than relying on soldering.
Q. We are repairing a GAR statue, a Civil War soldier standing at rest with his rifle. We have cast a bronze rifle to replace the missing one, but the hands are broken off. White bronze is 99% zinc. We are considering a mechanical joint plus epoxy, but originally the joints were soldered and we would prefer to do that if possible.
Steve Maxon
art foundry – Kalona, Iowa
November 10, 2009
A. That is job for professional metals conservator (try American Institute for Conservation website (www.culturalheritage.org).
There are some special zinc solders
⇦ on
eBay or
Amazon [affil link]
(Castolin Eutectic is a good brand) but all of them are useless for precise work. Better try good epoxy cement+stitching (or screws)and fibreglass reinforcement. Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija
– Zagreb,Croatia
Q. Attached is a picture of the GAR zinc statue we are restoring.
The soldered joints on the wrists were broken when the rifle was stolen. We have cast a new bronze 1861 Springfield for it and aim to bolt that in place and have the whole thing repainted. We were thinking of making a mechanical joint supplemented with epoxy to reattach the hands but would prefer to solder them back on as they were originally. No one here is any great shakes at soldering and we have not a clue what solder and flux to use.
Steve Maxon [returning]
art foundry – Kalona, Iowa
December 3, 2009
A. Try to find professional metals conservator, any member of American Institute of conservation must give you advice for 0$. Bronze gun is not good solution — problems with galvanic corrosion!
Try next article on zinc conservation C.A.Grissom,R.S.Harvey:The Conservation of American War Memorials Made of Zinc (cool.conservation-us.org/jaic/articles/jaic42-01-003_indx.html)
Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija
– Zagreb,Croatia