Restoration/Rewire Vintage Rooster Chandelier From NYC Dumpster to French Farmhouse

My cousins found this beautiful vintage chandelier in a dumpster/skip in Manhattan and carried it all the way over to us in rural France. I've only ever seen one other similar light fitting and it was on line, on Etsy, where it was described as 'French Farmhouse Style', so it looks like this rooster has come home to his native roost.

The chandelier is made of mild steel and then finished with a verdigris patina. I'm not sure of its age but looking at the sconces and the good quality of the workmanship (witness the down-sweep of the 'cage' meeting the 'perch' and the individual welding of the feathers), I'm guessing a 1950's or maybe a later artisanal piece. I deduce this because it appears to have been MIG welded, a process that only started commercially in 1948.

When it first arrived one of the bulb holders and sconces had come adrift so I had to repair that before I could start the re-wirng. The piece that had come apart was a standard steel nut so it was easy to weld it back in place.

Check national regulations for wiring standards. You can normally find these from an electrical or DIY supplier.

It is advisable at the same time to replace the bulb holders unless of course they are vintage and elegant!

Connecting Block - I replaced the existing connectors in the top of the chandelier because they were 'Micky Mouse' and I did not believe they were acceptable nor safe and so I replaced them with a standard connecting block.

I used the existing Earth Wire because it was in a transparent sheath and this I felt was not obtrusive in the fitting and was in excellent condition.

Replacement lighting cable of suitable standard was readily available from my local DIY store as were the bulb holders.

Matching or contrasting silk fabric to cover the new plastic bulb holders - dressmaking remnants, such as the embroidered silk I found, are perfect.

TOOLS

Wire cutters/strippers

Screw drivers including an electrician's screwdriver

Multimeter or Continuity Tester

Spanners

Electricians Tape

Pliers and a lot of Patience

Before I commenced the re-wiring, I needed to protect the chandelier (particularly the sconces) and make it stable, so it wouldn't get accidentally damaged during the rewiring process. To this end I had a simple pallet wood 'X' stand I had made to support a dressmaker's dummy. The link to how to make one of these can be found at the end of this instructable.

The first stage was to to remove the old bulb holders. I detached them from the original wires by unscrewing them from the base of each bulb holder- I did not cut the wires as I was going to need the maximum length of original wire exposed so as to be able to attach the replacement cable to it for the rewiring process.

At the top of the chandelier was the hanger and short chain for attaching the fitting to a supporting hook. The power supply cable entered the chandelier at this point and comprised of a closed metal cylinder the upper and lower covers on which were removed by unscrewing the hangar.

Inside the cylinder were the connections necessary to divide the incoming power feed into the five pairs of wires going down inside the arms to the bulb holders. An earth wire was attached to the inside of the metal cylinder and this I considered to be suitable to keep as it was perfectly OK when I checked it for continuity with my multimeter.

I had disconnected the wires from their rather crude connectors at the top of the chandelier so that I could see each pair of wires entering the square tube of each descending arm. I had decided that I would use the original wire to act as a 'pull through' for the new cable and planned to attach the new cable to the free ends of the wire at the bulb holder end and pull it through. I had mistakenly believed I could do this without needing to remove the sconces. This I soon discovered was not possible as these sconces were fitted to a threaded steel nipple which was fixed to the nut on the arm. The angle the wire was taking into the arm was extremely acute and it was impossible to pull the new wire through due to this. Thus, I needed to remove each securing nut, sconce and nipple from the arms prior to feeding in the replacement cable.

All but one of these nipples were removed with the minimum trouble thanks to my trusty can of 'WD40' but one nipple would not budge and the thread of this one was damaged in the process of removal. Once all these components were unscrewed, the route for the cable was less restricted.

In order to run the new cable through the arms, I exposed the new wires at the end of the cable and twisted them into those of the old wires and taped them together. I could then pull the old wire from the top of the chandelier whilst simultaneously feeding the new cable in up through the arm. I then repeated this with the other four arms.

I now needed to make a new nipple by drilling a hole down the centre of a bolt and cutting it to length. As already mentioned, you can see this process and the whole rewire from beginning to end in the film.

The new cable was now fed through the nipples, sconces, washers and locking nuts and the bared ends of the new wires attached to the bulb holders, which were then screwed in place.

At the top of the chandelier, I cut the wires to length and connected these to the connecting blocks. I then fed the new supply cable through the hangar and the lid of the cylinder and attached it to the other side of the connecting blocks. After this was done, I closed the top of the housing and tightened the suspension/hanging ring.

I attached a plug to the power feed wire and fitted the bulbs in place so I could check connections. After that was done I was ready for the lighting ceremony and the chandelier was fitted into place and wired into the house lighting circuit.

Thanks for reading!

Link to Dressmaker's Dummy project and fabrication of the wooden stand used to support the chandelier

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