Hi fellow lighting nuts,
Just thought I would share this with you guys:
I have a Westinghouse bug-a-way light bulb, probably from the 60s or 70s (which is why I am posting this in the "vintage and antique" category). Anyway, this is one tough bulb that has had an amazing life! I bought it and several other vintage big lights, along with several 100w incandescent bulbs.  Anyway, one of the vintage bug lights was a 60w Westinghouse bug-a-way.  I bought it in Morro Bay, California at a thrift store, and brought it back with me to Alaska! I used it since August 2011 in my woodshed, until very recently.  The other day, I noticed the bulb was out.  Sure enough, the filament had detatched. Luckily it was a supported vertical filament, so by shaking the bulb while on in my bulb tester (clip light without shade or clip) I made it work again.  You can be sure... if it's Westinghouse it'll have a second life!

My parents told me that back in the day (Soviet Russia) they would "repair" burned lightbulbs this way, as getting new was sometimes a problem. Leave them in the pendant socket, and play with it (on) untill circuit is closed again, then leave the pendant bent in that position so the filament keep working. Sometimes the filament would even weld back together at the point of contact (but still be fragile, so best to not move the repaired lightbulb)

I used the same way to convert burned long-filament 240V (traffic light, cone etc) lightbulbs to extra low voltage - shake the filament out of all the supports and roll it as much times as possible just between the 2 main wires, with several sections in parallel that would light up well on 12V, or getting the filament crossed which would make a small section light at near full brightness

I did the same thing Ash did with a 7 watt clear nightlight lamp. Plugged it in to the 120V mains, had a very brief and intense bluish flash, and the whole surface of the glass was coated in a mirror finish. I assumed that the metal from the filament was vapourized and stuck to the bulb. I was about 12 years old then...

I have done that with 7w night light bulbs before it made a nice coat of silver and black and sometimes with specks of copper on the glass. As for regular bulbs I have done repairs like that so the bulbs last a little longer.

 I can repair some bulbs. even some of those unsuported like the sylvania lamp they tend to fail on the end
what i did. Have a transformer that do 480 volts with 3 120 volt lamps in series. with a broken lamp
filaments. the 480 volt OCV does a good job of welding the lamp back together. once repaired i put them back in
with a screw in dimmer to make it last a bit longer. 12 volt edison base bulbs are bit fun to repair
as 100 watts lamp draw 8 1/3 amps.