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One of the technical aspects of buying door hardware which is sometimes overlooked, to the sound of wails and moans, is fitting the handle you like to the lock that is already on your door. You may be in for more than you bargained for if you buy some gorgeous handles, whether they are reproductions or originals, and find that you need to replace all of your locks to use them… Hopefully you are in a position to first choose all of your door handles, and then get locks to match – since the door handle is the part of you that expresses your personality and originality. It is hard to imagine your guests commenting on the smooth and silent working of your locks! On the other hand, handles frequently become the showpieces of a house. Not all of us are lucky enough to be in a position to replace all of the locks on our doors when we replace our doorhandles, and in this case, you can avoid disappointment and extra expense by checking through this guide, to see whether your new door handles will fit your existing locks. You will need to look at:


The keyhole

Most antique lever handles come with small, barrel keyholes. Quite often, lever handles don’t have keyholes at all – definitely a con if you want to put it on an outside door! Sometimes you will have to decide between security and authenticity, though – the barrel keys are definitely not as secure as modern locks. Many of the reproductions on our website come with the option of a modern lock, though, so you can come to a compromise between your two needs.

Figure "Traditional 'barrel keys' keyhole   Modern 'Euro cylinder' keyhole   No keyhole"


The spindle

This is the square steel rod that goes through the door, perpendicular to the door’s width from left to right, connecting the handle with the lock. Spindles are sometimes threaded like a screw, or come with two holes in either end, depending on the type of knobs you have. There are generally two sizes of spindles, 7mm and 8mm. The smaller, 7mm spindles were used in old locks, especially in the United States. The 8mm spindle is now standard in Europe and is becoming so in the States as well. If you are replacing your old door knobs, measure you spindle carefully – near enough is not good enough, in this case! There is only a small difference between 7mm and 8mm, but that little difference will make your handle slip when you try to open it. It is quite difficult to source 7mm spindle handles these days, but they are possible to buy (especially reclaimed pairs). You should measure the thickness of your door as well, as in some cases (very heavy, thick doors), the spindles can be to short for you.


Rim locks and mortice locks

Figure (Mortice lock / rim lock)

A mortice lock is recessed into the edge of a door, and rim locks are mounted to its surface. It is important to know which type of lock you are going to use, because:
• Rim lock were originally designed to work with door knobs - most of the lever handles will not work with them. There are many gorgeous knobs, though!
• Not all door knobs are suitable for rim locks. The backing plate of the door knob needs to be unattached to the actual knob, so that you can mount the rim olock on that side.
• Mortice locks need to be installed into the door


Distance between the spindle and keyhole

Figure (The distance between key )

If you have fallen in love with the long back plate lever handles, you need to know the distance between the spindle and the keyhole on your door, before you rush into buying one for every door in your house… It’s fairly easy if you are going to buy the lock also – you can buy a standard lever handle, where there would be around 57mm between spindle and keyhole, and then source the lock (it should be easy enough). If you want to keep your old locks it might be a bit trickier. The best, most precise way of measuring that distance is removing your lock from your door. If you are not a handy person, but more of a feety, or even a double left-handed person, your builder should be able to help. If this is not an option, you can DIY, and long as you are extra careful and triple check your work. The distance you are looking for is between the center of the round part of the keyhole and the center of the spindle hub. Have a look ta the drawing below for an indication of what we mean. Some of our suppliers can cut the keyholes in your handles according the distance provided – handy!



Distance between the spindle and the door frame

If you don’t take note of this detail, you can make do … but you’ll be cursing yourself when your knuckles are rubbed raw from banging on the door frame! You obviously need more room on the side of a door knob closer to the door frame than

Figure (Long reach (horizontal) mortise lock)

at all times. If you want to change a lever handle to a door knob, you need long reach locks (also called horizontal locks) which are at least 12 cm and up to 15 cm long. The distance between the spindle hub in the lock and the facing plate should not be shorter than 10 cm. And the bigger the door knobs, the longer the lock you need.

But the beauty of sourcing your hardware through Architectural Classics is that you don’t need to be a locksmith to have great looking handles which work properly and don’t bang your knuckles – we have been helping our customers out with these problems for a long time, and are always happy to help you. If you want clarification, or to ask a specific question about one of our locks or handles, feel free to contact us

Door knobs are a feature of your home that everybody notices, because nearly everybody that comes into your home must touch and utilise them. People will notice their look, and how that works with what is around it, and they will notice their feel ... whether they are made of a cold material, whether they are comfortable to open, how fragile they seem, and even how clean they are. Unfortunately, how clean your door knobs are is often something you won't notice until that rare day when you go around and clean them, and you can feel how bad they must have been beforehand!

Door knobs made recently are usually made from either metal or porcelain, for durability, ease of use, and to be unobtrusive in modern décor. Those same doorknobs look terrible if you have a home filled with ornate furniture, rich woods, carpets, chandeliers and older fabrics! But just because door knobs today are made with durability (and also affordability) at the forefront of people's minds, does not mean that if you want a doorknob that you don't have to replace and is easy to use you have to go to your local hardware store. Antique door knobs are one of the items from olden times that are highly prized, and many beautiful ones have been kept.

Unlike in modern-styled homes, your old home can also look great with different door knobs in each room. It's different; it has character; it is not a mass produced wood and concrete box, which needs uniformity to avoid offending the eye. Which is lucky for you, since many places you will find antique door knobs will not have unlimited stock on demand depending on how many doors you have in your house, and whether you want to match your closets to your walkways!

The materials artisans used to make door knobs of included porcelain and brass, most commonly. You can also get cast-brass door knobs, and especially door knockers, quite easily, and while they are made for a more common material, in striking shape they certainly don't look common. You may have seen the lion or creature head door knockers already on the front doors of older and display homes. Porcelain door knobs were not just made in beige, white, cream, ivory and off-white - they came with patterns, pictures and designs on them, and you could also find shaped porcelain knobs with edges and bevels on them - if you are lucky enough this patterning with go with the carving on your furniture.

Door knobs also came in leaded crystal, and controlled bubble glass, in a variety of colours. When you are looking at door knobs for your home, use glass door knobs on your interior doors, and probably more in your bedroom and the dining room than in your kids' rooms. Glass door knobs are also practical on closets and cabinets, and interior French doors. In heavy usage areas they can crack and fracture, as they will if kids treat them mean, or knock into them with toys, or slam the door repeatedly. The other thing to note is that if the door knob fractures through play, your little one might cut themselves - and door knobs are at just about eye level for many kids!

Mineral door knobs were another popular trend decades ago - these are baked clay knobs with a cast iron shank inserted before the knob went into the oven. The clay surface was porous, so would have been very hard to keep clean without a glaze or light slip. You can get mottled knobs, with different coloured clays that were ground before being combined and cast, or streaky knobs, where different colored clays have been stirred together. In their original incarnations, mineral knobs were obviously for the less well-off homes, but now as antiques they can lend class and interest to any room. Mineral knobs were made from earlier than any other knob, owing to the relative ease of creating them - the fact that they could be shaped by hand and finished in the fairly common kiln meant they were used frequently, earlier than other types of material. Porcelain door knobs are sometimes included under this category, as are ivory or ebony knobs. John Paige Pepper actually patented a stone knob in 1851, and Josiah Jones, in 1867, applied for a patent for an improvement to mineral knobs.

If you are looking at collecting antique door knobs more for display than for actual use on your doors, Bennington's knobs is the name to look for at antique stores and auction houses. These were made at Bennington, Virginia - the Americans made the art of door knob making their own, producing many intricate and beautiful designs during the period that it was fashionable. Christopher Webber Fenton was responsible for making many of these Bennington knobs. He used granite, pottery, marble, and various coloured glazes, and many of his knobs were created in a typical octagonal shape, making them distinctive, and also the victim of many copycat designers!

If you catch the door knob collecting bug, as so many do, why not use your knobs not only on the doors of your house, but also as coat hooks, towel holders in the bathroom or kitchen, and on the cupboards and cabinets of your house? It becomes an addiction for people just entering your home, to walk through to every door and see what sort of knob is on there ... on second thoughts, maybe this isn't a good idea. You will spread the knob-collecting bug to too many people ... leaving none for yourself!

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In the race to beautify your door, which will win - door knobs or lever handles? Antique door knobs are more easily found than antique lever handles - the lever handle being a relatively newer design. However, if you can find an older lever handle that you like, this sort of door hardware offers much better functionality, especially for children and older persons.

figure Door Knobs

There are four main types of door knobs - entrance knobs, passage knobs, privacy knobs, and dummy knobs. Entrance knobs, and also entrance lever handles, have keyed cylinders. You will probably prefer to have something more modern, and therefore more secure, on your front door - burglary technology has well surpassed the key sets of the 1800s! However, inside, you could use antique entrance knobs or handles on the bedrooms or bathroom, or on storage rooms which the kids aren't allowed in. Passage door knobs are also known as closet or hall knobs, and are used where locking is not required. Privacy knobs have a built-in locking mechanism, but don't require a key to undo them - you may have to push a button or flick a lever from one side to open them. Finally, dummy door knobs simply provide a handle to pull a door open or push one shut, for example on a cupboard, where a magnetic latch may be used, or on the unused side of a set of double doors.

figure Lever Handles

The main benefit of lever handles over door knobs is also their biggest downfall, as usual! You will find that kids and older people can operate door levers much more easily than knobs, but you will also find that then kids can get into and out of rooms that you didn't want them anywhere near! Dogs are another culprit - many dogs with half a brain will figure out that when they jump up on a door lever, it opens for them - and then even your dogs will be thwarting your efforts to keep parts of your house either mud-free, cool or warm! One solution to this is to buy a lever-lock, which is generally a plastic attachment to your door lever, which stops the door from opening when the lever is pushed. The only downfall then is that your elderly mother will have just as much trouble getting into the living room as the dog does... So if you already have levers, and you'd rather they were more like knobs, this product can help you out!

If, one the other hand, you have doorknobs in your house (which many of the beautiful period pieces and antiques tend to be), but you would rather have the ease of a lever handle, for a variety of temporary reasons, you can look into getting door knob extenders. These are door handle levers which fit over the top of knobs that are already there, and allow people with a minimum of upper-body strength (like Gran), to easily operate the doors that your antiques grace. These implements fit most standard door knobs, and are quite easy to install. For some you only need a screwdriver, and others are available which snap over the top of your existing knob. The latter is probably a better choice if your door matches your antique doorknob - fewer screw holes to try to contend with when you can go back to using a standard doorknob again. The lever is three inches long, so are not too obtrusive in terms of your antique décor. And all of these adaptors are available quite cheaply, at between £5 and £15.

One thing to consider when you are thinking about whether to get door knobs or levers, is that while there are gorgeous antique door knobs available in glass (made from the early 1800s to the mid 1800s), lever handles are not available in glass. Consider the decorating scheme of your home when you are looking at the relative merits of door knobs versus levers for yourself. Because door levers are a relatively newer phenomenon than door knobs, if you have much older furniture in your house, you may want to start your search with knobs, rather than levers.

Door knobs are something that everyone who comes into the house will notice, as everybody needs to use them, and touch them ... distinctive door knobs or levers, that catch the eye and hand , can add so much to the ambience of your home!

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