My solid brass chandelier has a broken arm. There's a fracture that goes almost halfway through the arm. I don't know how long it's been there, could be a 100 years or just a month. Do you think it's better to do something about it, or just wait and see if it breaks? Is repairing it easier or more difficult while the candle arm is still attached? Adding now this I forgot to mention: The chandelier arm has a dozen mozzarella stick -sized crystals hanging off it, so there's that weight and a candle it has to support. The damage is in the upper corner.
That looks like it's been there a long time , & if so it's been able to support the weight. Any repair would be best when disassembled..
Think you’d get better info if u posted pix of the whole thing. Also the tiny area you pictured doesn’t look like brass to me, both the color and texture are unlike brass imo. If you use someone’s fix for brass and it is really wrought iron or something else, the fix may not work. Surface looks to me like gold paint; I don’t know any actual metal with that color. Texture of rougher part in pic looks like wrought iron. But wthdik!
You're right about the gold paint, you may have even noticed the question I posted a few days ago about how to remove gold paint from brass. I didn't mention it in this one, not deeming it important. The shiny and smooth area you see towards the left in the picture is where the paint has worn off. The lighting could have distorted the colors. I'm quite certain the fixture is brass and cast. I'll take another look at it pretty soon and update in case there's some uncertainty. Thanks for the advice and repair suggestions komokwa, too.
It's not broken. Probably a casting error, and not due to stress - if it was due to stress it would have broken off. Haven't you heard the expression, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I think it applies in this case.
I looked more carefully and realized the gap you see is the top of an intentional groove cut in the “vertical” member, a backwards, squarish “C” shape into which the horizontal piece fits. You can almost see the vertical part of the groove which is 3 or 4 times as long as the open horizontal part, and to which the horizontal member appears to be brazed or welded. So that gap has been there since the thing was made. I’m still thinking the rough-surfaced “vertical” piece is wrought iron because I don’t know of any other substance with that appearance on the surface. Check with a magnet, brass doesn’t attract a magnet.
I tried and turns out a magnet doesn't react to the metal. The texture, if it looks like wrought iron could be due to the gold paint.
