Glass and Mirrors - Mirror repair
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pounded thumb
06-02-03, 08:36 AM
Does anyone know of a simple way of repair a mirror if some of the backing has been scratched off?
I have a very old and large mirror and would like to hang it in my home but it has a few non-reflective spots.
Thank you.
I have a very old and large mirror and would like to hang it in my home but it has a few non-reflective spots.
Thank you.
SalvageCzar
06-02-03, 09:21 PM
I've seen mirror patch kits in hardware stores. Inside the kit is a clear brush-on glue and a piece of silver foil. They IMHO really don't work. I honestly don't know of any diy repairs.
Back in the 50s my parents dealt in mirrors - antiques, rare, and odd shaped styles. Nearly every mirror that came and went had some imperfection; bubbles, distortions or waves, in the glass, or slight damage to the silvering. Some mirrors had imperfections from the original silvering process. None of the repairs I ever saw, paint and foil usually, to the silvering were very successful and the mirrors were usually sent out for resilvering.
Resilvering involved having the backing paint chemically stripped and then acids were used to strip the silvering. The glass was then neutralized, cleaned and polished. Silver nitrate and bonding agents were then sprayed onto the glass. The spray mix used to be clear colored but turned silver after drying, and then the backing paint was resprayed. (Old - OLD mirrors were sometimes silvered with mercury and zinc).
I have mirrors come into my salvage yard, and they are very quickly gobbled up by interior designers who often need to have them resilvered. From my conversations with them the process has changed little, is not a diy project, and repairs still do not work.
Back in the 50s my parents dealt in mirrors - antiques, rare, and odd shaped styles. Nearly every mirror that came and went had some imperfection; bubbles, distortions or waves, in the glass, or slight damage to the silvering. Some mirrors had imperfections from the original silvering process. None of the repairs I ever saw, paint and foil usually, to the silvering were very successful and the mirrors were usually sent out for resilvering.
Resilvering involved having the backing paint chemically stripped and then acids were used to strip the silvering. The glass was then neutralized, cleaned and polished. Silver nitrate and bonding agents were then sprayed onto the glass. The spray mix used to be clear colored but turned silver after drying, and then the backing paint was resprayed. (Old - OLD mirrors were sometimes silvered with mercury and zinc).
I have mirrors come into my salvage yard, and they are very quickly gobbled up by interior designers who often need to have them resilvered. From my conversations with them the process has changed little, is not a diy project, and repairs still do not work.