"Jen" wrote in message
om...
The other day my towel rack broke, i.e. the bar itself, where you hang
the towel. Our house was built in 1960, so the towel bar holding
thingies are made out of tile and attached to the surrounding tiles
via grout, as far as I can tell. We don't really want to remove them,
as they are "glued" over more than one tile and we are fairly sure
we'll never find the same kind of underlying tile again, if we damage
it.
So what I am looking for is a towel bar that has some kind of spring
in it, so I could push it together, wedge it into the tile holding
thingies (No, I don't want to sound cutesy, but I have no clue how
those things are called.) and the spring would release and hold the
bar securely in place. I kind of know they exist, because I have
talked to associates in stores, who said they existed, but that their
store stopped carrying them. (And of course they had no clue as to
where to get them.)
I live in VA and I have already checked Lowe's, Walmart and Target. I
have also searched the internet, but without success. If anybody knows
where to find a towel bar with springs, please tell me. or if anybody
knows how to build anything that could take its place, please let me
know too.
Thanks!
Jen

Is this the sort with a bar that is square in cross-section and made of
wood with some sort of a shiny paint/coating over it? That is the sort that
are in my 1963/64 house anyway. This sort would be fairly trivial to replace
the bar in by fabricating a new bar out of a hardwood like maple, and
pre-finishing it to match the proper color but making the bar just a bit
(~1/8") longer than it need be. Then the bar would be split at a long angle
on the tablesaw or bandsaw.

Look for the description of a "scarf joint" at:
http://www.glen-l.com/supplies/pxman-apscarf.html .

The ends of the pieces would then be inserted into the holders and glued
back together with a strong wood glue and clamped overnight. If the cut and
glueing are done properly the joint will be essentially as strong as the
original wood. After the glue dries the join line can be lightly sanded and
the paint retouched. There are other sorts of wood joinery that could be
used in this application, finger joints for example, but the scarf joint is
easy and requires no special tools or talents.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

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