Doors
Door knobs and latches are some of my favorite machines. I typically tune them to 1/32nd of an inch, giving a nice sweet click when they close. I especially enjoy working on 19th and early 20th century latches where the mechanism can be taken apart, cleaned, and reassembled like new. The spring steel inside the 1920s mechanism below had spread corrosion over the brass parts, causing it to jam. The porcelain knob just needed a little scraping to remove a sloppy paint job.
Dimensions are standardized now, but as recently as the 1950s there was still considerable variation. The hole for the door knob below is 1/8th of an inch too small for modern hardware, so I used a hole saw and jig bring it up to date.
To install a modern handle it is sometimes necessary to completely fill old spaces with new wood. Once the new handle was fitted, the rest of the surface was cleaned up with wood filler and then painted.
