Antique brass chandelier - arms bent (chandelier arms not mine)- need help.

[Gary McG]

Greetings

We just hung 3 80-year-old chandeliers. It wasn't until they were up that we noticed a few of the arms were bent; some of the light fixtures are listing to port, some to starboard, by as much as 30 degrees.

A friend came over, inspected the chandeliers, and proclaimed that the arms were cast and could not be bent back to the original position without snapping. Could this be true? If so, how did the arms get bent out of whack in the first place? It appears to me that the arms are not cast but that the leaf-like decorations on the arms are.

I would greatly appreciate any knowledgeable suggestions as to how to go about straightening the dang thing. (Just to avoid confusion let me state that "don't buy chandeliers on ebay!" is not a knowledgeable suggestion regarding chandelier repair.)

Thanks in advance.

Gary

p.s. I live in Southeast MI (Ann Arbor) if anyone knows of any local professional chandelier tamers. There were none in the phone book.

p.p.s. Also please don't respond with "I can't believe you hung

80-year-old Chandler!!" If you are prone to do this, please read the first sentence again.

[Ian Stirling]

If they were not like this originally, and none have broken, then they must be able to take bending by at least that amount. Carefully rebend one. (check to make sure that they are not fixed in some way and the fixings have come loose.) The absolute worst that can happen is that one breaks.

[Zemedelec]

Well, cast metal is much more brittle than wrought metal. Something about the way the atoms are arranged. If you drop something of cast metal, it may break; the same object made of wrought metal would go "boing" with a little bounce and settle down relatively unharmed. That's why the best swords, etc. were wrought, not just cast. zemedelec

[Joe Bobst]

If this was my project I would take the assembly to my local music shop. They have technicians that work on band instruments (you should see the pitiful trombones returned from middle school rentals!). The techniques for one should work well for the other. Good luck.

Joe

[RamblinOn]

Electrified? Wiring goes through tubular "brass"? If they are tubular arms, then they are not likely cast, and you can perhaps safely bend them back. First, make sure (I know - you already did :o) That each arm is seated the same depth in the main part of the fixture, and the sockets are seated properly. Possibility: someone dismantled them at some time to polish or repair them, and didn't get the right parts back on the right fixture. Usually not that complicated to take apart - someone put them together, so's someone can take them apart as well.

[Gary McG]

Darn good point, if it's wired internally it's probably not cast. Only one of the chandeliers is not wired internally, I successfully bent one that was back into shape.

Thanks again.

Gary the Chandelier Wrangler

[Frogleg]

What a good idea!

[ssiii]

replying to Gary McG, ssiii wrote: How did you do that please?