How to fix a broken stone statue

Though stone is known for being hard and tough, it is also brittle, and repairing stone can be troublesome. When repairing a stone sculpture, the challenge of the project lies in concealing the repair and in making sure that it doesn't happen again, or that the break is as strong or stronger than the rest of the sculpture. It's a difficult project, but with patience and good planning, your sculpture can look as though nothing ever happened.

Drill a hole into one half of the broken sculpture, using a drill fitted with a masonry bit or carbide-tipped drill bit. The hole needs to be about the same diameter as your steel rod. This rod is going to add stability to your repair so that it doesn't break again at that spot by connecting the two pieces of your sculpture together. Angle your drill so that it goes straight inward to accommodate this rod. Start with a small bit and move to a larger one, if necessary. Wipe away the dust, but save as much of it as you can for later.
Place a piece of tracing paper over the part of the stone sculpture into which you drilled. Trace around the perimeter of the damaged area and mark where the hole is. Poke a hole through the paper at the hole. You must drill a corresponding hole into the other half of the sculpture; this will help you make a perfect match.
Place the tracing paper over the other half of the sculpture and use it to mark the necessary location of the other hole. The hole in the paper can help you make your mark. If you have trouble getting the paper to stay perfectly in place, tape it in place or smear a little water-soluble glue on the paper so that you can mark it. Take away the paper and drill the hole. Again, save the dust and wipe off any glue.
Clean out the holes on both sides. Use some compressed air, if necessary.
Cut the rods to an appropriate length so that they fit in the holes you made. Unless you have a very large sculpture that needs thick rods, a hacksaw will be suitable for cutting the rods.
Place the pins into their holes and fit the sculpture together to ensure that the pins align and that the two parts fit together perfectly before you continue.
Mix some clear, 2-part bonding epoxy. Fill the holes with the epoxy and put in the pins. Add a little epoxy to the surface between the two halves, as well. Many epoxies start to cure very quickly, so read the instructions to get an idea of how much time you have. Work fast and ensure that you have everything ready before you start mixing. Wipe or scrape off any epoxy if extra oozes out from the break. Let the epoxy cure for at least eight hours.
Mix some filler epoxy with the stone dust that you saved. This will make the epoxy blend in with the statue. Fill in any visible cracks or gaps with this epoxy. If the statue is smooth, make the epoxy flush and smooth with the rest of the statue. Alternatively, if the statue is rough, add texture after the epoxy has cured for an invisible repair, using a rotary tool or a file.

Below is a basic lesson / tutorial on how to fix / mend broken stone sculpture if you choose to do it yourself. This tutorial may assist you to repair your broken statue using commonly available materials and tools saving you the cost of repair.

Lakeside Pottery repair, fix and restore a wide range of materials which include pottery, ceramic, porcelain, china, terra-cotta, clay, stoneware, stone and metal sculpture, plaster and resin.

For more lessons and tutorial and more detailed sculpture repair step by step instructions and where to buy materials.

For "before and after" repair examples

If you decide to use our restoration services, we will be glad to provide you with an estimate for the repair.

This statue is about 3 feet tall and about 70 lbs. Remove loose fragments or old glue.

The selection of drilling location needs to be in the center of stone mass on both parts, the head and the body.

The drilled stone dust is saved for later to be used to fill in the large gaps between the two parts once cemented.

Once you have drilled the holes on one side of the broken sculpture, how do you match the holes in the other side? Place a paper over the drilled surface, glue it down with water soluble glue (tape did not work in this example - it did not adhere to the soft stone surfaces) and outline the hole and the edges of the stone. Then, poke holes through the paper marking drilled holes. Follow the steps below and mark the exact hole location on the other portion of the sculpture (head) for accurate alignment location transfer.

Note that the epoxy, once cured, is much harder than the stone in this case. Therefore, drilling the holes wider will not create weakness. Wider holes will ease the fit requiring less accurate holes alignment.

Mark with pencil the holes location on the other broken piece and verify marking. Drill the matching holes on the other broken piece

Remove dust from holes and clean surfaces well. Cut metal rod to the correct size (need at least 3")

Cut rod to size (in this case about 4-1/2"). Place in holes and verify alignment.

Mix enough epoxy to fill holes in bottom and top and cover the surface. If using 5-minutes epoxy (where to get epoxy), make sure you are all prepared and possibly have an assistant. The 5-minites epoxy starts to set after 2-3 minutes

Once clear epoxy is cured, mix the filler epoxy with the stone dust you have saved (about 30% dust and 70% epoxy) and fill all the gaps. In this case, we used the PC-11 (where to get PC-11 filler) slow cure filler epoxy. Wait 24 hours before handling.

Once filler is cured, grind, drill, poke, and scratch surface to duplicate the rest of the sculpture surface texture

Match color and mix the right sand grain sizes with the matched acrylic and bonding materials. in this case air brushing is the best method. See painting tips and tutorial.

Once dry, apply the right sheen glaze / protective coating