My great-grandma's porcelain teapot just had a spectacular failure

I was trying to be careful, I really was. I pulled it out of the cabinet to show my cousin, and the handle just snapped clean off in my hand. It happened last Sunday afternoon. The thing is over 100 years old, so I guess the glue finally gave up. I spent two hours trying to find a food-safe epoxy that would work on porcelain. Has anyone else had a fragile heirloom just disintegrate on them, and what did you use to fix it?

3 comments

3 Comments

ben1381mo ago

Food-safe epoxy" takes me back. My uncle tried to fix a cracked clay bean pot with some. He got it all mixed and applied, then realized the instructions said it needed to cure for a full week before any food contact. He left it on the washing machine and my aunt ran a load of towels. The vibration sent the pot, epoxy and all, onto the concrete floor. It was more of a collection of pieces after that.

nathanrobinson14d ago

Actually, epoxy doesn't need a full week to cure before food contact. Most food-safe epoxies are fully cured after 24 to 72 hours, not seven days. Your uncle might've been looking at the "fully hardened" time which is longer but that's about strength, not safety.

max_davis1mo ago

My three broken mugs from last year, ben138, now make perfect sense.