Saturday 3 September 2016

Door knobs and plates

This is a nice little door knob and door plate set - pretty easily available, these came from Dolls House Emporium.  I always like door knobs with a screw thread fastening one to the other.  The usual kind with a short stem on the knobs often need a bit nipped off their stems because when you shove the two of them into the drilled hole they prove too long for the thickness of the door and won't lie flush.

Fitting them - decide where the knob should go - check the ones in your house as a guide and/or research where they went at different times in history and on different style doors.  I am nothing if not pernickity about these things.  Mark the position with a pencil and hold the plate in place, keeping the hole for the knob over the pencil mark. 




 You can now make marks through the screw holes in the plate and a larger mark through the keyhole.  Take the plate away and colour round these marks.  I colour the screw holes with gold felt tip and the keyhole with black permanent marker.  They are done over-sized to be sure no white wood shows round the edges of the holes when the plate goes on.



top and bottom marks for screw holes


Put tiny bits of superglue on the door between the marked areas.  Thread the plate on the rod which has been screwed into one of the knobs and set it all in place.  Keep everything spot-on vertical.  Finish off with the addition of the plate and knob on the other side.  I do believe you can get screws small enough for these holes if you want to seek them out but the gold finish underneath does a good enough job at a distance.




7 comments:

  1. Brilliant idea that using coloured pens! Thanks for the idea!

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    1. Hello John - sometimes someone tells you something that seems glaringly obvious afterwards, but it just hadn't 'pinged' at the time. I promise you they look just fine. Marilyn

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  2. Hi Em!
    I have never seen commercial door knobs and plates as pretty as the ones you are demonstrating with, over here in Canada I may have to pay a quick visit to the Doll House Emporium. ;P And I agree with your assessment of the type which I am familiar with; the posts are often are too long for the thickness of the door and don't sit right without some fiddling with them.
    The screw bolt is such a great idea hands down!
    The finished door plate and knob look smashing Marilyn and as usual, your being "pernickity" about these little details, has paid off in spades!

    elizabeth

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    1. Hi Elizabeth, I do see these (or similar) around at shows and on line here in the UK for sure. As I said I am always on the look out for the screw rod type - just hate 'adjusting' the fit of the others. The perfect finish would be a hole drilled for the keyhole rather than just black pen and some teeny brass screws - so I am probably not as picky as I would like to think I am..... maybe next project. Marilyn

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  3. Hello Marilyn,
    Those are just beautiful. I have never tried using the ones that have a screw threat like that. I will definitely look into it . Thank you for your great tutorial on installation...I swear every time I attach doorknobs and plates.
    Big hug
    Giac

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  4. Hi Giac I think the 'test' is whether you can get them perfectly vertical. These are the very cheap end of the market knobs and plates - £3.89 from Dolls House Emporium http://www.dollshouse.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=door+knobs but they do a reasonably nice job. Marilyn

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  5. I use a black marker pen too but hadn't thought of using a gold one.

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