File this under “things that are broken but I manage to ignore until someone smart points out a fix to me”… because if I admitted to it more often, there would be a category. Also, the title of this post. Knob story? Seriously.
Today’s admission has to do with the doorknob to the sunroom, a vintage glass knob (so I believed) that I transplanted from an upstairs closet door when I installed the paned glass door between the living room and the sunroom in 2009. Yeah, could you imagine if this room still had the heavy steel door along the eastern wall? Pardon me using a photo from my first house tour with the seller’s belongings (lightly blurred):
The knob itself doesn’t serve the highest function; the door locks using a mortise lock and a deadbolt, so the knob is merely the pull-point for when we’re entering our wonderful, greenhouse-y 3-season room. And is otherwise just a pretty little thing to look at during the cold months of the year.
Most of the time, usually only when I’m turning it, the knob pops off right in my hand like this:
I should mention that I can get into the sunroom sans knob, but it’s also probably the reason that my fingernails are so broken and short, so I won’t promote that tip.
The glass knobs themselves weren’t immediately thought to be the issue. The spindle, the piece that acts like the doorknob axel and locks the two glass knobs together, was noticibly stripped. Both ends of the spindle should be threaded to screw right into the glass knobs, but in this case of natural doorknob wear and tear, one end had worn down and no longer held onto the threads of the knob. Whompity, whomp whomp.
Right, and then in true “live with it because it only pops out in my hand once a day and that’s not so bad” form, I dealt with it. For two years? Yeah, about two years.
The fix itself was a two-part learning process:
Part 1: There was a day earlier this week when I was headed down to one of my favorite small town hardware stores in the area (Black’s Hardware on East Ridge Rd., locals), Pete suggested I check and see if they sold cool knobs or replacement spindles, and that they did.
I actually brought the whole knob with me to the store. They were nicely able to fit me with a new spindle that they thought fix the issue and allow me to keep my cute “vintage” knob for just $1.99, but they were also kind enough to point out that some of the threads inside one of the knobs itself was stripped, so it might not be a long-lasting cure. Depending on the thickness of the door, the spindle can be screwed deeply or shallowly into each knob, but it needs to be able to certainly grip to some of the threads on either knob to be able to work, and if some of the shallow threads were compromised, I’d need to have the spindle spun really deep into that damaged knob.
The replacement itself was a standard steel spindle measuring 3.5″ in length and just 9/32 in diameter. Like most standard varieties, it has 20 threads per inch, and that’s what my doorknob called for.
The problem they suggested, that if I couldn’t screw the spindle deep within one of the knobs while still allowing enough spindle to stick through the mortise lock so I could screw on the other knob, was accurate. Are you following me? Feel free to ask Q’s. This is where I thought seriously about using Gorilla Glue and calling it a day. What, that’d probably work better than nothing, right?
I kept the $1.99 spindle. May has well have it on hand for a future doorknob project, I did pay for it with loose change in my wallet and it hardly feels worth returning it for that. Onward.
Part 2: The spindle itself wasn’t the fix, so it was time to choose a brand new un-stripped doorknob to play the part.
Did you know that my “vintage” knob was totally not vintage? Dude, they sell these things everywhere, and they only cost $8. <slaps hand on head> They come with a new spindle and everything. It’s a reproduction. And a really mass manufactured reproduction at that. If you’re looking for something historic and authentic, you won’t find it at The Home Depot which is where I found this one:
I wasn’t so much concerned with the finish of the knob trim when I picked out the shiny gold; the old one itself shown in the earlier photos of this post had been shiny gold, but was so worn down that it was no longer startling the way the shiny gold in the right forum can sometimes be.
There was a fix for that, and it involved wrapping the exposed glass in blue tape and bringing some leftover spray paint into play.
The leftover paint from my recent patio furniture overhaul really fit the bill. Oil-rubbed bronze, it had a nice shimmer to it, and it masked the shiny gold after three very light spray downs in the backyard.
Dried (overnight), it was install time.
The trick to installing a door knob in a mortise lockset is to attach the spindle securely to one of the knobs first. Be sure to loosen the set screws in the neck of each knob (just unscrew a little bit so they aren’t obstructing the path of the spindle… it won’t need to be all the way removed); these screws help to anchor the knob to the spindle itself.
With the knob and spindle securely together, you just have to feed it through the lockset and screw the other knob to the exposed end of the spindle. How much is exposed will depend on how deeply you’ve threaded the first knob. Once you screw it on, you’ll find that it’s pretty secure but don’t forget to tighten down the other set screw too to keep your new set from stripping. This whole install, if you’re not spray painting, should take you all of 3 minutes.
The oil-rubbed bronze finish looks really nice with the existing (maybe vintage) plate, and should any of the spray paint wear off over time, it’ll probably end up looking just like the one I replaced.
Anyone else have an adventurous knob (or sob) story this week?
21 Comments
Glad it worked out! The new knob looks great!
The new knob looks great with the existing (maybe vintage) plate, hardware is the accessory (necklace, ring, jewelry ) to a room, it really pulls the room together.
Kind of have a knob-sob story. I brought a surplus kitchen cabinet for $30 off CL, and then spent $50 on materials to turn it into a customized sideboard. It looked pretty darn good with crown trims, legs, and paint. The last step is to put knobs on it and I thought I was being artistically clever by buying these blue ceramic knobs with pewter inlays from World Market for $10 each. Except the knobs were likely made in the third world and the spindle just. would. NOT. fit. right. Plus the knobs were too big for the relative size of the sideboard.
2 months later I picked up a set of 6 faux crystal knobs from Target for $8 total and not only are they the right size and fit perfectly onto the sideboard doors, I used the 4 remaining crystal knobs to replace the plain knobs on my Ikea shoe cabinet which gave it a nice glam-feminine touch. I still have the oversized blue ceramic knobs, will use it again ….. one day, somehow.
I hope someone out there is playing an afternoon drinking game every time they read the word “knob”. I feel like it, at least. What a bummer of a story about the World Market knobs, but a nice-to-know about their products (I’ve still never bought from the site despite adding things to my cart every time I visit). I’ve had that same sinking experience with splurges from Anthropologie, and now I have a whole drawer full of extra pulls and knobs and handles from over the years.
” I’ve had that same sinking experience with splurges from Anthropologie, and now I have a whole drawer full of extra pulls and knobs and handles from over the years.”
Well that makes me feel kinda of better! The World Market knobs and their spindles look suspiciously similar to the Anthropologie products which is why I’ve resisted splurging there.
JoAnn’s often stocks some look-alike options too!
Haha I can relate! I have definitely lived with something that was broken wayyy longer than I should have because I was too lazy to fix it.
The new knob looks gorgeous! And wow, the 2009 vs. 2012 photos of your living room don’t even look like the same place. :) Also I popped over to leave a semi-random comment – remember that hanging light in your living room with the cord that you mentioned recently has been bugging you? Not that I’m creepy but I’ve been thinking about how to fix that – and I just saw this cool trick that a girl in Germany did – she wrapped/glued sisal wrap to the cord of her chandelier. It looks pretty cool – I was wondering if it would help the cord you mentioned. The post I saw is here: http://pudel-design.blogspot.de/2012/05/diy-bubble-chandelier-from-ikea.html I’m trying to think of what cord I can wrap now too ;)
Very pretty, the ” after”!
Every single door in my 1928 tudor revival has glass knobs. While charming, they are very challenging. Seemed like every other day they were falling off the doors. We tried replacing them but it just didn’t work. We ended up keeping the original knobs and painting the spindle with a touch of nail polish and screwing it back in both knobs while still wet. This little DIY tip works like a charm. 2+ years later and not 1 knob has come loose!
This is a great tip, Kris! Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely going to try the nail polish technique next time it breaks!
My house current has these crystal door knobs. As amazing as these door knobs look. I am beginning to hate it! How to I replace these crystal door knobs to a regular door knobs without replacing the entire door and frame? PLEASE HELP!
I couldn’t tell you exactly without trying it myself, but I expect that a basic indoor knob could easily be swapped in. You would have to remove the plate and the mortise with the knob, and then hopefully the hardware would fit in easily. There may be extra space where the mortise was in the door, but a pro at a hardware store might be able to provide better guidance because I’m sure modernizing this type of hardware is quite common.
This made me revisit the mortise lock doorknob that I’ve been breaking my fingernails over for two years, and I finally figured it out! Thanks for the inspiration!!!
What do you do when there’s only an indoor knob in a mortise lockset? The outside is a lever handle and operates independently of the doorknob inside. I’ve got the knob pretty securely fastened to the spindle, but there’s nothing really securing the spindle to the rest of the assembly. This spindle is flatter than normal ones. Actually it’s two flat pieces that go against each other inside the knob. The piece that extends furthest into the knob has a slightly hooked end, presumably to keep it from coming out. But there’s not enough of a hook to hold it. I should mention that this all worked fine until I took the door apart to re-stain it and put polyurethane on it, and then put it back together.
I would rescind my comment before it gets through moderation if I knew how to, but maybe this will help others. The answer to my question is that once the plate is on it keeps the knob and spindle still enough to make the hook hold. I was testing it before putting the plate back on, not realizing it would make a difference. Thanks for indulging me in this conversation with myself.
Hey Kevin! Thanks for the comments – I’ll leave them here in case they’re helpful to others but if you decide that you would like me to remove them just let me know.
WOW – your apartment looks amazing! Congrats! I recently installed found vintage doorknobs, but one came off in my hand the other day. Luckily, I wasn’t alone and was able to get out of the room. I was wondering; when you tighten the screws into the doorknob, which side of the spindle actually secures them? The serrated side or the smooth side? If it doesn’t matter, I may be experiencing the very same issue. I would hate to part with my vintage treasure, but thankfully you’ve offered an alternative :)
fixing fixtures is always a fearful task to me, but seeing you I am inspired and hope will do my job by myself.
This little DIY tip works like a charm. I will definitely with projects.
I started a similar process recently. I bought new spindle and discovered the door knob threads won’t hold. What do you think of using plumbers tape on the ends of the spindle to enhance the connection between spindle and door knob?
Sounds like it’s worth a try, Virginia! PTFE tape would be my #1 product to try for a thin layer.