old wounds

[Buck]

What's the consensus on old rock chip wounds? I almost always ask my customers how long they have had the rock chip. I almost always drill them out of they're six months or older or the pit looks yellowish.

Also, how about someone elses repair that needs repairing?

Thanks,
Buck

[GlassStarz]

the older they are the more likely they have contamination and crutz in the break sometimes the old drilum is the only way but usualy I can look at the break with a magnifier to get a look at whether its needed I dont like to drill if i can avoid it. I used to drill everything now a bit and a full charge on my dremil will go 3 months

[glassdoctor]

For "virgin" repairs, (where nobody has already done a repair) I don't find that age is much of an issue in most cases. Unless it has been there for years or they drive on gravel roads, you shouldn't have a problem.

Of course, the fresher the chip the better. Chips that are only a few days/weeks old, and have been parked in a garage at night, not rained on every day, etc... are what we all want to repair.

I do mostly wholesale work, so I don't know the exact age of what I am fixing, and rarely have a real issue with a chip that's not obvious to the naked eye. For example, if you see a large combo that has "dirt" in the center area near the impact, you know you have an old/dirty break.

As for your second question about an "old" repair that needs "re-repaired", that's a whole topic unto itself. I'm sure there must be threads on that already with some good info.

I re-do a lot of old repairs. It really takes experience to learn what can be done, and what to walk away from. Each one is it's own animal... and the goal of the repair makes a difference in whether to work on one or not. Often they can't be cleared up 100%... very rarely will the come out the same as a virgin repair. But they can indeed be re-done successfully at least some of the time.

The basic concept is break the bone to reset it... drill and re-break what needs filled...