Thumb-turn Latches

If you'd found one of these in a bag and the other laying on the floor 30 feet away (and two years ago) in your basement, would you have known that they belong together?

Me either.

I'm glad that two years ago I saved the the two thumb-turns. I'd always wondered what they were for.

I'd found the cover plate in a bag with a bunch of random stuff earlier in the week.

Fortunately there was a door that still had the cover plate, but it was missing its thumb-turn.

I have no idea how I remembered that I had these thumb-turns with 1/4-inch square spindles. It was just one of those "I wonder if that thing in the basement will fit this" moments...

Crystal Door Knob Parts

There are pieces of hardware missing (and hiding) everywhere.

When I ordered the mail slot, I also ordered a handful of new door knob spindles (top). Some old ones were in bad shape (bottom) - the threads were mangled, the corners were rounded-off, etc. As a result you never knew if the latch would open or the knob would fall off in your hand.

I suspect this pair of knobs were purposely missing their rosettes. The threads on the end of this spindle were so bad you couldn't thread the knobs on unless the rosettes on both sides were removed.

I finally got around to installing the new spindles today. And now that I know how well they work, I need to inventory every door and decide how many more we need.

Several of the doors are missing set-screws for the spindle, rosettes for the knobs (center of the picture), thumb-turn latches, and keyhole covers. While I was cleaning the basement recently, I found some of the missing hardware - a handful of rosettes and keyhole covers. Not all of the missing ones, unfortunately.

And, of course, the screws are nowhere to be found. That's OK though, many of the installed rosettes and keyhole covers are missing screws.

I'll just do my part to jump start the economy by buying a box of 100 at Seven Corners - I'll probably need at least that many...

And I still have some antiquing solution left.

Reupholstery

Projects always take longer than you think...

A while ago I'd repaired the dining room chairs. However there were two chairs that had large red wine stains on them. Reupholstering them was today's project.

In the picture is a finished chair (left) and a stained chair (right).

Of course, doing the first one took several hours of trial and error to get the fabric to lay properly. And the second one took only 30 minutes or so.

Like in life, you don't know everything you need to know until after you're done doing it...

New Mail Slot - Part 2

Another week where I'm staying home from work to... work!

I've finally been able to reattach the box that's on the inside of the door to catch the mail after it comes through the mail slot.  It is a clever old design, especially the sides that fan out like playing cards when you open it.

It had been attached by nailing through the front of the door.  Not the easiest for removal and re-installation.  But it's not like you'll ever need to remove and re-install it.  I mean, a wooden door won't ever need to be re-finished will it?

New Mail Slot

The stuff we ordered from House of Antique Hardware arrived over the weekend.  One of the things was a new mail slot.

The old one (top) didn't quite fit the period of the house.  The new one (bottom) looks much better.

Once again, what should have been a 30 minute task... took 4 days.

To be fair, daylight savings time played a role in that - I had other commitments during daylight and it's hard to do this kind of work in the dark.

The slot came with all the proper hardware, except that it's meant for a door that is 1/2 inch thicker.  So I needed to make a trip to get shorter screws.

And though both slots "swing out", the new one's pivot point is behind the trim.  So I needed to remove some extra material from the door.  And re-install the slot. And remove it. And remove some more material from the door.  And re-install the slot. And remove it...

And, obviously, the door needs to be re-screened and re-finished.  I'm saving that for next spring.