The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site

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Repair of Jones House secretary drawer wood pull

Jones House in Pontiac, Illinois

This historic brick home is owned by the Livingston County Historical Society. Public tours and events are held many times each year.  We also maintain the house.

The caretaker of the home requested I repair the drawer pulls on a nice looking secretary in the home. There are 6 total pulls, but pieces were missing on 1 of them......including the turned wood portion of the pull.

Secretary

Over the years, many of the pull pieces had fallen onto the floor, and the caretaker placed them in a dish in the drawers.  I re-assembled all the pieces, and came up with only 1 pull having missing parts. It was missing the wood portion and the brass rod inside it.


Making new turned pull from walnut

Replacement rod and pieces

I threaded 6-32 onto the end of a new piece of 1/8" brass rod...........then soldered it in place.


When I got the new wood piece all made, I noticed I could have done a better job on the curve........but it would have been difficult to chuck it back in the lathe and change it........so I left it alone.  When it was installed on the secretary, you don't even notice the slight difference in curvature :)


Finished Repair

Closing Thoughts

This was a challenging project, mostly because of the repair of the brass parts.  I don't own a metal lathe, so I had to improvise to make new pieces and solder them together.

If I ever do a similar project, maybe try making a thin plywood profile of the turned piece, and use that to check it on the lather..........instead of just using my eye..........since I got this one a little off on the curve.