I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't
working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has
the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.

"neil leslie" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in the
house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that goes
through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no screws
attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't working,
am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has the mechanism
in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.

Neil - door knobs are sometimes screwed onto a threaded spindle, sometimes
with grub screws to stop them coming undone. One knob is left hand thread.
By the way, that type lock fixed on the surface of the door is a rim lock.
The type housed inside the door is a mortice lock.

Peter

neil leslie wrote:
I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't
working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has
the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.

Interesting, how old is this thing? Is it a door knob, or a door
handle - you mention both. If it's "old looking", rather than "old",
is there any sort of plate that might lever off/pull out? Bear in
mind that it must have been put together somehow, and that these
things invariably dismantle, so go easy on the brute force!

Peter Taylor wrote:
Neil - door knobs are sometimes screwed onto a threaded spindle,
sometimes with grub screws to stop them coming undone. One knob is left
hand thread.

Jolly interesting. Thanks.

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
Peter Taylor wrote:
Neil - door knobs are sometimes screwed onto a threaded spindle,
sometimes with grub screws to stop them coming undone. One knob is left
hand thread.

Jolly interesting. Thanks.

I thought you'd appreciate that! )

Chris Bacon wrote:
neil leslie wrote:

I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force
isn't working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those
that has the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.


Interesting, how old is this thing? Is it a door knob, or a door
handle - you mention both. If it's "old looking", rather than "old",
is there any sort of plate that might lever off/pull out? Bear in
mind that it must have been put together somehow, and that these
things invariably dismantle, so go easy on the brute force!

It's a door knob, not a handle. No idea how old this thing is but it's
coated with at least three layers of paint, so I believe it has been
here a while. Used WD40 to unclog any gunge and tried the unscrewing tip
mentioned by another poster, but the bloody thing is still stuck.

"neil leslie" wrote in message
...
Chris Bacon wrote:
neil leslie wrote:

I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't
working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has
the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.


Interesting, how old is this thing? Is it a door knob, or a door
handle - you mention both. If it's "old looking", rather than "old",
is there any sort of plate that might lever off/pull out? Bear in
mind that it must have been put together somehow, and that these
things invariably dismantle, so go easy on the brute force!

It's a door knob, not a handle. No idea how old this thing is but it's
coated with at least three layers of paint, so I believe it has been here
a while. Used WD40 to unclog any gunge and tried the unscrewing tip
mentioned by another poster, but the bloody thing is still stuck.

The other type just slides onto a plain square spindle and has a grubscrew
that fits into a hole in the spindle. Sometimes only one knob can be
removed - the other is captive. But you need to release a screw before you
can remove any type of doorknob. Going on about doorknobs makes me sound
like that nerd in Monty Python who collected shovels and raingauges!

Peter Taylor wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
Peter Taylor wrote:
Neil - door knobs are sometimes screwed onto a threaded spindle,
sometimes with grub screws to stop them coming undone. One knob is left
hand thread.
Why?

Peter Taylor wrote:
"neil leslie" wrote in message
...
Chris Bacon wrote:
neil leslie wrote:

I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't
working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has
the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.


Interesting, how old is this thing? Is it a door knob, or a door
handle - you mention both. If it's "old looking", rather than "old",
is there any sort of plate that might lever off/pull out? Bear in
mind that it must have been put together somehow, and that these
things invariably dismantle, so go easy on the brute force!

It's a door knob, not a handle. No idea how old this thing is but it's
coated with at least three layers of paint, so I believe it has been here
a while. Used WD40 to unclog any gunge and tried the unscrewing tip
mentioned by another poster, but the bloody thing is still stuck.

The other type just slides onto a plain square spindle and has a grubscrew
that fits into a hole in the spindle. Sometimes only one knob can be
removed - the other is captive. But you need to release a screw before you
can remove any type of doorknob. Going on about doorknobs makes me sound
like that nerd in Monty Python who collected shovels and raingauges!

Sometimes modern versions both captive i.e. the knob comes off attached
to the rimlock and/or back plate when you remove it.
Older ones usually fixed at one end of spindle and screwed in various
ways at the other.

wrote in message
ups.com...

Peter Taylor wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
Peter Taylor wrote:
Neil - door knobs are sometimes screwed onto a threaded spindle,
sometimes with grub screws to stop them coming undone. One knob is
left
hand thread.
Why?

The same reason that bike pedals are RH & LH thread I guess. If they were
both RH thread, one of the knobs would tend to unscrew when you open the
door.

In article ,
says...
I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't
working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has
the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.

Is there a brass collar between the knob and the door, screwed to the
door? If so unscrew it and the knob will probably come away with it.

Rob Morley wrote:
In article ,
says...

I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force isn't
working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those that has
the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.


Is there a brass collar between the knob and the door, screwed to the
door? If so unscrew it and the knob will probably come away with it.

Yep, Unscrewed brass collar, but that's not the solution.

neil leslie wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:
Is there a brass collar between the knob and the door, screwed to the
door? If so unscrew it and the knob will probably come away with it.

Yep, Unscrewed brass collar, but that's not the solution.

This is a cause célèbre, please don't cut the gordian knot just
yet. If it's been painted, does scraping off some paint where
you'd expect a screw to be show anything?

I wonder what it is!

Have you tried whacking it with a big lump hammer?

wrote:
Have you tried whacking it with a big lump hammer?

Yes, brute force isn't the way ahead here, unfortunately.

neil leslie wrote:
I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force
isn't working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those
that has the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.

Erm! have you had a look at the others you took off to see whats keeping
the other in place?

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

neil leslie wrote:
I'm trying to replace an old brass door knob. I've replaced others in
the house but this one won't budge, it's stuck on the square rod that
goes through the door to the handle on the opposite side. I can see no
screws attaching either door handle to the square rod. Brute force
isn't working, am I missing a trick here? The lock is one of those
that has the mechanism in a rectangular metal box screwed to the door.

I'm assuming this is a Victorian type door mechanism some had one screw on
the door knob/s other where kept in place via a circular
retainer(circlip),just after the knob?
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

"neil leslie" wrote in message
...
....
The only screws I can see are clearly for attaching the metal box [known
as rim lock an earlier poster tells me] to the door. I starting to think
the knob is welded to the square shaft that passes through the door to the
handle on the opposite side.

Sometimes, on very old door knobs, the square shaft is permanently fixed
into one of the two door knobs. The other one then usually unscrews from the
shaft after loosening a grub screw in the neck of the knob. That avoids the
need for the left-hand thread mentioned earlier in connection with screw-on
door knobs.

Colin Bignell

neil leslie wrote:
On one side of the door is the metal box of the rim lock and on the
other there is what looks like a standard issue B&Q door knob. It's
identical to all the other door knobs that I've already removed without
any problem. Releasing the others was just a matter of unscrewing the
three screws securing the handle to the door, but that's not worked with
this last remaining handle.

I don't understand this - what handle? What sort of screws are the
three that "secure the handle to the door"? What do they screw
into? Any chance of a photo?