Highboy advice- progress & questions on brasses

[Bill Berg]

I've been focused on building drawers for the past couple of weeks and finished the last one Friday night. My anxiety about the half binds on the lipped drawers was not an issue as they were really not that bad. I'm certainly hugely more confident in my ability to produce dovetails in general at this point.

Currently have the dye on and applied BLO last night. Will start with the shellac in the evenings in a few days.

I started looking more seriously at brasses last night and am not sure which direction to go. It's difficult to justify the price differences in these by just looking at black and white photos and not physically having held them before. Have looked at Horton, Ball & Ball, and Londonderry. A quick overview says that I'll be spending approximately (for 15 pulls and 6 escutcheons) $900 with Londonderry, $500 with Ball & Ball and $200 with Horton. I've got a lot of time and lumber cost into this project and am really happy with the outcome so far. Therefore I want to make the proper decision on this but dont want to throw more money at the project just for the sake of doing so. Can you guys calibrate me on the difference between these brands and if they are worth it for my project?

[mike holden]

Bill,
you really ought to ask this question on the period furniture makers forum, SAPFM dot org.
There you will get responses from people who have used all three sources.

Myself, I have only used Horton brasses and have been pleased.

My understanding, without having used them, is that Londonderry are exact duplicates of period hardware. They obtain originals and make a casting of them, including flaws. They seem to be the choice of reproduction specialists.

Ball & Ball vs. Horton - which has the style you prefer, or buy by price.

My opinion only, YMMV,
disclaimer of your choice here,
Mike

[John Keeton]

Bill, great work on the half blinds!! That is certainly an encouragement for those of us that have not tackled that task yet.

One other source for hardware for you to consider is WhiteChapel (http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/) Not sure exactly what you are after, but the hinges, etc. that I have purchased from them in the past have been of good quality. They compare favorably to what I have purchased in the past from Horton, but I have not purchased from the other two suppliers.

[Joel Ficke]

Hi Bill,

I've purchased hardware from all the vendors you list. Londonderry has the most authentic look for sure. You can spend time adding patination to the other vendor's hardware if you desire; however, there's also Optimum Brasses from the UK. They essentially have the same hardware as Londonderry but at a lower price. Their service is good and they have a free catalog, but the price will be dependent on the current exchange rate.

-Joel

[David Turner]

Bill:

After spending some $1800 for the curly maple lumber and spending almost a year building and finishing my highboy, I decided it should have the best/most authentic brasses available. I selected Londonderry Brass Ltd. and even though the cost was over $700, I have not been sorry. The highboy gets praised by everyone that visits my home and I would spend the money again.

David Turner
Plymouth, Mi.

[David Keller NC]

I started looking more seriously at brasses last night and am not sure which direction to go. It's difficult to justify the price differences in these by just looking at black and white photos and not physically having held them before. Have looked at Horton, Ball & Ball, and Londonderry. A quick overview says that I'll be spending approximately (for 15 pulls and 6 escutcheons) $900 with Londonderry, $500 with Ball & Ball and $200 with Horton. I've got a lot of time and lumber cost into this project and am really happy with the outcome so far. Therefore I want to make the proper decision on this but dont want to throw more money at the project just for the sake of doing so. Can you guys calibrate me on the difference between these brands and if they are worth it for my project?

Bill - There are some differences between B&B, Horton, and Londonderry, but it greatly depends on which brasses you choose. Specifically, some of the Ball & Ball and Horton brasses are cut from brass plate rather than cast - this process is automated and is considerably cheaper than the historically correct method of thin sand casting. However, some of the Horton products (and I think B&B as well) are sand cast and are close to the same price as Londonderry. However, and at least in my experience (you should call the companies to verify this), even the cast B&B and Horton brasses use modern, machine cut posts and nuts. The londonderrys all use separate sand-cast posts and irregularly shaped square nuts, which is what you find on an antique.

So here's my suggestion - unless you've made this highboy totally with hand tools and by period methods (that leave behind expected tool marks on secondary and tertiary surfaces), it really won't matter whether the brasses are easily identifiable as modern representations of a period style, or are difficult to distinguish from true antiques.

The reason is simply that to an experienced eye, a piece done with modern shop techiniques is instantly identifiable as a modern representation simply by pulling open a drawer, or in some cases by examining the primary surface, so there's really no need in spending a lot of dollars on brasses that are indistinguishable from the originals. And regardless of whether you put thick-plate brasses on the piece, it will still be a spectacular piece of furniture.

P.S. - What Londonderry sells are actually Optimum Brasses for the most part, though they do have other things produced for them such as period-correct nails by other individuals/firms. I order from Londonderry exclusively, though. Nancy (an owner and the one that runs the business) has superb customer service - if you don't like what you get, then she'll take it back or exchange it. This is not necessarily the case directly from Optimum, and while direct from Optimum is a bit cheaper, trying to squeeze pennies until they scream is not an appropriate character attribute in my opinion, so I don't do it.

[Bill Berg]

Thanks for the insight guys. I'm going to order several brasses tomorrow to give me a better understanding. I'm sure each of these vendors are supplying a very nice product. I'll post the completed project in a couple of weeks.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Bill,

Just so you know, Ball and Ball Type "C" brasses (aka. Chippendale style) that are marked with an asterisk in the Ball and Ball catalog utilize thin cast brass plates, post and nuts.. And trust me, I know they are priced quite differently than the brasses that are cut from sheet brass.. I have no affiliation with Ball and Ball