case handle ideas?

[Garth E.]

Two brass stubs are sticking up that belonged to the original handle on my violin case. Not sure how the original handle was installed but I don't want to try and pull off the top header inside. It's in there very tight. I also really don't want to install a handle that would require 2 through screws. that might require opening up two small installation screw holes. However that may be the most obvious course. Probably a more obvious solution that I'm not seeing and would appreciate any ideas. This is a restoration in progress.

[Shelbow]

You need the case expert @Dimitri Musafia he might have some ideas.

[Garth E.]

10 minutes ago, Shelbow said:

You need the case expert @Dimitri Musafia he might have some ideas.

Thanks Shelbow.

[Dwight Brown]

Perhaps a brass handle from a company that makes reproduction brasses for furniture?  The case is really nice on the outside.

 

DLB

[Garth E.]

1 minute ago, Dwight Brown said:

Perhaps a brass handle from a company that makes reproduction brasses for furniture?  The case is really nice on the outside.

 

DLB

I think to get the handle right, I'd need a simple antique Victorian one. A lot of the repro furniture pulls look a little heavy and a bit too ornate.

[Dwight Brown]

https://www.vintagehardware.com/proddetail.php?prod=25946

 

https://whitechapel-ltd.com/8pag1.html

 

I kind of like the second one but I'm pretty sure there are a zillion different ones.

I guess you would have to peal back the ining to do the handle (yes I was going to misspell handle or Handel or something :-)

 

 

DLB

[Bill Yacey]

Can you provide a cloesup where the original handle was?

[Garth E.]

7 minutes ago, Bill Yacey said:

Can you provide a cloesup where the original handle was?

That's the third photo Bill. 

[Garth E.]

12 minutes ago, Dwight Brown said:

I guess you would have to peal back the ining

Maybe, but I'm hoping not to. It's very tight and doesn't want to be touched.

[Bill Merkel]

this is the kind of thing where i put it aside for awhile and when i come back, i have no interest in doing anything to it anymore   i can think of ways to get whatever you want where the handles were, but they're always going to be replacements, and you don't need them to carry it, so why?

[Garth E.]

2 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

so they don't need to be there

I agree Bill, the problem I have is the little brass stubs catch on everything. You can't pull them up and out. Very annoying.....might as well just look for a solution.

[Bill Merkel]

^i wouldn't be doing enough with it for catching on stuff to matter.  actually useful cases to collect would be cases from around the '80s like american case company, or especially vintage jaeger cases have a big following and price tag

[David Burgess]

26 minutes ago, Garth E. said:

I agree Bill, the problem I have is the little brass stubs catch on everything. You can't pull them up and out. Very annoying.....might as well just look for a solution.

You could surround them with masking tape, and file them down very carefully.

Or if you are someone whose family buys them the latest widgey-didgey thing seen on TV, for birthdays and Christmas, things like rotary grinding tools and Electrical Discharge Machines could also be useful.

[Garth E.]

3 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

^i wouldn't be doing enough with it for catching on stuff to matter.  actually useful cases to collect would be cases from the '80s and before like american case company, or especially vintage jaeger cases have a big following and price tag

This ones a W.E. Hill case from the early days on Wardour St. in London before Bond St. around 1880. I figure it's got a little sentimental value.

[Bill Merkel]

^yes very good find, and attractive, but as furniture   to me personally even filing them down is like doing something bad to what's left of an antique

[Garth E.]

5 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

^yes very good find, and attractive, but as furniture

I have several violin cases, just as much furniture as this one. Totally irrelevant.

[Bill Merkel]

if they aren't making any more of them and they're aesthetic, not utilitarian, i leave it alone.  that's my personal aesthetic :)

 

[Garth E.]

4 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

that's my personal aesthetic

What I hear from downstairs is" if you don't get rid of this junk. I'm throwing it out" I love collecting really old useless things...sorry. That's my solution.

[David Burgess]

17 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

^yes very good find, and attractive, but as furniture   to me personally even filing them down is like doing something bad to what's left of an antique

Skillfully filing them down is probably what the HIlls would have done. Been around maybe two or three of 'em.

[Bill Merkel]

but when the hills did it, it would mean the hills did it.  even if the result is exactly the same.  aren't you one of the ones so into preserving original wood on fiddles?

[Garth E.]

2 minutes ago, David Burgess said:

Skillfully filing them down is probably what the HIlls would have done.

Yes David I can certainly do a nice job of trimming them back. It's affixing the replacement handle that has me being cautious. I don't want to damage the underside.

[David Burgess]

2 minutes ago, Garth E. said:

What I hear from downstairs is" if you don't get rid of this junk. I'm throwing it out" I love collecting really old useless things...sorry. That's my solution.

Today, the wiff and I spent several hours moving an older "entertainment center" cabinet out of the living room into the garage. It's lovely, made of cherry, and probably weighs about 400 pounds, but it will no longer house the ever-less-expensive large high-definition TV's. Kindof a sad day.

Anybody want to come by, pick it up, and re-purpose it into a stand-alone clothes closet, or tool storage cabinet? I do have an engine hoist to lift it into a trailer.

[David Burgess]

1 hour ago, Bill Merkel said:

but when the hills did it, it would mean the hills did it.  even if the result is exactly the same. 

Maybe, maybe not. The Hills and their workshop folks did some really skilled and brilliant stuff. What is your threshold for considering work to  be "exactly the same"?

[Bill Yacey]

2 hours ago, Garth E. said:

That's the third photo Bill. 

Sorry, I missed seeing it the first time.

[Bill Merkel]

3 hours ago, Bill Merkel said:

but when the hills did it, it would mean the hills did it.  even if the result is exactly the same.  aren't you one of the ones so into preserving original wood on fiddles?

 

2 hours ago, David Burgess said:

Maybe, maybe not. The Hills and their workshop folks did some really skilled and brilliant stuff. What is your threshold for considering work to  be "exactly the same"?

i don't know that i have such a threshold.  but if it's an antique and the manufacturer does something to it, it's one thing, but if somebody else does it, whether it's artist or goomer, to me it's a different thing, even if they do the same thing.  but if it's a utilitarian item instead, then any good fixer will do.  and some of those fixers would do a better job than the manufacturer.  if i misunderstand what it is and it's as common or undesirable as an antique home entertainment center, then $5 for a lick with the sledge hammer!