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Q: I accidentally allowed the top of a drafting table I am refinishing to fall over and hit the concrete floor in my garage. Unfortunately, one of the cast-iron channels that allow the top to change angles broke into five pieces. I cannot find a replacement. I called a couple of welders, and both said the pieces could not be welded because the part was cast iron. I have thought about trying J-B Weld, but I would probably botch it and am not certain it would hold anyway. Any ideas?
A: Repairing vintage hardware or replacing it with a new piece that looks the same is a challenge for many furniture restorers. It’s critical to both the look of the piece and its functionality.
When reproduction hardware is available, that’s usually the simplest and least-expensive option. But even companies that specialize in the copies cannot possibly stock parts that mimic all the hardware styles that have been produced over the years — as you have discovered. Hardware companies do make mechanisms for tilting tabletops, including some that evoke a vintage look. But they don’t have the graceful arch that your broken piece once had. That leaves you with two options: Repair the broken part, or replicate it.
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The twin-tube, original formula of J-B Weld Original ($5.68 at Lowe’s) is one option, provided the end surfaces are at least one-eighth-inch thick. The original formula is the company’s strongest epoxy, rated for withstanding 3,960 pounds of force per square inch if you were to try to pull the pieces apart, said Gena Hansen, who works in J-B Weld’s customer service department. You would need to clean the surfaces first with an acetone or lacquer thinner (don’t use alcohol), and then roughen up the cleaned surfaces before you mix the two components. After the epoxy sets, you could file or sand it smooth and add a coat of paint to make everything look uniform. But given how thin the broken parts look in the picture you sent, it seems like a risky repair. Luckily, you have other options.
Despite what you were told, it might be possible to have the parts welded together, although for this process, the broken ends would need to be slightly thicker: at least three-sixteenths-inch. Welding brings metal together at the molecular level, so it is stronger than a joint glued with even the strongest epoxy. Welding cast iron can be tricky, though, which is why some companies don’t do it. But Peggy Wright, who works in sales for Architectural Iron in Milford, Pa. (800-442-4766; architecturaliron.com), looked at your picture and said her company could do it, using a welding rod that is 99 percent nickel. At least three kinds of welding rods work on cast iron, but the advantage of using 99 percent nickel is that it can be sanded smooth later to give the hardware a finished look, she said. Wright estimated that the repair might cost around $85. But to get a firm estimate, you would need to send the parts to the company.
Or you could get new, custom hardware. To make a piece of cast-iron hardware, a company would start with a model (ideally, the piece you want to copy) and then use it to form a mold for molten metal. Two companies that cast hardware even when a customer wants only a single piece are Ball and Ball in Exton, Pa. (800-257-3711; ballandball-us.com ) and Vintage Hardware and Lighting in Port Townsend, Wash. (360-379-9030; vintagehardware.com ).
To fabricate custom hardware, these companies like to start with an intact piece, because the mold will pick up all the details — even break marks if the original was glued together. Vintage Hardware warns on its website that reproduction castings wind up smaller than the originals, because the molten metal shrinks as it cools. But the difference is “just a hair’s width,” so it’s not something to worry about, said Victoria Rothschild, the manager at Vintage Hardware.
At Vintage Hardware, reproduction castings from an original sample start at $65 for one piece. There is an extra charge if you send broken pieces and want the company to glue them to make the model. To get a price estimate, you would need to send the part or parts, plus $10 to cover the evaluation.
Although Ball and Ball does custom casting, Robert A. Ball, part of the family partnership that owns the company, suggested that rather than trying to cast a replacement for your particular hardware, it would be better to replicate it from sheet steel that matches the thickness of the original. “We could cast just about anything, but I don’t think this part is cast,” Ball wrote in an email after he looked at your picture.
Gary Lancaster, the owner of AK Metal Fabricators in Alexandria, Va. (703-823-1661; akmetalfab.com ), also suggested Ball’s approach. Both said they would use a computer-controlled water jet to cut a duplicate shape from steel plate, then add finishing details. The most time-consuming part is writing the code and setting up the equipment. Ball said he could make one part for about $110 and a second for about $30. Lancaster included painting the metal in his estimate, which was about $275.
Given all the options, and the difficulty of evaluating the situation from a picture, you might want to send the parts to one of these experts or a similar company and ask for a hands-on evaluation before you commit to a solution.
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