Cathedral glass

[zxcvbob]

It's ridiculous to expect anyone here to know this, but you are all pretty old and experienced so here goes :D

I'm the chief bottlewasher at a little country church in a 120+ year old building.  (I don't preach, and I don't like to pray out-loud up front but can do it occasionally if I have to; I pretty much handle everything else.)  The church has old windows that originally had wavy glass, but most of them have been replaced with float glass :(  At the top of each window, way up high, is an arch made up of 3 panels.  Wood frames; I forgot to mention that.  I'll bet the top "kite" shaped panel in each one used to be colored glass, but now only a couple are colored.  One of the colored panels is cracked and needs replacing.  I'd like to replace it with a piece of colored cathedral glass, and if it goes well and is not too expensive do the same thing to all the other windows that have had the top panels replaced with clear float glass over the years (it's about 6 of them.)

Even though the panels are kite-shaped, they are kite shaped with curved sides, not straight.  If I can find some colored slightly-textured cathedral glass, how do you cut curves?  Or do you cut them straight and slightly oversized and then sand the edges to size?  And where to get the glass?  If I climb up there with a ladder and trace a pattern of the old window panel, is this something I can do myself, or with just the help of one of the artsy old women in the church?

I'd like to put old wavy glass back in all the clear window panels that have float glass, but cannot really justify doing that.  This is a historic (IMHO) building, but it has not been officially designated as such.  So I kind of want to use proper architectural materials for the period, but I don't really have to.

Any advice?  (that includes "run away, this is a much bigger project than it looks")

[vaskidmark]

Best advice is to start having bake sales to raise money to get the job done professionally.

Your local arts & crafts store can help you order the glass you are looking for.  They have, if nothing else, access to stained-glass crafts catalogs.  Be sure to buy the lead to hold your glass, and the solder needed to keep it all together.

Most folks I know who do this sort of thing take the current piece of glass out, trace it on the new piece, and use a plain glass cutter swinging it it the necessary arc(s).  Where necessary, they stop one arc, reposition themselves and the glass, and them move on.  Light tap all around the perimeter and out comes a quite curvy piece.  (They also tell me they practiced several times on "cheaper" float glass till they knew what they were doing.)

Oh!  They also say not to try to replace pieces individually while up on a ladder.  They say to take the whole section down inside its wooden frame and them dismantle it on a work surface.

Good luck.  Please remember that certain phrases associated with a project like this can be amplified by the acoustics of a church.

stay safe.

[Scout26]

Best advice is to start having bake sales to raise money to get the job done professionally.

I believe the correct phrase is "We need to hire a professional Glazier."

Can I get an Amen ??

[K Frame]

My Mother had the 2x2 foot circa 1903 stained glass window in her house repaired earlier this year. You do NOT want to know what it cost.

[zxcvbob]

Thanks guys.  From what I can tell from the ground, there is no lead or copper. The glass is just puttied in place like a normal wooden window that has multiple lights.  I need to crawl up there and look it over -- but not take anything apart yet.  (that ladder I had stolen last week would sure come in handy; it was a lot sturdier and I think longer than the church's aluminum ladder)