My teapot lid is cracked

August 27, 2018 11:06 PM

My beloved Curve Teapot's lid cracked in half. The replacement lids only ship to the US, so it'll take me ages to get one. I can still use the lid because the silicon ring is holding the two cracked halves snugly together (see pictures). Are there food/heat-safe sealants I could use to repair the lid? I don't want to replace this teapot as I am fond of it in a crouton-petting way. The answers in the previous askme make me deeply cautious.
posted by dorothyisunderwood to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

Best answer: Use Elmer's china & glass cement. You can get it from amazon and possibly from local building/diy type stores. It's heat resistant and designed for repairing that type of thing and it's safe to eat or drink from things repaired using it. I'm sure if your local store doesn't have that it'll have something that does the same job. You really have nothing to lose but the price of the glue, because the lid is broken anyway.
posted by The Monkey at 11:40 PM on August 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The replacement lid is only $12.60 including shipping and my sister would be happy to re-ship it to you from the US to wherever you are. In the meantime, I would not try to seal the entire crack; instead I would use a food safe epoxy on the underside of the lid, in the dome area above the seal only. In other words, rather than trying to force glue into the crack, just apply a few bandaid drops.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:17 AM on August 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I would also be happy to re-shop this to you, just PM me!
posted by mccxxiii at 3:27 AM on August 28, 2018

Best answer: China & Glass cement is exactly what this repair needs. I have used it to glue handles back on ceramic teacups -- even hand-thrown ones -- and they've been in service for years, including hundreds of trips through the dishwasher. Try it first, then worry about a replacement.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:15 PM on August 28, 2018

Response by poster: You are all awesome, thank you! I managed to get my hands on a tube of Elmer's and it is now drying on a shelf for the recommended 16 hours. I'm going to wait for the replacement because I'm pretty sure the whole pot will meet its demise thanks to my goblin children and cats at some point.

I have a bunch of other broken ceramics I'm going to try repairing now too with some bandaids and sturdy play doh to hold them together.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:48 PM on August 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: My smallest just broke a favourite mug as I typed out my answer. So the glue will be a new kitchen junk drawer fixture!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:20 PM on August 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Just to update - the glue did not work for the handle of the mug but did work for the teapot lid. No idea why, same long drying time and amount. The mug handle fell apart the moment anyone touched it, but the teapot is sturdy and back in rotation. We've been able to (hand)wash and use it as normal.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:44 PM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]