Ornamental beveled cut glass is bowing

Our front door came from a prominant home that was being remodeled , and it fit rite in my house in 1985,. The door is a simple wood 6 panel 30 inch door,. the problem is with the 2 mid panels 30 x9 ,.They are bowing out,. especially after my idiot nephew lazily leaned into the glass at Thanksgiving,. , i saw him from the kitchen , and did not say anything to keep peace ,. But I should have!, Because now the side he leaned on is bowed more ,. there are probably 30 pcs of clear beveled cut glass in cased in lead ? ,in each of the large panels .. until this event happened, i saw no danger of the bow worsening,,. now i think i see the edge the glass of some pcs . Makes Me Want to Say " damitboy-destructo" ..of Pops 7 Grandsons , He is the only one that can break a 100 yr old anvil in one afternoon... LOL,.////// ANyway ,, i wonder if i can spray a liquid silicone sealer product on the glass or perhaps brush a clear resin sealer of some sort on the metal and glass junctions ? , i have not noticed any cold air coming thru ,Yet .. My Son thinks we can put a straigtening jig to push the bow back slowly and true it,,.But i fear it could break a peice of glass and feel it is not worth the risk ,. i can always fasten a pc glass to the outside of the door,,..but the trouble with that idea , is heat buildup,, which occurs with the setting sun in july-august monthes ,,. I learned that was happening in 1986 ,..but it never got any worse ,til Pfatboy leaned on it . any helpful ideas , even if it is out of the box thinking is appreciated ,,
 
First off you should have screamed at the jerk and you should also charge for what the repairs will cost. You better get ready for a shock. Have done a little glass work and here is my opinion. Door needs to be removed. The leaded glass webbing has been stressed and stretched. If you are lucky take a cut to size heavy plywood panel and backup the assembly from behind. Lay it down so the wood acts as a stretcher like in an ambulance. A profesional glass pannel maker can gently massage the lead back into shape and close the gaps in the lead web that holds all of the pieces. I would highly advise you DO NOT to try this yourself. Remove the pannel Now before it collapses. Real lead is pretty resilient but it slowly gets brittle. The window maker might use small electric pannels to ease it back to flat. Get on the web and find a restorer tommorow, and pronto! There is nothing like real stain glass and they can be very charming. That punk would never ever be invited to my house again and needs a really swift,,,,,,.
 
Jeffcat, you said what I wanted to say! Some people don't raise their kids to respect other people's property or how to behave in public. I'm gonna stop there before I put my foot up my 'ss and say something I shouldn't.
 
Find someone that works with staied glass. I know my wife fixed a couple of them when she done stainned glass. I think she took it all apart and redid it. The lead they use the glass just sits in it and then is sodered. I bet he bent the lead holding everything
 

Jeffcat certainly calls a spade a spade !

That is certainly an annoying nephew ! I am not sure that I could have held my tongue .

I have been an amateur leadlighter for over thirty years , I specialise in windows from the Art Deco period , mainly geometric shapes , very little colour and a vast variety of textures .

I would recommend a close inspection of the panels first , most leadlight made for external use is puttied up with a mixture of whiting and oil . This is brushed in wet once the panels are finished and polished off so that only the material left in the lead cames remains . If you look closely you may see small fragments of this in the areas that were stressed , look at the edges of the lead came on the inside where the weather will have had less effect .
If it is puttied then you will have some difficulty pushing the glass back , once fragmented it will find its way into the back of the groove the glass sits in and stop the panes from returning to their original position .
If it has no putty then I do not see any real problem in gently heating each panel evenly with a hairdryer and pushing it back into position using a flat piece of board with a convenient handle fitted.
If this is successful you can buy a premixed putty from a leadlight supply shop and seal it yourself , this will set very hard and hold the glass in place , stop rattles and protect the lead from water effects .
There is also a carnauba wax spray that will blacken and seal the lead and polish the glass in one go .
I'm happy to walk you through the process if you'd like , but I have one stipulation , if anyone is going to kick the nephew in the butt I want a go as well :twisted:
 
I will agree that somehow the lifeform know as homosapians is getting dumber and dumber. I really should say that more of them are. One of my friends some how acquired a whole bunch of marble squares that he salvaged from something like a victorian house grand foyer floor. He carefully layed them on their sides to let water drain off them in his back yard. One of the neighbors kids gust for giggles took a hammer to everyone of them. The kids father gave him the bs excuse that something that expensive shouldn't have been in your Enclosed, back yard. Does any of this make sence?
 
I just wanted to touch base with you. Some of the glasswork during the
Art deco period is breath taking. What gets me is you see how they
hand paint details into the glass work that lasts for decades. Mind
boggling. Some of the articals that you read about how stain glass was
done in Philadelphia and Washington. One of the restorations in philly
about 20 years ago was just amazing.
 
Thank you , All of You for empathizing , Please know this is clear galss , not stained like are beautiful church
,,. However , Because of the bevel in the clear glass , at certain times of the day we enjoy the most beautiful
display of colorful arcs brought forth from the sun ,, it is so awesome One would Say a Prayer of Thanks to God for
creating such a Beautiful World.. I really would luv to talk with Charles, but overseas telephone cost limits
me from speaking personally,. So If He wishes he will become my 1st Australian penpal ,.or,. are you in Austria?
for those of you that would like my ph #812-596-4605 .. i promise to hold all harmless for any advice you feel
could help me.. Thank You ,Jim
 

Nothing surpasses domestic Art Deco windows that were made in the United States , we are poor change in comparison Jeffcat . One of the advantages was the enormous variety of glass textures available in comparison to other countries and of course you did have the benefit of the massive migration of skilled craftsmen from the most developed of European workshops.
The period was of course cut short by WW2 , a great shame and a loss to the art world in general .
Visiting Savannah is on my ever growing bucket list , that and Napier in New Zealand another iconic Deco town .

The paint lasts because it is basically metal oxide Jeff , it bonds with and becomes part of the glass's surface . Not much used in Deco panels except for the odd monogram or crest .

Some of our Australian Federation style windows feature exquisite panels depicting native birds , lyrebirds , Parrots and Galahs . These look as good as the day they were made .
 
With 30 pieces, I'm assuming it is leaded glass. The glass itself isn't going to bow it's the lead. If you are gentle with it you can bend it back into place but likely will have to re-glaze it to seal it against the weather. You might cut a piece of 1/4" plywood the width of the opening to use to push the bow out. Having wood the width of the opening would prevent you from pushing the glass all the way out.
 
Now that you're all done ripping on this poor kid for something he could not possibly know... Who thinks that leaning on a DOOR is going to cause a problem? NOBODY. It's a DOOR, and being a presumably exterior door, it should be stout enough for someone to lean on, otherwise it is absolutely no deterrent to anyone that wants in.

Not to mention the kid probably has no idea what leaded glass is. It went out of style back when Robin Hood was prancing through Sherwood Forest in his green tights, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.

The glass was already coming apart anyway. That's why it was bowing in the first place. Yeah your nephew exacerbated the problem, BY MISTAKE, but it is going to fall apart sooner or later from the natural swelling and shrinking of the wooden door around it.

I just love how we expect kids to know what to do and not to do as if it were instinct. His folks probably don't have a leaded glass front door, so they probably had no reason to yell at him for leaning on the door while he put his shoes on to go out. More likely they were just glad he was going out instead of sitting in front of the TV playing video games.
 
Think it was mentioned above, but I've had good success with a thick sheet of plywood and slow but steady pressure. The lead came has stretched. Provided it was not torn (broken), it needs to be slowly forced back. A piece of plywood thick enough to not deflect (or maybe some bridgework on the plywood) is needed. If the panel can be removed, left in the frame, set it on a table. Set the plywood on the glass (cut maybe 1" smaller in both directions of the frame opening). Set a couple bricks or blocks on it and walk away from it.

The key here is time. Allow it to creep back to flat, or pretty close to flat. This could take several days or a week or two.

I've seen this done in the frame, but a couple stout cleats need to be secured to the window frame, and some threaded rod used to jack between the cleat and plywood plate. Give the nuts on the rod a half turn a couple times a day.

Good luck.....

Pete
 
olgentdc- Could you please post a pic of the damage? I'd like to see what you are requesting help for before I add suggestions.

Greg
 

I have opened my email several times Olgent , but it seems it won't stay open for you to respond .
Perhaps someone might point out why ?

Otherwise , good luck with the harvest
:)
 
Cut a piece of plywood or whatever, slightly smaller than the glass. Use a hair dryer or heat gun on low to warm the unit up. When warm (not hot) gently press the plywood against the glass. Go slowly, it will take time. HTH
 

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