When recently tasked with the full restoration of a Victorian stained glass window dating from the mid 1800’s, we quickly realised we were faced with a problem. Having stripped out all the old lead came from the window we found that its “core” was only around 0.8mm. The standard core of today’s new replacement lead came is 1.2mm, effectively meaning the window would grow as the original glass panels were re-built using the new lead. So….. how to solve this problem?

Fortunately for us we know a man who knows a thing or two about engineering. Having made a quick telephone call to explain our predicament, we only had to wait a day or two for our new, one-of-a-kind “Lead Core Reducer” to arrive. 

The short video above shows the new device being tested out in the studio and we’re happy to report that it works perfectly! Below are images of the lead pre and post reduction and the “Lead Core Reducer” itself.

Thanks to the skills of Scott Wolstenholme of Danley Engineering we have now successfully (and with minimum growth) re-built the troublesome window in question.

New lead came with a core measuring 1.29mm prior to being fed through the reducer

New lead came with a core of 0.84mm having been fed through the reducer

Section views of new lead came pre and post reduction

The Lead Core Reducer device