Can you buy decent door furniture anymore?

[Spectric]

What has gone wrong in the world of door furniture, I accept it is now expensive but why does it have to be so tacky. Door furniture used to be so easy to fit with off the shelf screws so why have we got to this shieete. The handles I am fitting came with screws of an odd size but have the consistancy of cheddar. Having drilled pilot holes and using an electricians screwdriver two of the four screws just sheared without warning, I now have a new door that I need to find a way round these sheared screws otherwise back to buying another new door and starting again. Anyone been here before?

 

[Richard_C]

Consumers buy on price, we get what we pay for. Most things I throw the supplied screws away*.

Undo the 2 good screws, take off the handle, you might have enough broken screw sticking out to be able to grab it with pliers or mole grips and undo. If not, drill it out and push or glue matchsticks in the hole. Ultimate bodge, I have done this with 1 of 4 in a set, if the other screws are holding well enough glue the broken off heads in the recess for decorative effect only. Tiny dab of superglue.

* I got some John Lewis any day curtain poles 2 days ago for a spare bedroom. When I opened them the screws and wallplugs looked surprisingly good. I did a test, screwed one into a bit of scrap softwood, fine so I used them. Must be the first time in years that the supplied fixings have been useful.

 

[JoeS]

It's a general culture of being "entrepreneurial." Every business of any scale now run by private equity firms, who buy and sell these businesses and strip them of their assets. They then employ management consultants and other overpaid halfwits to cut and cut and cut. Where as doing stuff like selling door furniture made of cheese would be seen as shameful, it is now seen as clever.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

First rule when you buy something that comes with either the glue or the screws - throw them away before you even start..

 

[recipio]

Even if you find quality brass screws always run a steel screw first. Then dip the brass screw in wax polish and insert. Stuff from the 'Pacific Rim ' is cheap for a reason - the materials used are carp.

 

[rogxwhit]

Oh for the good old days! Anyone remember the great London smog? ;-)

 

[Lorenzl]

I replaced all my door furniture and all the holes for the handles were slightly out. I drilled 10mm holes and glued in some 10mm dowels.

 

[Stuart Moffat]

… and when you’ve thrown away the supplied screws, if you have any low quality doors, and the screws don’t grip, consider buying ’bolt through’ handles. With a little care you can make these work fine with ordinary furniture. One end of the fixing has an ordinary countersink, and the other end is a femail sleeve with hexagonal or square end. If you carefully widen drill out the countersink the screwhole that will receive it, 1/2mm at a time it will sit flush and very tight. You only need to put one of these in a handle with 4 screws to make it rock solid. Very cheap fix.

 

[clogs]

are brass wood screws still made in the UK-Europe....
I still have a couple of boxes of Nettlefolds....ex GKN....
I was given a several of hundred weight of flat/slot head wood screws years ago...kept the brass and Stainless and binned the rest.....
bought a power driver and retired my Stanley pumps....

I;ve been led to believe that almost all general fixings and screws are made in the far east....
Yes I know there are custom fasteners made in the UK for special purposes....we used to specify those for use in industry.....x-rayed n crack tested...they were that big they had their own individual numbers on....

 

[Spectric]

I have ended up using some fixings I had forgotton about, originally obtained to help someone out whose handle had pulled off the door but when I realised the door was coming of the hinges as well I recomended they get new doors fitted to replace the Kellogs ones. These fittings are 3mm, one part male and the other female and they pull the opposite handles together rather than attaching each handle to the door.

I tried to use the supplied screws because they color matched the handles and had odd heads that fitted the recesses better but were just asian cheddar.

 

[Lorenzl]

What will the wife say if they are a different colour?

Mine keeps complaining that one handle is missing a screw!

 

[sawtooth-9]

Sadly, so much of this stuff is made in China.
Most ( not all ) of what comes out of China, is rubbish.
Cheap and nasty is what they used to call it.
The really sad thing is that its becoming difficult to locate anything that is not made in China.
Even if you are willing to pay a premium for quality ( which is cheaper in the long run ), its almost impossible to find.
Here in Aus. everything seems to be imported - we used to make it here and had a thriving and innovative manufacturing sector. Now gone.

 

[mikej460]

Oh for the good old days! Anyone remember the great London smog? ;-)

not to mention markets and skating on the Thames..

 

[sawtooth-9]

not to mention markets and skating on the Thames..

Ahh, the nostalgia - you forgot to mention the black ice

 

[mikej460]

I've bought a lot of black door furniture over the last 6 years as we've renovated each room. A lot of it came from Cheshire Hardware which still looks good but, despite being a lot more expensive (their handle screws are pretty rubbish), doesn't have the quality feel of the last 2 sets from DHC (Door Handle Company). Both sell Carlisle Brass Black Hinges which are excellent and I've had no problem with DHC screws (I pre-drill first).

 

[MCTWoodwork]

What has gone wrong in the world of door furniture, I accept it is now expensive but why does it have to be so tacky. Door furniture used to be so easy to fit with off the shelf screws so why have we got to this shieete. The handles I am fitting came with screws of an odd size but have the consistancy of cheddar. Having drilled pilot holes and using an electricians screwdriver two of the four screws just sheared without warning, I now have a new door that I need to find a way round these sheared screws otherwise back to buying another new door and starting again. Anyone been here before?

I would add... get some gun makers square slotted screwdrivers for brass screws as they are square and do not taper like electricians screwdrivers.... Thus they do not "slip" and wreck the head of the screw you are trying to drive in. Good luck.

 

[Keith Cocker]

Oh for the good old days! Anyone remember the great London smog? ;-)

I remember wearing Smog masks. In Manchester Plus ça Change.

 

[stuart little]

I would add... get some gun makers square slotted screwdrivers for brass screws as they are square and do not taper like electricians screwdrivers.... Thus they do not "slip" and wreck the head of the screw you are trying to drive in. Good luck.

Yep, I used to file the blades parallel on my mechanics flat-bladed screwdrivers, a trick I learned in my very early days. Virtually a neccessory for Jubilee clips (before the advent of the dedicated 'bendy' socket drivers).

 

[redhunter350]

Double post ?? cannot remove ?

 

[redhunter350]

What has gone wrong in the world of door furniture, I accept it is now expensive but why does it have to be so tacky. Door furniture used to be so easy to fit with off the shelf screws so why have we got to this shieete. The handles I am fitting came with screws of an odd size but have the consistancy of cheddar. Having drilled pilot holes and using an electricians screwdriver two of the four screws just sheared without warning, I now have a new door that I need to find a way round these sheared screws otherwise back to buying another new door and starting again. Anyone been here before?

Spectric -- Looking at your location are you aware of the company Carlisle Glass -- Aka Longhorn Hardware ? I have no connection with them other than a satisfied customer but they do sell rather better quality goods than many of the high street DIY names - at least thats my opinion. One thing that I have used is their door furniture made in "Stainless Brass " it resists tarnishing and the ones i fitter many years ago look as new today -- as far as I remember I used the supplied screws without problem and fitted to interior Oak doors.