# Can a Piece of Antique Porcelain Be Re-Fired?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-piece-of-antique-porcelain-be-re-fired/613901>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 25, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-piece-of-antique-porcelain-be-re-fired/613901 "2012-02-25T00:33:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-piece-of-antique-porcelain-be-re-fired/613901/1 "2012-02-25T00:33:16Z")

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I have an Edwardian sink-the glazed surface is in bad shape (craked and stained). Can such a piece be reglazed and fired? What king of ceramics manufacturere wold do such a job?

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**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-piece-of-antique-porcelain-be-re-fired/613901/2 "2012-02-26T07:53:08Z")

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I don’t know… So, I asked someone who is both a ceramic artist and teacher. Probably tomorrow, maybe Monday.

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**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-piece-of-antique-porcelain-be-re-fired/613901/3 "2012-02-28T19:08:36Z")

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OK… my friend says “yes” but with some caveats:

> [@](#):
>
> yes, ceramics can be refired, but you have to be careful. Different glazes and clays fire to different temperatures and it’s almost impossible to tell what temperature it was fired to originally. If you fire it too high, you could have problems (melting and cracks).You can always fire to a lower temp. to avoid this, but it might not heal the cracks.

If there is a makers name somewhere and you do some research you might be able to find the composition of the clay used, etc. Otherwise, it seems a bit of a crap shoot.

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**Author:** ![andyleonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@andyleonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyleonard)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-piece-of-antique-porcelain-be-re-fired/613901/4 "2012-02-29T02:48:03Z")

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Do you have an iron sink with a ceramic glaze or do you have a solid ceramic sink? Magnet?

Old Jaguar (50’s-60’s) exhaust manifolds are iron (like the sinks) and are coated at the factory with a thick baked porcelain ceramic that chips off. I have seen them stripped and reglazed and they look new. Who does it? Don’t know. Your sink is bigger, but not a lot. Might fit in their oven.