During the German occupation of Holland in W.W.II, many Dutch bells were confiscated. The bells were found in the post war years but unfortunately many of them were cracked or broken. In August 1938, tests had been carried out by a Dutch foundry who used the manual metal arc process to repair and fully restore the bells. This process was later used to restore many of these bells.

In the following years various bells were welded using this process but the success rate for soundbow cracks was very low.

In 1967, at the instigation of the Council for the Care of Churches and the Worshipful Company of Founders, The Welding Institute embarked on a programme of research into the welding of cracked bells.

It was felt that the research facilities and technical know how available at Abington could find an answer to the bell welding problem in this country.

Investigators at Abington felt that the oxyacetylene welding process could be improved upon to give a better quality weld. Many other welding processes were examined and many tests carried out before the conclusion was reached that the Tungsten Inert Gas process (TIG) with a specially cast filler metal gave the best result.

In 1968, Soundweld adopted this process and is still using it to date. Many modifications have been made to the processes used since then. Today, the welding has progressed to such a level that all cracks repaired anywhere in the bell are guaranteed for a period of 5 years from the date of welding. This would have been unheard of in the early days of welding as it was quite common for the bells to crack again.

In 2002, after some experimentation, a method was perfected to repair clapper indents. A special jig had to be constructed to enable the bell to be tipped totally upside down and welding to be carried out to the inside of the bell.

The development of the process continues to evolve. One of the latest investigations is into the possibility of Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding of cracks. This would allow complicated cracks to be welded more easily than is the case today.