How to solder a samovar at home. Repair and restoration of samovars: saving authentic decor

The samovar is a symbol home comfort, warmth and prosperity, known since the time of Peter the Great. Modern products powered by electricity are of little value. Much more interesting are the flame devices (coal and kerosene). The restoration of samovars will help you to feel the life and mood of your ancestors, which will breathe a second life into your grandmother's dishes. However, the prices for this service are not always affordable, as the craftsmen consider such items to be antiques. Armed with tools and patience, you can repair a family heirloom yourself.

The main problems that may require restoration are: the appearance of dents, distortions, scale, loss of gloss, the need for tinning or replacement of parts. If the tea maker is purchased by hand, you should carefully examine its internal condition. Even with no external defects, the samovar can leak. The reason is barely noticeable microcracks. In such a case, you should immediately restoration work metal product.

Brass alloy emits oxides harmful to the body. To prevent them from entering the water, the internal cavity of the device must be covered with special food tin (purified from lead and other metal impurities).

In addition, a leaking samovar is dangerous because indelible rust appears at the site of cracks. Its pores contain a large number of harmful to human body bacteria. Also in water with rust, iron is present in high concentrations. Regular consumption of such a liquid will affect the functioning of the kidneys and liver. Metal in large volumes is poorly excreted from the body, so poisoning is inevitable.

In the old days, they did not know how harmful lead was to the body. The craftsman soldered dishes using this metal, without thinking about the consequences.

Kinds

Restoration of samovars can be complete, partial or museum. In the latter case, restore appearance product, but its further use for its intended purpose is impossible. Partial repairs provide for subsequent operation, but little attention is paid to restoring the original appearance of the item. With the complete restoration of the samovar, the internal parts of the product and its outer body are updated.

Partial

Most often, in order to restore the basic functions of a samovar, it is enough to polish the device, nickel plating, tinning, replacing handles, fittings, or eliminating a faucet leak. To polish the samovar, a regular dishwashing detergent will do.

You can thoroughly clean the plaque with tooth powder. This abrasive material does not scratch the surface.

If the key to the samovar faucet cannot be turned or removed, then to eliminate such a problem, special anti-corrosion agents will be needed that reduce the adhesion of metal to rust. After treating the part with grease, you should carefully remove it from the faucet. With your own hands, you can repair the elements of the vessel using nickel plating - this is the process of building up a layer of metal on the damaged area. The procedure is simple to perform, but is not applicable to tin, lead and zinc objects.

Integrated

Such a service as a complete restoration of a samovar is expensive for specialists. However, some problems can be fixed on your own. For example, dents are easily smoothed out with a rubber mallet. With gentle movements, tap on the protruding part of the dent. You can also correct irregularities with the help of mandrels. A metal hammer leaves marks from the impact. It is not suitable for straightening dents.

The complex restoration necessarily includes such procedures as replacing worn-out fittings, removing plaque, lapping, polishing, tinning, coating the product with nickel or silver. Also at home, you can solder the samovar. Important step- Find out exactly where the water is coming from. To work, you need to get a blowtorch or a propane-oxygen torch and copper-phosphorus solder.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Before soldering the dishes, they must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt.
2. Next, the flux is prepared: take 1 tablespoon of borax and boric acid, dilute them in 1 glass of boiling water.
3. Cracks are treated with the prepared flux.
4. Then the problem area is heated with a burner. The metal should acquire a reddish tint. In case of overheating, it will be much more difficult to solder.
5. Touch with solder to the heated section of the samovar. The metal will slowly begin to spread, falling into cracks.

You need to solder on a heat-resistant stand. good materials for this, a brick or asbestos plate is used.

Samovar tinning

In order to protect metal products from oxidation, their inner surface is coated with tin. This method of processing dishes is called "tinning", and the applied layer of metal is called "half". To reduce the cost of tin, bismuth is additionally used. Lead impurities, as well as toxic salts, are forbidden to be used in the process of preparing poluda.

Tinning a samovar is a simple procedure that prevents the formation of corrosion on metal surfaces. Step-by-step instruction next:

1. In order for the tin to lay better, the inside of the dish must be well cleaned. It is advisable to use an iron brush - it will quickly remove dirt and oxidation.
2. Next, the metal product is thoroughly washed with running water.
3. The dried inner cavity of the samovar is treated with ammonia.
4. Next, a little tin is placed in a heated dish. The metal should evenly cover all the walls of the vessel. After that, you need to wait for complete drying and setting of the half-day.

It's better to tinker on the street. If this is not possible, be sure to turn on the hood and open the windows. During the restoration activities, a lot of smoke will be generated.

DIY repair methods

Restoration of a samovar is a painstaking and difficult process. If you are not interested in the appearance of the product, at home you can eliminate some of the causes of breakage of dishes. Only specialists can restore a samovar without losing the beauty of its body. from tools and additional materials for self-restoration of the product, you may need: tin, hammer, abrasive, sandpaper, tow.

Repair steps at home:

• restoration of the hull (patching cracks, liquidation of leaks, straightening (removal of corrosion);
• cleaning the product from the inside (descaling, tinning);
• replacement of parts (if necessary);
• improvement of appearance (polishing).

Hull restoration

If there are dents on the samovar, you can straighten the product with your own hands. To make it easier to correct irregularities, it is recommended to unsolder the free pipe. This simple technique allows you to freely place your hand, as well as tools inside the samovar. wooden block in this case will play the role of an anvil perfectly. To level the case, use a rubber mallet and measure the impact force so that the dent straightens out. It is better to straighten the product on weight, so the pressure will not be transmitted to the body of the samovar.

Cracks in the body can be soldered if a torch is available. Often the samovar breaks from the bottom of the flame tube and, as a result, starts to leak. Restorers recommend soldering the body of the product from the inside - so the seam will be barely visible.

Crane repair

Lapping a faucet is quite feasible at home. If it leaks from the bottom of the product, then the key in it is located high. Conclusion: it must be lowered below, having treated it with lapping paste before that. Next, the samovar is filled hot water. Turn the key in the faucet in smooth circular motions until the liquid stops dripping. If it does not open at all, the mounting hole can be processed with a “liquid key”. After the time specified in the instructions, you need to lightly hit with a hammer on the stuck part of the structure.

After done repair work it is advisable to rinse the samovar several times with diluted citric acid so that the remnants of the abrasive agent do not get into the tea.

Lubricate the samovar key with lapping paste

Then insert the key into the faucet. Fill a bowl with hot water

Turn the key several times

Replacement of internal elements

Presented for sale a large assortment taps for samovars, so replacing this accessory is quite simple. An important step in this matter is to correctly measure the parameters of the part. After purchase, lubricate the faucet vegetable oil or vaseline. This technique increases the service life of the product.

Often in a samovar grate fails. Before replacing the part, it is necessary to desolder the pipe. Its lower part must be checked for cracks. After these actions, a new grate is placed in the pipe, the body is cleaned. Further, the remaining parts of the samovar are installed in their places.

Faucet replacement

We solder the pipe

We mount the grate and solder the pipe back

Descaling folk methods

To get rid of scale, you can use special means containing organic acids. They effectively remove stubborn limescale without scratching the inside of the cookware. If there is no special powder at hand, you can use improvised means, for example, vinegar. It is diluted in water in a ratio of 1:5, the vessel is filled with the resulting mixture for a while (until the scale is completely dissolved).

Soda is an excellent remedy for hard deposits. For 1 liter of water, you need to take 3 tablespoons of loose powder, boil the resulting mixture in a samovar for about 20 minutes, then pour everything out and repeat the procedure, but with the addition of vinegar essence (1/2 cup of the product per 4 liters of liquid).

Potato peelings are faithful helpers in the fight against scale. The samovar should be filled by a third with them, covered to the top with water. After boiling, the vessel should be left with filled cleanings for several hours. After that, the samovar must be thoroughly washed with soda solution. With regular cleaning of the product from scale, its thermal conductivity increases.

To improve the condition of the body of the samovar, you can use special polishing agents. They will not only restore the shine to the dishes, but also cover it with a protective film that will prevent the surface from tarnishing. When purchasing a polish, you must read the instructions. It is important to find out if the chosen agent is compatible with the metal from which the samovar is made. It is recommended to use Metal Cleaner for cupronickel vessels. You can make dishes shine folk ways, for example, rubbing it with sand, soda or chalk.

Video

Today, in very rare cases, the samovar is used as a water heater. If we are talking about an electric samovar, then it fulfills its functions to a greater extent, but the so-called grandmother's samovars will not even save repairs (in the sense that they are unlikely to make tea in them). Indeed, the samovar today is a luxurious interior element. And in the kitchen, and in some cases, in the living room, it can become a design highlight. But here it would be appropriate to talk about such a concept as the restoration of samovars, because it is the transformation of these utensils that is in tune with the decorative purposes of using samovars.

If we talk about overhaul, that is, not only decorative, it can consist of many items.

Repair of samovars may include:

• Body straightening;
• Elimination of the causes of leaking pipes and taps, handles, etc.;
• Elimination of cracks;
• Scale control;
• Tinning;
• Replacement of samovar parts with preliminary selection;
• Hull cleaning;
• Final polishing of the case after cleaning.

Restoration is usually done by professionals, but with some knowledge of the basics of repair technology for such things, self repair restoration is quite real.

By the way, if you are the owner of an old samovar with a volume of 15-20 liters, even the highest quality restoration is unlikely to help it become an active subject for tea drinking. Well, if you are going to restore small samovars, then it is quite possible to return them to their original functionality.

How samovars are restored (video)

Samovar tinning: do it yourself

Metal utensils have one not the most pleasant property - air and ordinary food products act in such a way that over time the surface of such utensils is oxidized. And oxidation entails covering the surface with a film, which for human health poses a certain threat.

So that such a misfortune does not happen to your samovar, tinning is needed. That is, the surface of the samovar, the one that comes into contact with water, will be covered with a layer of metal, which is less susceptible to external influences. Most often, such a layer is represented by tin, and the process of coating with tin is called tinning. By the way, not only a samovar, but also an ordinary pot, cast iron, can be given this preventive procedure, which is neither particularly expensive nor very complicated.

Tinning a samovar at home:

• Clean the inner surface of the samovar with sandpaper - dirt and oxidation have probably collected there.
• After that, the inside of the samovar must be rinsed very well with water.
• Then you need to rub the samovar inside with either ammonia or soldering acid.
• After that, put the samovar on the stove, melt some tin in it and rub it well with tow. A layer of poluda (tin coating) should be on the entire inner surface.
• At the end of the work, you must make sure that the tin layer is on the entire inner surface, dense and uniform.

If possible, take pure tin for tinning, without such harmful impurities as lead and zinc. Tin can cover not only the inner layer, but also all parts of the samovar that come into contact with water.

Repair of cracks in the hull (video)

How to get rid of scale in a samovar: the right method

Without solving this problem, the repair of the samovar is not possible. Scale is a sediment that appears as a result of boiling low-quality water. In fact, you can use mass-market synthetic products designed to remove scale in electric kettles. But you can also make your own anti-scale agent or several at once.

To get rid of scale in a samovar, you will need:

• Any store remedy with a minimum of components (cheap and relatively natural);
• lemons;
• Lemon acid;
• Vinegar;
• Potato peelings.

The first method is the easiest, but not the most environmentally friendly. Subject the samovar to the actions that the instructions on the product prescribe. Be sure to rinse it with water after all the manipulations are completed.

You can easily get rid of scale in a samovar by boiling a carbonated drink "Sprite" in it for several minutes.

The second way: pour a whole bottle into a filled samovar acetic acid, heat the water in the samovar to 60 degrees, it is not worth boiling. Let this mixture sit in the samovar for about an hour, then rinse off. Other acids should not be used, they are more aggressive. That is, their danger is not only in the particles that may have remained on the walls of the samovar, but also in toxic fumes during the action of the acid.

Do-it-yourself fire samovar (video)

How to save a samovar from scale with lemon and potatoes

There are a couple more reliable ways that will solve the problem.

You can remove the scale like this:

• Lemon acid. Pour thirty grams of lemon into a samovar. Boil water, leave this solution in the samovar for 10-12 hours. Then thoroughly rinse the samovar without any special means.
• Lemons. Cut 4-5 lemons into circles or slices, throw into the samovar. Fill with water and boil. And then, as in the lemon method, the water with lemons will “work” for 12 hours, after which you drain it along with the scale, rinse with water.
• Potato peeling. Place well-washed cleanings inside the samovar. Fill with water, boil, leave for 5-10 hours. Then rinse the walls with baking soda and a sponge.

Each method is valid. Forbidden technique - a metal brush or knife. You simply deform the walls of the samovar, the fight against scale is not worth such sacrifices.

Samovar business (video master class)

Restoration is a big job, which begins with such routine trifles as getting rid of scale and tinning. Well, then you act according to the circumstances - either you replace the bad elements, or you eliminate the cracks and carry out the final work, the decor of the samovar.

Restoration of samovars (photo)

At the very beginning of the samovar movement, they were created from copper, tombac, brass using hand forging. To add sophistication, they were silvered and gilded. Handles and taps were made in the form of curlicues, animals, and fish. A wide variety of forms of samovars existed in Russia. Sketches were brought to life by great sculptors and artists. Therefore, each samovar was a masterpiece. No wonder this follower of the sbitennik (sbiten was prepared in it) became a symbol of Russia. Despite the variety of options, the basic elements are the same.

Now only true connoisseurs in Everyday life use a hot samovar.

There are two types of samovar restoration:

• museum,
• repair.

In the first case, it is restored to its original form. This model can no longer be used for its intended purpose.

A simple repair involves further joint tea drinking. Not always such a samovar remains in its original form after restoration. Some elements are being replaced with suitable modern counterparts.

If the samovar is worn out, you will quickly notice it. A puddle will definitely begin to appear during the heating process. And this can happen with an electric samovar. The metal from which the samovar is made is very thin. Boiling water daily can lead to such a breakdown.

Where and how to solder a samovar at present?

If you notice that the water is leaking, you need to determine the place where your "tea maker" leaked. You can turn to specialists. They will find a crack in a few days, tin it, polish it. The samovar will return to the house ready for new exploits.

The price of such repairs depends on the type of damage, as well as on the master.

If you have firmly decided that you will not entrust your samovar to anyone, then everything is in your hands. Per museum restoration better not to take it. Yes, and there’s nothing to it if you have a working samovar. Regular repairs will save the day.

Of course, ordinary lead solder will not work. You then drink this tea. Therefore, samovars are soldered with pure tin (if you find it) or silver. The second option is better.

You will need a blowtorch or a propane-oxygen torch. You could say it's a piece of jewelry.

Just soldering a crack without spoiling the appearance is unlikely to succeed. In addition, there is a possibility that it will leak again. It is more effective to first desolder the body, descale it with any of the means at hand (vinegar, lemon acid, "Antinakipin"), tin. And then solder everything.

Those who have already experimented with their samovar know that sealing a crack in the fastening of a jug of a "pot-bellied" miracle teapot to the body by simply sealing a crack is a "Sisyphean" work. Most likely, soon after such work, another leak will appear in a completely different place. Therefore, it is better to resolder the connection completely with such a crack. For this you need:

1. Unsolder the body from the very jug of your "thin" samovar.
2. Clean the jug and the body from the accumulated scale (with a suitable tool).
3. Tin the body and jug separately again.
4. Solder all elements again.

But if the scale is not removed, then high-quality sealing will not work. There are times when you buy an old samovar without leaks. But after removing the ancient scale, it begins to flow. There is a need for soldering. By the way, before you clean the old samovar, familiar to your ancestors, to a shine, think about whether it is worth doing. Maybe a touch of time will give your find a special charm. Such a samovar will become the property of your family. And for brewing tea, you can buy a brand new copy, without history.

Gramopfone 21-05-2009 16:35

Maybe someone will tell?
There is a copper samovar, everything is fine, we use it sometimes, but one problem is a small leak at the soldered seam in the bottom, where the firebox is soldered. No obvious cracks are visible, the scale is overgrown, and sometimes it starts to flow, especially after use. The hand does not pass and it is a little deep, otherwise I would have found a way to eliminate the leak - the samovar is small 3 liters. Can someone tell me what can be done if you have experience. Maybe something can be poured so that this crack is overgrown.

laugh 21-05-2009 18:52

IMHO, better for professionals trust.
Denyuh, of course, it will cost, but if the thing is expensive ......

Micro 21-05-2009 20:27

Need to solder. The downside is that the place is hard to reach...
Either put up with the leak, or look for the uncle "puddle-soldering-pots fixing"

Escarabajo 21-05-2009 21:22

And solder with food solder

laugh 21-05-2009 21:56

The problem may arise in the following way:
Samovars are usually nickel-plated. White shiny finish over brass samovar. If you solder, the nickel plating will be damaged in places of strong metal heating. Therefore, usually restored samovars have a brass sheen. Nickel plating is removed from them, then tinned, then polished.
This naturally comes out not cheap because the pros do it in factory conditions.
Finding an uncle, IMHO, is also expensive, but there are fewer or no guarantees at all, it's as lucky. Although the uncles are really "golden hands" for sure, it will be more difficult to find a handicraftsman than, for example, to order restoration at a factory in Tula. The financial question, unfortunately, has not been canceled.
... I myself am looking for "uncle" and digging information on my samovar

zavarow 21-05-2009 21:57

I believe that self-repair should be carried out in two stages:
1. Remove scale
2. Soldering
The first stage - you can use a solution of citric acid (boil in a samovar or pour boiling water and let stand a little). Topikstarter fears for the safety of tin on the walls (when removing scale, for example, with "anti-scale"), I believe that citric acid will not do anything bad to the walls. Personally, I clean the kettle by boiling a solution of vinegar - it removes scale well, but I don’t know whether there will be tinning on the walls, so I don’t discuss vinegar.
As for the second stage - soldering - not strong, unfortunately. In my mind, probably, you should heat the ENTIRE samovar (with pieces of tin in the right place), the tin will disperse there. Perhaps it is permissible to heat it locally (for example, with a blowtorch), but there is no experience ... Solder is not needed here, it seems, it flows at the old solder joint, maybe just warm up this place, it will be soldered
This is IMHO, I will be glad to criticism, because you also need to learn, maybe it will come in handy.

panhorunji 07-06-2009 19:15

The photo was posted ba, maybe then they would have heard more practical advice.

fabocon 19-06-2009 12:26

Troubled childhood memories. Samovar Tula, with a bunch of medals. The leak appeared to be in the same place as yours. One of the handy relatives literally melted a tin block in a crucible and carefully poured the entire seam through the upper neck. Subsequent long-term operation showed that the option was the only correct one, nothing leaked.