Most often the repairs we do in our shop are minor: sockets, cords, switches. This blog has covered a lot of the basics. We want you to know there is more to lamp repair than the little stuff. Sometimes you can take a fixture from the trash bin and make it work again. Older lamps are especially worth the time to repair. When they are made with solid brass components they can be hammered, polished, buffed, soldered and worked back to working order (in most cases).
We picked up this lamp and thought it would be a good candidate for restoration. Most of the core pieces were intact and the few missing pieces (canopy, loop, finial, socket shell) can be replaced and match pretty close. The body is made from solid brass so if there are bent pieces, we can hammer them back into shape.
The first thing we do is make sure we have all the lamp parts needed to make this restoration a success. As mentioned a few parts are missing or will need to be replaced: brass sockets, lamp chain, brass canopy, blind pendant stem with loop, tassel finial, and loop.
First step is to take the old lamp apart. Everything comes off for now.
Next we strip the paint off the lamp. It is chipped and could be painted back if we discover there is extensive discoloration.
Now it is time to work on the body. This lamp is bent in many places. The main body has a top and bottom that will not fit together because of the bent edges. With a rubber hammer we slowly work around the edges to straighten them out.
Next we work on the shade holders. These too are bent out of shape and are missing some eyelets. First we hammer the shade holders back in place and replace the eyelets.
With all the pieces stripped, hammered, and refurbished the lamp is ready to be put back together. First the shade holders are attached to the arms on the lamp body. Then the socket cap is attached in the shade holder. The socket interior is wired with a 12 inch piece of lamp cord. The lamp cord is threaded through the shade holder.
The key is attached to the socket interior and the socket shell is snapped into the socket cap.
The lamp cord from both shade holders are wired together in the lamp body.
The fixture body is closed. The finial on the bottom and the loop on the top of the body keep the fixture closed.
Now we are ready for some bulbs and shades to test the lamp.
Back to life! Total time: < 2 hours Total cost: <$100.00
For the final picture we chose 2 Early Style Embossed Wreath fixture shades.
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